[Serious] Good vs Evil

[Alan V]

I do not value the words good and evil. They are largely just rhetoric used for virtue signalling.

I believe in objective morality in the sense that, given a set of circumstances, any rational agent would be able to point out the course of action that would result in the greatest amount of well-being. This is predicated on the idea that we are all working toward the goal of obtaining the maximum amount of well-being, for the most people.

I see a lot of mention of happiness which is something of value to people, but certainly not the highest goal. We spend so much time doing things that bring us very little happiness to maximize our well-being i.e. working out, working our job, having a tooth removed, keeping silent when someone is being an asshat, or even flossing. For this reason I think well-being is the best descriptor for what drives people.

Emotions like happiness come and go, but the conditions which can make us happy from time to time are what allow us to thrive.

I agree that "good and evil" are objective but relative to human interests.  The problems with such words are the hangover connotations from religious-style thinking about them.