Do we still have a conscience? Can conscience become corrupted?
Our sense of conscience is so baked in that we all tend to think we know exactly what it is. But, do we?
I guess first of all, we have start with some working definitions:
Among other things, one could probably assert that conscience is a sense of what is right and wrong. When the application of it gets specific and is tested, we revert to a sense of what it must be. In many ways, it is a strange brew (somewhat inconsistent view) of what we think or feel personally and how we corroborate that with what we think or feel collectively.
In other words, we seem to have some awareness that, besides the content itself, there are at least two influences in what we think or feel is right or wrong. One is what we think (ostensibly) by ourself and, two, how that jives with what others think collectively. We are often balancing where either is, by itself, not right in order to come up with a working understanding worthy of reinforcement.
Drivers involved in the very founding of our country (some of which are captured in our Constitution), views on abuses in things like slavery, law enforcement, war, religion, the environment, and personal relationships are all examples of where a sense of conscience is involved. We might say about something in any one of these contexts that something just isn't...right. Something isn't good. That we need to do something about that (whatever that is).
So, fast-track this into our current cultural context. It feels like, especially in the public arena, we have lost something — something involving our conscience. Something isn't right. And, if that is true collectively, then that might implicate each of us personally. Because this is where some of our conscience comes from.
In fact, even as our sense of what is right and wrong is awash in all kinds of sources of information to evaluate it, we can see a persistent stance re-emerging about what all of this is adding up to, including whether or not it is good for us (personally and collectively).
All of the drops us off a bit at the door of the second question we started with. How malleable is our conscience? In other words, is it a fixed thing or can it be significantly influenced, even corrupted?
If you benefit from your sense of right and wrong or good and bad, does that reinforce what we refer to as conscience? What if you don't benefit? What if you are harmed by it? How does your sense of "it's just not right" manifest then? And, what factors play into this more than others?
You probably know that the cost of things, even basic things like your utility costs, are significantly impacted right now by the data centers that are driving AI. Is that OK? Well, if you can afford it, maybe 'I guess so' still works. Whenever you want it, you get the benefit of being able to look up nearly anything you want online and getting an amazing array of results that can often be useful to you. What about the depletion of our water supply to support it? When would that be a real problem? How much harm would it take?
What about ICE? Is what ICE is doing OK? Well, you may not mind the principle, but what about how they are doing it — what about the abuses?
How about government use of your personal data? Well, they know anyway right? What about when they arrest you because of something you said about the government? What if they create lies to manipulate how you vote? That's OK, if it's about the Democrats? What about if its about a fellow Republican?
What if it’s about how your tax dollars are used, including creating war?
The point is, there is a line. Even if it's different for different folks because of how they are benefited or harmed, there is still a line.
It's our conscience that tells us where it is.
