RE: Why free will probably does not exist, and why we should stop treating people -
February 8, 2017 at 4:19 pm
(This post was last modified: February 8, 2017 at 4:22 pm by Aroura.)
(February 8, 2017 at 4:10 pm)Sal Wrote:He's not arguing that it does, if you read what he typed.(February 8, 2017 at 4:07 pm)Khemikal Wrote: Ultimately, if someone is a "bad behavior machine", if there is no moral desert....that won't necessarily change the outcome of the actions attributed to the machine. We'll still have a good reason to lock somebody up for assault. Perhaps a better reason, since they can't help but assault a person.
Bingo!
Free will =/= Moral Responsibility. And stop acting like the two are tied in any meaningful way.
However, locking up someone who caused harm and is dangerous =/= punishing someone who caused harm and is dangerous, and people need to stop conflating these 2 as if they were tied in any meaningful way. :p
I don't think anyone is arguing that we should stop keeping the public safe. What we are arguing is that prevention and rehabilitation should be focused on, instead of punishment. Punishing a machine for doing what it is programmed to do is pointless and cruel, no different from people. It is better to try and fix the program. If the program cannot be fixed, then yeah, you need to prevent it from causing more harm, probably with incarceration, but more humane incarceration than what we currently employ.
“Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?”
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
