> Imagine how many social problems would disappear if people had more integrity and stronger morals. Literally every aspect of life would improve. But instead, we have to bulletproof everything (largely without success) from people who scheme and scam their way through life. We sink enormous costs into this, and it slows the progress and complicates life for everyone else.
What bulletproofing? Humanity has operated on an extremely high trust basis since the beginning of civilization - it's the only reason we've been able to grow so fast and reshape the planet. It's why McDonald's employee don't check someone's ID at the pick up window and why social engineering works so well. It's the reason why we even have power grids, indoor plumbing, and modern medicine - all of those systems require extreme levels of trust.
That's not hyperbole: A decent sized power plant joining the grid out of phase can crash the entire system, destroying - aka exploding - other power plants and distribution infrastructure. Our water supply systems and reservoirs are almost completely unprotected and vulnerable to malicious actors. A significant fraction of our health and safety regulations operate on scout's honor and personal liability: the FDA approved the diagnostic tests at the clinical labs I've worked at because they trust some certified lab managers (that we hired) to review our procedures and quality control - for life or death clinical testing - without a regulator ever stepping foot in the lab. Our species has even scraped our noses against nuclear war several times, ending in some low level officer deciding "nah... not today."
As a species we are weak: we can't run fast or climb very well, our stomachs and immune systems aren't worth squat in the wild, and it takes us longer to raise our young than most animals' life expectancies. It is only through intelligence and trust have we been able to overcome those limitations to build the world we have today.
The problem isn't individual morality, it's the systemic incentives built up over millennia of societal debt, tribalism, and a dash of corruption. Trying to moralize at an individual level is a big reason why so many people are anti-religious to begin with.
The modern problem is in large part, scale. Trust works better in smaller communities and at smaller scales - people are more likely to be willing to fleece someone they don't know and will never see than their family, neighbors, or the person standing behind them in line. When there are immediate and permanent social consequences for violating trust, it's much less likely. The community (or tribe, if you prefer) scale is the scale that comes naturally to us.
A lot of 'social technology' exists, in part, to help increase our ability to scale trust up. This includes things such as nations and religions. As people become more irreligious and nationalism declines (including into an us vs them mentality within the nation - simple cheerleading of your country is not what I mean by nationalism), trust declines, and people are more likely to scam, grift, and fleece others. And once it is gone, it is very hard to get back.
What bulletproofing? Humanity has operated on an extremely high trust basis since the beginning of civilization - it's the only reason we've been able to grow so fast and reshape the planet. It's why McDonald's employee don't check someone's ID at the pick up window and why social engineering works so well. It's the reason why we even have power grids, indoor plumbing, and modern medicine - all of those systems require extreme levels of trust.
That's not hyperbole: A decent sized power plant joining the grid out of phase can crash the entire system, destroying - aka exploding - other power plants and distribution infrastructure. Our water supply systems and reservoirs are almost completely unprotected and vulnerable to malicious actors. A significant fraction of our health and safety regulations operate on scout's honor and personal liability: the FDA approved the diagnostic tests at the clinical labs I've worked at because they trust some certified lab managers (that we hired) to review our procedures and quality control - for life or death clinical testing - without a regulator ever stepping foot in the lab. Our species has even scraped our noses against nuclear war several times, ending in some low level officer deciding "nah... not today."
As a species we are weak: we can't run fast or climb very well, our stomachs and immune systems aren't worth squat in the wild, and it takes us longer to raise our young than most animals' life expectancies. It is only through intelligence and trust have we been able to overcome those limitations to build the world we have today.
The problem isn't individual morality, it's the systemic incentives built up over millennia of societal debt, tribalism, and a dash of corruption. Trying to moralize at an individual level is a big reason why so many people are anti-religious to begin with.