The Ethics of Belief

[robvalue]

Picking up litter is a pretty clear cut case. It has to be a positive for everyone, from almost every perspective. A little helps a bit, a lot helps a lot. No one gets hurt at all. Even wildlife generally benefit. (Animals get caught up in litter a lot.)

But killing humans is far from like that. If I kill even one human, I cause huge suffering, way more than I could hope the removal of that one person could save in the long run. I'd have to have a genuine shot at wiping out a significant number of people before being stopped, say with nuclear weaponry or an army, for it to be considered viable. Otherwise it's just huge amount of suffering, while not addressing the problem I want to very much. The population will very quickly recover, if it dents it at all.