Utilitarianism and avoidance of zero-sum transactions are useful heuristics, in that a world where people abide by them tends to be a better place to live than one where people screw each other over.
But helping to build the kind of world you want to live in doesn't do you a whole lot of good if you don't get to *live* in it. Useful heuristics! Worth a certain amount of sacrifice to uphold! *Not* worth dying for.
So yes, I'd use it. I'd try to reduce the harm where I could, look into hospice volunteering and the like (though I would *not* choose a career based on this: it seems like that would lead to things like "nurse" or maybe "daycare worker (at a high-turnover place)", neither of which I think I could stand), but on days where I can't make that work, non-preferred targets will have to do.
---
As for how I'd feel about being on the *receiving* end of the power, it's a lot like how I'd feel about being possessed: I'd really rather they didn't, but I *get* it, you know?
no subject
But helping to build the kind of world you want to live in doesn't do you a whole lot of good if you don't get to *live* in it. Useful heuristics! Worth a certain amount of sacrifice to uphold! *Not* worth dying for.
So yes, I'd use it. I'd try to reduce the harm where I could, look into hospice volunteering and the like (though I would *not* choose a career based on this: it seems like that would lead to things like "nurse" or maybe "daycare worker (at a high-turnover place)", neither of which I think I could stand), but on days where I can't make that work, non-preferred targets will have to do.
---
As for how I'd feel about being on the *receiving* end of the power, it's a lot like how I'd feel about being possessed: I'd really rather they didn't, but I *get* it, you know?