denny007 said:
survival of those with the fewest morals
Define "morals"...
The best definition of 'right' i can think of for now is:
'that which maximises the amount of happiness in the universe (in the long run).' (*1)
Given that just about everyone is pretty annoyed about the way .eu has launched, and just a few people (the cheats) are happy about it, their activities are wrong by my definition because they have reduced the amount of happiness compared to what it would otherwise have been.
They have denied many other people the chance of the happiness of obtaining good domains, and I&
#8217;m sure the amount of happiness they receive themselves will not come close to equalling what has been lost (*2) (For one thing, people who acquire riches by underhand means are probably less likely to be gratified by them. Plus there is the law of diminishing returns to consider &
#8211; the life of someone who is already rich will be improved less by the receipt of more money than the life of someone who is poor).
And the benefits of capitalism, whereby apparently improving ones own welfare at the expense of others, might actually increase overall welfare in the long run, surely do not apply to this .eu sunrise situation.
(*1) However, the definition may need some work, because consider the following:
Suppose there is a god who can control time. He can maximise the amount of happiness in the universe by picking a five minute segment of time when the amount of happiness is at its peak, and looping that five minutes of time over and over again.
But somehow the idea of experiencing the same five minutes over and over again (even without realising what is happening), no matter how happy that five minutes is, doesn&
#8217;t seem very desirable, at least to me.
(*2) Although this is not really the point. Am I justified in stealing your piece of cake if I believe I will enjoy it more than you will? No &
#8211; that doesn&
#8217;t increase happiness in the long run, because peoples level of security decreases if such thefts are commonplace.
If you believe that you will enjoy the cake more than I will, then if you ask nicely perhaps I will give it to you.