Dr. Bill von Hippel

If I had one chance to do one thing— To save humanity. To save humanity, I would—and I'm magic, right? I can make it whatever I want. Whatever you want. I would make sure that there's perfect justice— Because if there's perfect justice, then everybody who misbehaves, does wrong by somebody else, knows that they're going to get, that there'll be consequences for that behavior.

If I had one chance to do one thing— To save humanity. To save humanity, I would—and I'm magic, right? I can make it whatever I want. Whatever you want. I would make sure that there's perfect justice— Because if there's perfect justice, then everybody who misbehaves, does wrong by somebody else, knows that they're going to get, that there'll be consequences for that behavior.

Because I think that the one thing that humanity is not going to get its way out of is people being horrible to other people. But if there's perfect justice, everybody who's horrible to somebody else is going to get their, and it doesn't, I don't mean justice when you die. I mean justice in real time. They're going to stop doing that and people will just be better to each other.

Because I think that the one thing that humanity is not going to get its way out of is people being horrible to other people. But if there's perfect justice, everybody who's horrible to somebody else is going to get their, and it doesn't, I don't mean justice when you die. I mean justice in real time. They're going to stop doing that and people will just be better to each other.

What would be the cost of that? Because there's always a cost, right? The cost of that is that, well, look, you can't get away with anything anymore. I get away with a lot of little things, like I speed all the time. And I do it because I know I can get away with it. And I like doing that. But I think that perfect justice would have the advantage that it's harm to others.

What would be the cost of that? Because there's always a cost, right? The cost of that is that, well, look, you can't get away with anything anymore. I get away with a lot of little things, like I speed all the time. And I do it because I know I can get away with it. And I like doing that. But I think that perfect justice would have the advantage that it's harm to others.

See, in the past, we cared about property crimes a lot and not so much harm to others. I would want in this world that perfect justice comes with harm to others.

See, in the past, we cared about property crimes a lot and not so much harm to others. I would want in this world that perfect justice comes with harm to others.

That's true. You're absolutely right. And so the cost might be missing the mark. We might, as a human population today, come up with a consensual decision about what justice is, that a thousand years from now they look back and they're utterly appalled that that was what we were doing.

That's true. You're absolutely right. And so the cost might be missing the mark. We might, as a human population today, come up with a consensual decision about what justice is, that a thousand years from now they look back and they're utterly appalled that that was what we were doing.

Yeah, what the hell was that?

Yeah, what the hell was that?