In movies, we explore this in the stakes that are set. Only when the stakes are high can we be emotionally involved in the consequences. Only then do our heroes and villains have something to talk to each other about!
This is where real moral arguments can be explored.
One of the reasons for the hesitation we experience in the "playing god" programme is the notion that we can't know everything in order to make a good call, nor can we know all the possible consequences of our actions. In our naà ¯ve action, we could inadvertently make things worse.
But is this an argument for not acting?
Our inaction by the same token may (and often does) have horrendous consequences.
Even our day to day, "normalised" actions that appear very benign could have awful consequences" like participating in something that may be good for our careers, but ultimately sees one of our subculture marginalised or excluded.
Are we to blame for these things? Are we to blame if we're not aware? And to what extent are we responsible, if we were just going with the herd?
And what of a society that has normalised a certain behaviour?
Once a status quo has been established it seems there is something in our neurology which prevents us from taking action to disrupt the status quo.
>> The truth is, we are TERRIFIED of having real power.
We are wired to act as a collective. When we leave the herd, our oxytocin levels drop, and we feel unsafe. Our greatest fear as a mammal is to be ostracised, as this means death. The need to feel good and to be safe overrides the logic of taking some form of positive action. To not take logical action means that the socio-evolution as a species is being thwarted by (perhaps outdated) neurotransmitters.
Don't get me wrong, our evolutionary impulses (which we often mislabel as intuition!) are worth consideration, but it's also worth coming off automatic if we are going to change the way we live together, because our survival today is what is at stake now.
But then there is always an argument against influence.
History, and our collective unconscious, is riddled with instances where power has corrupted good people.
In The Dark Knight, when Batman taps into every cell phone on the planet, his ally warns him: no one person should have this much power. No matter what end he is trying to achieve.
We know full well that The Batman isn't going to use this data to spy on Joe Blogs having a conversation with his girlfriend.
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