if money were money, the stock market wouldn't exist.
if money were money, Donald trump would be a beggar in a gutter.
if money were money, the wealthy would pay taxes.
if money were money, you could do a revolution with the power of gold.
its not, he's not, they dont, and you can't.
universal human dignity
why? based on what? at what point(s) does it start applying? at what point(s) does it stop?
what if I go into a coma. total vegetative state.
what if, in that vegetative state, my brain starts to physically die, which parts would I need still biologically functioning (though no longer effectively being a brain) to qualify?
if I take a shit, there are human cells in that. does it deserve dignity?
if I die, that's human. does it deserve less dignity if it gets burned, or when the blood is switched out for embalming fluid?
what about another animal just as intelligent and just as capable of feeling as us, maybe more? say an elephant, a whale, a cuttlefish?
what about a hypothetical uploaded mind? or a from-scratch agi; what traits would it have to have to acquire various degrees of human dignity, and not just be a script/dataset for me to copy+paste+delete at my whim?
if you think about it, and make it more than some mystical magical woowoo bullshit, some things are going to have at least a talon/tentacle/hoof in that aren't 'human' and some things are going to be out that appear very much 'human', and maybe even were in the past.
most if my criteria for giving a shit are things you are scientifically proven to lose with wealth. are they recoverable? maybe, in the way you can unmix a drink. and in an ideal world, maybe we should. we dont live in an ideal world. the labor cost and risk to others whose humanity is at risk (from dying) takes precedence; its a triage thing.
and if it's happening; I might as well enjoy it. revenge can feel nice, even if its usually stupid and counterproductive.