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It's fully contrived. But he was trying to raise a point which is hard to formulate.

No it isn't. A gun to your head is a choice between life and death. Choosing to enslave other people has no risk of death (as presented in the question).

Okay, so I talk about identity but we're on the same page. Or more terrified by the risk! I mean if you thought you faced certain death you wouldn't save anyone I don't think. And if I stood next to you and I thought I could make it, perhaps I would try. This is another thing about risk...

I wouldn't say it's wrong. But if it's right then it's not expressing the same ideas as clearly as I would like. I gave you the example of a dangerous selfless act. In that video there's the example of a man who has two children who saved someone from being killed by a subway train. He jumped...

People who are wrong always say this :D This is more a description of addiction. I don't think it makes sense to cast all of morality in terms of addiction. Seriously, you should read up on morality vs identity. There's a lot of interesting stuff there that really explains things.

I think you're still missing the point. People act morally all the time when they don't have to and they act immorally frequently when it's risky. Risk plays a part, but it doesn't explain heroic acts where people put themselves at great personal risk to help someone, does it? Here, watch this:

Yes, that's the scary thing. This is in us all, man. We just don't know about it. All it takes is a very specific set of circumstances and everyone becomes a Nazi. You're an idiot if you think you can resist these influences and stand up to it. Society is all important and we underestimate this.

So in the end who is enforcing our morality? We are doing it for each other. Which quite easily explains how the same group of people can get along at one time and then be at each other's throats at another time. It has everything to do with our perception of the unwritten rules that apply...

That's not how I would put it. I think it's more accurate to say that morality is about reinforcing your own self image, both individually and socially. Which is why you can manipulate people if you know how. For instance if you put people in a situation where it seems that it's "okay" to be...

For what it's worth I think this is completely misguided. I don't think morality works at all the way that people traditionally imagined. Obviously it has nothing to do with religion, but it's also not a static thing. Take a look at Milgram experiment or the Stanford prison experiment and those...

Polls are flawed, man. And you're asking a hypothetical question, which is a very sketchy poll premise. It's much easier to ask people about their beliefs or habits. You're asking them to tell you what they would have done if... which is a best estimate of their behavior. But people can't...

he did have a cool name

allowed or not allowed?

May I point out, despite your renouncement of petty nitpickers like me, that formulating the question is half the battle? If you want people to vote Yes you have to tell a different story. Make it appear as there is a great injustice to these people whose wealth will decline. I'm not a...