Can we engineer a perfect world? | Tyler VanderWeele & Steven Pinker
The Veritas Forum
00:00
The Trade-offs of Human Freedom and Flourishing
The problem with human freedom lies in the fact that people can make choices that may negatively impact their lives. Achieving perfection would require restrictions such as social media control, junk food regulation, and prohibition. However, freedom and flourishing are two different dimensions that cannot be maximized simultaneously. Additionally, perfect freedom leads to inequality due to individual differences in talent and temperament. Trying to eliminate inequality would require suppressing human freedom. Therefore, there are inherent trade-offs in the human condition, and seeking perfection in one aspect will inevitably diminish another.
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