That was beautiful and poinant, typical of Le Guin. Thank you.
I read once about a young man who wanted to give away everything he had and go live with the poor and destitute. His uncle told him it would be much more compassionate if he got a job, made alot of money and have that away. I've thought about that alot. His uncle wasn't wrong. If we want to improve humanity as a whole we need alot more people working hard making a lot of money to improve things for everyone. But if no one gives everything away and goes to live in poverty... Something good is lost.
Someone down thread mentioned the obvious solution to the trolley problem being saving more lives. I agree, and also, someone has got to rail against the injustice of whole trolley situation to begin with.
Maybe what I'm trying to say is ethical utility can be good, and we should strain to be better.
What a nice recommendation in this context! This is a great story. My first encounter with it was LeGuin herself reading it as a guest in a PSU science fiction class, 25 years ago.
God I hate drivel like this. There's no insight to be found here. These people can only exist in fiction and have no information with which to adjust the bearing on our moral compasses, which have evolved to function only in a universe where effects have causes.
I read once about a young man who wanted to give away everything he had and go live with the poor and destitute. His uncle told him it would be much more compassionate if he got a job, made alot of money and have that away. I've thought about that alot. His uncle wasn't wrong. If we want to improve humanity as a whole we need alot more people working hard making a lot of money to improve things for everyone. But if no one gives everything away and goes to live in poverty... Something good is lost.
Someone down thread mentioned the obvious solution to the trolley problem being saving more lives. I agree, and also, someone has got to rail against the injustice of whole trolley situation to begin with.
Maybe what I'm trying to say is ethical utility can be good, and we should strain to be better.
Just my random thoughts after reading above.