[bruce511]

Some societies optimize for the individual. If 8 lights is better for me then I get 8 lights. The experience gor other drivers us a "them" problem not a "me" problem.

Other societies optimize for public good. It's less about "individual freedom" and more about "what world do we want to live in".

(I'm not talking about govt here as much as just the way people consider their own choices. And yes, there are as*oles in all societies.)

When entrenched in one society model though, it can be hard to understand that other models exist (much less than they could suit you better.)

[Silhouette]

But it's very much a "you" problem if someone gets dazzled by your excessively bright and poorly aimed headlights and then crashes into you at high speed.

It's a weird situation here in the UK. We have newer vehicles sold with the over the top lights that were factory fitted that can legally be driven on our roads. Meanwhile relatively old but still useful vehicles with underpowered lights from a decade or longer ago often can't update those lights even though better replacement parts are available. Our regulations are obscure and antiquated and mean the vehicle would potentially fail its mandatory annual testing because the replacements don't have the right regulatory mark - so the vehicle would no longer be legal to drive on the road even though its lights would be significantly better and safer than what it originally had but not the crazy ones some new cars arrive with.

[bitwalker]

> Some societies optimize for the individual. If 8 lights is better for me then I get 8 lights. The experience gor other drivers us a "them" problem not a "me" problem. > > Other societies optimize for public good.

That is, frankly, bullshit. Societies, by definition, only exist when their members act, in aggregate, for the good of the community. A society cannot exist where everyone only acts in self-interest at the expense of everyone else. If you make self-interested choices for no other reason than "I did it because I could", that's just pure selfishness.

Society is forced to tolerate some degree of self-interest, but it isn't an optimization problem, because nobody is tweaking the parameters - things work until they don't anymore. That's why every society that has collapsed, did so either due to war, due to greed and self-interest causing it to turn on itself, or some combination of the two.

It isn't important that you make choices that benefit others, but rather that you at least care about how your choices affect others, and attempt to reduce the harm of your own self-interest. If you don't even bother to do that, then you don't deserve to be part of our society, or any other, IMO.

If only people that believed they stand alone, that everyone should fend for themselves, actually had to do so, maybe the world would be a better place.