https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=QpSkdpk4KKE
The religious proposition is human beings are made the image of God and if you just took that apart philosophically and tried to understand what it meant, it would mean that well there’s some ultimate source of what constitutes value and that’s at least in part what God is, the ultimate value, and that human beings are to be regarded as reflections of that ultimate value. And that’s the we have intrinsic worth regardless of our status, right? And it’s a miraculous proposition. It flies in the face of what’s obvious because what’s more obvious is if I’m stronger than you I can push you over, if I’m smarter than you why shouldn’t I have everything and why doesn’t might make right? And if you’re weak you’re useless and if you’re powerful well it’s not like you’re worthwhile exactly it’s just that there’s no reason for you not to have everything. That’s a way different set of propositions than the idea that you know even the least among us are made in the image of God. And so well so that’s one key proposition. So imagine now you’re trying to figure out how to deal with other people, treat them like you would want to and need to be treated. Well one of the things you have to figure out is well if you’re being good to yourself including your future self right including the you that’s going to exist down the road and you were doing the best you could for yourself how would you treat yourself and what would you need and want you know and if you’re unsophisticated and cynical and hedonistic you’d think well I want what I want when I want it now and I don’t think that’s in keeping with this notion because as we all know if you fall prey to momentary temptations which is very much akin by the way to worshipping false primordial gods then you’re going to act impulsively and foolishly and that isn’t going to go very well for the future you you know tomorrow you remember this Simpsons episode where Homer whips up this quart jar of mayonnaise and vodka and downs it and Martin says do you really think that’s a good idea and Homer says that’s a problem for future Homer and yeah no kidding it’s so funny and everybody who has I had a hangover has you know phone especially if it’s like your 200th hangover it’s like you know perfectly well you’ve sacrificed future Homer for like present Homer and you also know mmm it’s not a very good game and alcohol is particularly good example of that because you know you see that in the figure of Barney in this in the Simpsons you can wreak a lot of havoc in the medium to long term with the short-term hedonic impulsive pleasure of alcohol intoxication you can do that with most embodied temptations you know like sexual promiscuity is a good example to or other forms of pleasure seeking drug use impulsive behavior in general that’s not selfish exactly it is selfish because it’s all about you but it’s selfish and stupid because it’s all about you in the moment and that’s what makes it both selfish and stupid if you were really take care of yourself as you know perfectly well you wouldn’t do stupid things that hurt you next week or next month or next year or five years from now or ten years from now or maybe you’re starting to save for your pension you know when you’re 30 and that’s because 65 year old you should be part and parcel of of what the community of selves that you’re taking care of across time and I don’t think there’s any difference between doing that properly and treating other people properly I think they’re exactly the same thing you know if you think of yourself as a community that stretches across time you know you’re gonna be in a lot of different situations you’re gonna be a lot of different people you’re gonna be a lot of different ages you’re gonna be in a lot of different relationships you know and that’s you because you have some continuity but man it’s a pretty damn diverse you and then to regard yourself optimally you have to regard yourself across all those time spans now maybe you should take a little more care for right now because it’s more predictable and controllable but you know you can’t just make it all about what you want in the next 30 seconds you know you’re you’re a two-year-old then because two-year-olds aren’t very good at acting in accordance with their extended self and they’re also not very social they don’t kids really don’t get social in the technical sense till they’re about three two-year-olds can’t share you know they want the toy and you can understand that because it’s their toy but it makes them kind of hard to get along with so and that you know that points to something that also indicates that the claims of moral relativists are they’re fundamentally they’re wrong they’re unsophisticated they’re wrong they’re they’re naive and and they’re I think driven generally by desire to justify kind of impulsive hedonism so anyways you should regard yourself as as a being characterized by intrinsic worth and then you should take a pawn and by should I mean if you don’t do this then all hell will break loose that’s what I mean by should it isn’t like I’m saying that’s what you should do because it’s it’s like an arbitrary duty that’s that’s not the point here the point is is that if you don’t do it there’ll be various forms of hell that you will wander into and bring other people with you as you journey and you’ll also sacrifice the hope in your life so it’s bad idea okay so now you treat yourself like you’re someone worth taking care of and then you extend that courtesy to others now why would you do that well first of all as I said you’re kind of a community that stretches across time in any case and and second well if it’s all about you how is that gonna work out for you like there’s 2300 people in this room and you’re gonna interact fairly intensely with about a thousand people in your life and you know first-degree relationships and then seconding relationships with about a million you know the people who know the people you know and if you don’t play fair generously and productively in a reciprocal manner if you don’t treat people like they have intrinsic worth the words get to get around real fast and no one’s gonna play with you and that’s not gonna go so well for you and so even if you were making this all about you but let’s say the extended and sophisticated you you’re still stuck with the same problem which is you better make the presumption that other people have a value that’s equivalent to your own or suffer the consequences