Comment by KronisLV
5 months ago
I think they’re just right in this case.
Suppose I’m a bad actor that creates an unfair algorithm that overcharges the clients of my company. Eventually it’s discovered. The algorithm could be fixed, the servers decommissioned, whatever, but I’ve already won. If the people who requested the algorithm be made in that way, if the people who implemented it or ran it see no consequences, there’s absolutely nothing preventing me from doing the same thing another time, elsewhere.
Punishment for fraud seems sane, regardless of whether it’s enabled by code or me cooking some books by hand.
One could even argue (from a raw individual utility perspective - aka selfish) that if the person/people who did that suffered no negative consequences, they’d be fools to not do it again elsewhere.
The evolutionary function certainly encourages it, correct?
Ignoring that means that not applying consequences makes one actually culpable in the bad behavior occurring.
Especially if nothing changed re: rules or enforcement, etc.