Love? I want to live too, very much so. If it came to risking my life to guarantee the safety of my son, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I'd give my life to save his if it came to it. I'd probably do the same for my Mom or Dad too so I don't see it as a "perpetuation of the species" thing at all.

Interesting.

It just all sounds so silly to me. I imagine everybody all sacrificing themselves for each other. Sounds pointless.

Well, to be honest, I'm not going to run around sacrificing myself for just anybody. And I'd definitely not just going to jump into such a thing without thinking there aren't any other options. And it'd only be a close loved one. A distant friend would be a tough call. A stranger? Probably not.

It seems almost borderline Sociopath to not love at least somebody that you'd be even willing to consider sacrificing yourself for. Have you ever been tested? (not trying to be insulting, genuinely curious)

Yeah, I didn't really mean willy-nilly sacrifice on-a-dime.

No, I've never been tested for "sociopathy" (I cannot imagine that this is something that a lot of people do), and I'm not sure that I wouldn't sacrifice myself for somebody else, but regardless of my personal feelings on the matter, regardless of whether or not it is sociopathic, isn't it still a little silly?

No, not really. If a car is barreling toward my son, and I can only push him out of the way by jumping in front of the car and getting hit myself (but pushing him free of it), I'd do it, and wouldn't consider such a sacrifice silly at all if I witnessed another doing it.

Now think about the reverse: Several people see you watch somebody you know and personally love get hit by a car, and notice you could have saved them and one of them asks you about it. Would you feel bad at all saying "Yeah, I could have jumped out and saved him, but I would have died and that would be silly?"

I could see myself being pressured into feeling bad about not sacrificing myself (societal pressures/norms and all of that), but it really doesn't make sense to me to feel bad, and I sort of hope that I wouldn't. After all, why should I effectively doom myself to save them? Why should I feel bad? Why should I trade my life for theirs?

The answer to these questions seems obvious to many people, but I don't get it. Why is this virtuous? Why is this sensible? Why is this rational?

Why should one care about themselves more than others? There's nothing intrinsically valuable about the self. Accumulating resources or accomplishments? Sounds pretty pointless to me.

Fair enough. There is no intrinsic value to anything, everything is pointless, so who gives a fuck?

/conversation

Well, you're saying that there's no point (intrinsically) in self-sacrifice. I'm saying there's no point (intrinsically) in self-promotion. So the value judgement is relative.

And I'm saying that damn-near everything is relative.

Hence why self-sacrifice is usually an exceptional thing. We don't want everyone doing it all the time!