logoalt Hacker News

scoofyyesterday at 7:29 AM4 repliesview on HN

I’m saying sleeping on a bench that is meant for transit users to wait for a train is, indeed, anti-social.

This is fairly trivial to demonstrate using a categorical imperative. If everyone used the transit system to sleep in, then that transit system would likely cease to exist, and the benches would not be maintained.

We very much ought to have places for people to sleep. That those resources are rarely provided to many folks satisfaction is shameful. Still when public services are make less functional this can interfere with the literal viability of expensive transportation systems. They can rapidly become insolvent if transit consumers prefer alternatives due to the misuse of spaces.

The idea that need trumps all other factors leads us to inefficiency public services that collapse.


Replies

cousin_ityesterday at 8:55 AM

Homeless people have no moral obligation to stay away from benches due to "solvency of transportation systems", if society doesn't care about them in return.

show 1 reply
paganelyesterday at 6:57 PM

> If everyone used the transit system to sleep in

Nobody ever does that, whatever a "categorical imperative" might be or represent. But not having benches because a victim of capitalism might, Heaven forbid, sleep on it, is the epitome of cultural and societal barbarism. Countries that do that are not part of civilized society, they might be wealthy, and many of them are (I've seen a similar philosophy in regards to benches in Switzerland), but they're not civilized.

show 1 reply
nextaccounticyesterday at 8:16 AM

Here's an even more anti-social behavior: not providing enough housing so that there exists homeless people.

show 1 reply