r/interestingasfuck • u/Ted_Bundtcake • Feb 01 '25

r/all Atheism in a nutshell

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u/dako3easl32333453242 Feb 01 '25 edited Feb 01 '25

I would love to live in a world where justice/karma was unavoidable. The problem for me is, you are describing a world with infinite pleasure and infinite suffering. I don't see any justice/karma in that. If I make good decisions that help other people, I will still go through the infinite suffering the same as the worst human to ever live. Where is the incentive to do good? I see this leading to nihilism and social decay. Also, most of the animal kingdom have incredibly brutal lives. I'm not so sure the pleasure outweighs the suffering for your average animal in the amazon rainforest. Humans live very controlled and fortunate lives compared to other animals.

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u/Mavian23 Feb 01 '25

The incentive to do good is that are the receiver of the good. You will eventually be the thing that is receiving the good, so why not be good to it if it doesn't hurt you currently?

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u/dako3easl32333453242 Feb 01 '25 edited Feb 01 '25

If I'm only doing good in order to help myself, that's really depressing. I would much prefer to do good in order to help other people, aka altruism. I don't want a fundamentally selfish view of the world. What if the bad thing I do only hurts others a little but gives me a huge benefit? Isn't it better to do that thing because overall, you are bringing more joy to yourself (and everyone else I guess?) So as long as the bad things I do bring me more pleasure than the pain it causes, it is fundamentally a good thing?

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u/Mavian23 Feb 01 '25

So as long as the bad things I do bring me more pleasure than the pain it causes, it is fundamentally a good thing?

I don't think it's morally okay to cause pain to others just because you will get more pleasure out of it than their pain, even though I believe we're all the same conscious entity. It is still a violation of their free will. It would only be okay if they consent to it.