Are you saying that handing over the future rights of a human being to a government rather than allowing the biological parents--the ones to bring them into the world in the first place--is the less of the 2 evils?aamesxdavid wrote: I never said that everyone educated enough to understand would continue going to school, just that many more would (see: lesser-of-two-evils argument). And I never said if was fool-proof - again, simply that it was better than allowing someone to ruin their own or someone else's future before they are able to make an educated decision about it. No, education is not the only factor - but it's an important one, and it's one that we can do something about. We can't make someone mature, and we can't make someone choose something. But we can require them to have an education before making a decision like that.
Since everything else in that paragraph was based off these two sentences, I'm just going to address these two sentences.You must have quite a loose definition of "scientifically". First of all, in your example, the only people who would be allowed to buy cigarettes are the people who don't want them.
My definition of scientifically is anything pertaining to the study of a science. Everything we have discussed today has a study behind it.
And no, my example didn't say the one's who didn't want something were the one's able to buy them. It said, that I believe the one's who made the right decision were overtly the one's who were mature enough to make the decision in the first place. In my example, it was the 5 year old--defying the age law by not being an imbecile like its parent(s). And yes, I will call "not smoking" the right decision. Of course fast food is the wrong decision, but there is more logic behind the decision of eating fast food then smoking. First, fast food is cheaper than healthy food, and food in general is required to survive. The logic is--> cheaper, and still survive a fairly long time = the choice I'm going to make since I don't have that much money. Cigarettes, being completely redundant and optional, are an illogical choice entirely.
Maturity and emotions are personality traits which are studied by psychology. And yes, these are all my opinions so stop being assholes about that.Secondly, even the factors you cite are not scientific. What scientific properties of one's emotions qualifies them as mature? I know you said that you are not the one to measure maturity, but you can't just say you believe it's possible and leave it at that. Your personality and emotions are not logical by nature - in fact, just the opposite. They are the things that cause you to do illogical things; they are the counter to the logical models science accepts. So how could something innately irrational be a determining factor in your level of maturity if you level of maturity is based off of making rational decisions?
You say science, but give opinion. You talk about emotions and personality, but present logic. That aside, after you claim to not have said you were the one to measure maturity, you go ahead and do so. And the ultimate irony is that your assumption that every decision you make boils down to mature or immature based on logical outcomes actually makes you sound less mature. Things aren't that simple, and they're far from a standard to take freedoms away from people. Not to mention, they basically completely abolishing anything you deem as immature. If the only people who are allowed to choose something will simply not do so, it's not long before that thing simply won't exist - then no one can choose it, and your standard of maturity has no basis any longer.
I follow science as far as it goes, but I know its limits. This is one of them.
Your biological emotions are designed for one reason: to keep you alive. Eating, drinking, etc. are all biological. Yes, other emotions do cause you to commit illogical actions. This is the reason that one who has conditioned the ability to ignore the urge to commit illogical actions based on said emotions are, in my opinion, more mature.
The definition of maturity is fully developed, meaning no one can ever be fully mature. But they can be more mature then something else. And stop saying stuff like "my standard of maturity." These are all ideas, and your treating them (and me) like I'm actually trying to pass them as a fucking law.
