[coldtea]

>Conflict of interest is a human invention, and not a law of the universe. There is no "conflict" unless you see it as one.

That could be said for anything in the moral and judicial sphere. "There's no theft, property is a human invention", "There's no rape, animals don't have that concept", and so on.

[dheera]

That's true, but there are good reasons for calling theft and rape crimes in civilization.

Conflict of interest, on the other hand, was invented by some lawyer and HR types just to make life harder for the rest of us.

I'm an optimistic engineer, believe in win-win situations, and don't see everything as a conflict.

[coldtea]

Conflict of interest has been a thing way before lawyers and HR types existed, they understood it and tried to prevent it at any point in history, from ancient Babylon to Rome, and from Amazon native tribes to imperial China.

It's of course also the explicitly expressed reasoning for why there are independent branches of government (legislative, executive, and judicial in the US).

>I'm an optimistic engineer, believe in win-win situations, and don't see everything as a conflict.

Yes, it's called naivety :)

[BlueTemplar]

Civilization is already an unnatural situation, in the sense that we have to coexist in groups (and with other groups) bigger than Dunbar's number.