Is it immoral to do something that “could” result in people losing jobs?
This is the first thing you say. So I point out, quite correctly, that yes, lots of things are immoral if by their actions, they could result in harm to another person.
You should have conceded that your point was moot, but I do understand that this is the internet and the internet is very serious business and concession, is a very rare breed on the web.
Instead, in an illogical vindication of your original point, you compare reckless behavior that holds the potential for harm, with innocuous activities, such as driving safely, flying in an airplane, being a better candidate in a job interview?
So any act that could result in harm to another person or their career is sinful?
Uhm, if your supposed to pay for software, but instead you get it for free, in effect stealing it and the manufacturer of the software doesn’t make their payroll and they have to lay off a bunch of people. Yes, the thievery is sinful as it negatively and directly impacted another person.
And the analogy is apt. You are the one who argued implicitly that filesharing is a sin because it results in the loss of employment. But if that is true then, presumably anything that results in the loss of employment is a sin (unless you are just making up ad hoc moral principles to suit your argumentative purposes). So then, if anything is morally impermissable which prevents others from keeping gainful employment, then, ironically curing cancer is ex hypothesi morally impermissible.
I’m not really much of a believer in the whole sin thing…Rather, I find Christians a little puzzling. The length that some will go to justify that stealing, isn’t actually stealing.
Btw, according to such a moral theory it would also be morally impermissible to achieve world peace, since the standing armies and armed forces of the Earth’s nations surely number in the tens of millions.
Your comparing people losing jobs because people are stealing intellectual property as being comparable to the loss of military jobs as a result of world peace?
I wish there was an emoticon that could show a little cartoon with his chin dropping to the floor.
