- Joined
- Jul 13, 2015
Weston’s error was that he proposed to kill them and take their stuff without first legitimately purchasing the land and tempting them into committing unspeakable crimes. Had he done so, and obtained the land in that fashion, then this would have created the dangerous precedent that some stronger party could take the land from him, undermining the high trust equilibrium that made the great achievements of his society, of which he was so proud, possible, for that high trust equilibrium and the ensuing high achievements rested on tribal taboos and copy-book maxims.
Hate to break it to Jim, but the sort of people who try to swindle others or dishonestly provoke them into committing crimes are not "high trust" or ethical. A conman deliberately trying to cheat another group of people so he has an "excuse" to take their land is a sleazy, dishonest barbarian, as opposed to just a straight-up honest one. Not really an improvement, nor are such people the building blocks of a prosperous, non-corrupt society.