mistyfox812 said:At its core, society only works if we actually trust one another. If that foundation of trust between people crumbles, the whole thing just falls apart. Society basically relies on the assumption that the person standing next to you is a decent human being.
Super basic example: the other day, I accidentally scraped someone else's car. Instead of running away, I just walked up, gave him my full name and cell number, and promised to cover the repair costs. He took me at my word—purely based on trust. He ended up calling me later to say the body shop just buffed out the scratch for free and everything was cool. We had every opportunity to be sketchy or screw each other over, but we didn't. If we’d been paranoid, we would've called the cops, blocked up traffic waiting for them to show up, dragged insurance companies into it, maybe even lawyers... just endless headaches and delays. But because we trusted each other, it was handled instantly with zero drama.
Real trust means believing someone will treat you right even when there’s absolutely nothing in it for them.
And for us to trust society as a whole, we have to believe it’ll look out for us even when we have nothing left to offer.
Look, anyone can become vulnerable or disabled overnight. Having that gut feeling that people will still treat us with dignity in those moments makes living with that terrifying possibility a lot easier. (It's pretty well known how much having reliable medical aid on hand boosts soldier morale during wartime.)
So, yeah, any society that ignores its most vulnerable members is just a society built on fear and suspicion—and honestly, that kind of society is totally broken and inefficient.
Beautifully put, honestly.
I'd also throw in that society isn't an end in itself; its whole purpose is to raise the standard of living, or more accurately, individual happiness. A nation's productivity and wealth shouldn't exist just to pile gold in a vault, but to serve the person—like through healthcare, police protection, national defense, or social safety nets.
The idea of forcibly euthanizing someone just to boost "standards" meant to help individuals is a complete contradiction.
Hitler thought that kind of logic worked, mostly because he wasn't looking for higher productivity to improve his citizens' lives, but rather to stockpile resources for war.
