COVID-19 is a collective risk. It threatens everyone, and we all must cooperate to lower the chance that the coronavirus harms any one individual. Among other things, that means keeping safe social distances and wearing masks. But many people choose not to do these things, making spread of infection more likely.
When someone chooses not to follow public health guidelines around the coronavirus, they’re defecting from the public good. It’s the moral equivalent of the tragedy of the commons: If everyone shares the same pasture for their individual flocks, some people are going to graze their animals longer, or let them eat more than their fair share, ruining the commons in the process. Selfish and self-defeating behavior undermines the pursuit of something from which everyone can benefit.
Democratically enacted enforceable rules – mandating things like mask wearing and social distancing – might work, if defectors could be coerced into adhering to them. But not all states have opted to pass them or to enforce the rules that are in place.
My research in bioethics focuses on questions like how to induce those who are noncooperative to get on board with doing what’s best for the public good. To me, it seems the problem of coronavirus defectors could be solved by moral enhancement: like receiving a vaccine to beef up your immune system, people could take a substance to boost their cooperative, pro-social behavior. Could a psychoactive pill be the solution to the pandemic?
MORE
-WiscoDave
Brave New World...
ReplyDeleteNifter
Don't worry a daily dose of Viagra washed down with a bottle of Bourbon will counteract the effects of a Morality Pill.
ReplyDeleteIt's been my experience that the majority of people who call themselves bioethicists are assholes. More importantly, their positions tend to be NOT ethical. This "Parker Crutchfield" person is not changing my impression. Also, his CV is nothing to be proud of for an academic (link to his homepage in article). An H-index of 3? Fuck me. I have current trainees who are better published and cited than that. Sad.
ReplyDelete(The guy who used to write for the New York Times as "The Ethicist" was the same. I don't think I agreed with him on a single damned thing, of his columns that I read. I mean the former guy, BTW, haven't read a thing by the current Kwame Appiah person.)
I have one word that I believe describes Parker Crutchfield perfectly. That word is 'Collectivist'.
DeleteSocialism dressed up in the clothes of consideration for your fellow man.
ReplyDeleteIf I didn't already know the left has no consideration for their fellow man, only for raw power, I might buy it.
CC
Hey Dumbocrats! You're IRONY pills are in the vitamin aisle of your local CVS/Rite-Aid/Walgreens or ChinaMart! Double up on the RDA!
ReplyDeleteI have a very large amount of 165 grain nosler b/t morality pills. These people want war. I am thinking they want it more than we want peace.
ReplyDeleteSo, you want to inject me with something because I don't believe in, nor adhere to, your ideology.
ReplyDeleteInstead, why don't I inject you with something? Quite a few things come to mind.
Want enhanced morality for the good of all? Pay me. Terms negotiable, but we ain't starting small.
ReplyDelete