"They"??? No, not they. You. Me. Us.

Give me a break with this sanctimonious drivel. Ship owners don't drive around the oceans aimlessly for fun. They are facilitating global trade. The computer you wrote your post on was probably delivered via cargo ship. Ditto half the stuff in your life that you obviously take for granted. So I hate to break this to you, but you are just as responsible for "polluting the atmosphere" and "damaging the climate" as the ship owner, because without you that ship has no need to sail.

Please let me know how you plan on reimbursing me. I accept Paypal.

If the person you replied to just died today, virtually nothing would change about global capitalism. Also, what kind of ethics do you subscribe to that validates your reasoning? I can't imagine your definition of responsibility being useful at all except as an excuse to tell people to stop complaining about the flaws of a system far too large to be at all under their influence except collectively.

Granted that we have collective responsibility for human activity, then only by collective action can we assume stewardship of our responsibilities. The basis of collective action is first consensus, which is achieved through communication. Therefore the grandparent is taking a perfectly rational action in communicating their distaste for the system.

I feel second-hand embarrassment for your combative and flimsy dismissal.

Says the man using electricity to write messages that aren't necessary. /s

This comment breaks the HN guidelines, and you've posted uncivil comments to HN before. We ban accounts that do that, so please don't do that.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html

Just for kicks, how do you feel about the gigawatts used to mine bitcoins, or rather, keep the blockchain ledger ticking?