this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Most of the time when people say they have an unpopular opinion, it turns out it's actually pretty popular.

Do you have some that's really unpopular and most likely will get you downvoted?

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[โ€“] toomanypancakes@lemmy.world 61 points 1 year ago (4 children)

There's no ethical way to kill someone who doesn't want to die. This applies to more than just humans.

[โ€“] vettnerk@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

[Insert trolley problem here]

[โ€“] Catsrules@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

If they are attacking me, would it not be ethical of me to defend myself and potentially kill my attacker?

[โ€“] doggle@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Not op, but in my mind this would depend on whether you have any reasonable means of de-escalation, e.g. running away

If not then it's not really ethical or unethical... it just kinda can't be judged

[โ€“] krayj@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Non-human predators that hunt, kill, and eat other animals...do you consider them unethical, or is it only unethical for animals capable of inventing the concept of 'ethics'?

[โ€“] Longpork_afficianado 10 points 1 year ago

When you have no choice but to kill or starve, any killing is justified, but when starvation is off the table because you have access to agriculture and global supply chains, then that justification no longer exists.

I would expand the original statement to "there is no ethical way to kill someone who doesn't want to die, if you have an option not to kill them"

[โ€“] Dee@lemmings.world 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I consider cats unethical but the other animals get a pass.

Source: I'm a cat owner

[โ€“] Today@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

Those little fuckers are vicious! I love them so much!

Cats and stray dogs often kill for fun, Orcas and dolphins as well... So intelligent life or life raised by very intelligent life seems to like killing other things...

[โ€“] krayj@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

I won't disagree with that, but I would also include wasps, and possibly canadian geese.

[โ€“] CookieJarObserver@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ethics are subjective.

Say, if for example someone is about to fly a plane into a Skyscraper, the cockpit door is closed tightly and you can't get in, even if the person is armed, you have a gun, you can kill the person and open the cockpit door... You would save many life's, in exchange for just one... Whats unethical about that?

Holy shit we derived the Zeroth Law of Robotics.

[โ€“] Catsrules@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hey hold on here this is just the trolley problem but with planes and guns.