4. Personally, I don't think it's useful to think about these hypothetical situations when the likelihood of this happening is close to zero and when an easy, harm-reducing lifestyle is available to me where I am currently.
If it were, it would not be easier to harm than to benefit, since in general it is very easy not to kill – indeed, easier than to kill.
Mass surveillance might make it easier to stop terrorists and other criminals, but it also makes it easier to harm the innocent and silence dissent.
Violence that comes from above, whether by gunman or drone or missile, exploits its distance from the victims; when we look down at the world from up high, the smallness of the people below can render them meaningless, interchangeable, and thus easier to harm.
After all, when you see people as props rather than people, it becomes far easier to harm them. .
In these instances, too, we claim that it is easier to harm than benefit.
We argue that cognitive enhancement and technological progress raise acute problems because it is easier to harm than to benefit.
Harris tries to refute our claim that it is easier to harm than to benefit by citing cases in which someone has saved a great number of lives by averting a serious threat, such as Schuringa's courageous action (pp. 106 7).
In Europe ISIS must search for recruits with criminal backgrounds whereas in the US, it's easier to do harm because of the easy access to guns.
"The easiest thing to harm or kill is a human being with a rifle," he said.
His department faces a concerted opposition of political opportunists who believe making it easy to vote harms their interests.
