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Can giving someone additional choice ever be bad? e.g. "If you fly to australia I will give you a scorpion plushie". GIVEN: no consent is violated (I am not stealing the plushie) and there's no punishment if refused ("you said no? Now i'm gonna mail you a box of live scorpions")

Yes, it can be bad
59.4%
No, that can't be bad
40.6%

510 votesFinal results

Replying to

At the very least in can be manipulative, even if when evaluated strictly logically it seems neutral at worst.

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and

Example: Parent to child - if you choose law school, I will buy you a car. Strictly speaking, purely positive. But if the child always wanted to go into theater, it can be bad to offer such a thing.

Aella

@Aella_Girl

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@maniexx

So, on some level I agree with you. It feels bad somewhere in my gut when I consider this option. But on another level I'm not sure I agree? Like, I'm not sure my brain agrees with my gut here.

6:56 PM · Oct 11, 2018

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Well, I think it's a matter of fact that giving someone a choice, even if in principle entirely voluntary, is a way to influence their behavior. Therefore, I don't think it's illogical that using this power can be bad. Even if some left over libertarian part of me is against that