[nickpp]

Honest question: do you think it’s a good idea to protect people from themselves?

[caffeine]

The answer isn’t binary, it’s a sliding scale between 0 (zeroism, nobody is allowed to be harmed by anything) and 1 (do whatever you want).

Seat belts, road signs, the FAA, the FCC, the FDA … all these are protecting people from harming themselves.

I don’t think it’s possible to have a functioning society at 0 or 1, but whether 0.35 or 0.55 is a better setpoint is hard to say for sure.

[nickpp]

So more like yes for some cases, no for others. But how do you choose?

[Supermancho]

Consensus. Either direct or indirect, because that's part of what a society is.