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<blockquote data-quote="Soulsong" data-source="post: 2943128" data-attributes="member: 15704"><p>Exactly. I agree completely. Even if one could come up with some sane explanation for this "balancing" intent/behavior, I dare say it would be more evil than neutral. Neutrality does not make sense as a "balancing" alignment. It does make sense as ammorality/anethicality (either ignorance or apathy), indecision (I know what is Good/Evil/Lawful/Chaotic, but I have not determined/realized/accepted which goal I will consciously seek), or as alignment "laziness" (for lack of a better term at the moment. ie I know what is Good/Evil/Lawful/Chaotic, and have a preference, but I choose not to bother because of the effort involved).</p><p></p><p>I might propose a thought experiment to help people understand what their own view of alignment is. It is nothing grand, and has numerous holes, but I think it could be illuminating:</p><p></p><p>Creature A has 100% LG intent (you decide what that is).</p><p>Creature B is stuck under the influence of a hypothetical alignment translation machine that recognizes the intent (including any meta intent) of each of his actions and causes the performance of an action intending to have the opposite moral/ethical outcome.</p><p></p><p>What alignment would you label this creature if he was further deceived into beleiving that his actions were indeed good, but in reality, continued to cause Chaos and Evil?</p><p>What alignment would you label this creature if he was able to perceive his true actions and the effects of his actions, but had no way to prevent himself from causing Chaos or Evil?</p><p>How would this effect the intent of the creature in the long term? It would not want to continue effecting actions opposite of its intent, but it also could not fool the machine into doing what it truly intended. My supposition might be that it would eventually precipitate either cognative dissonance (insanity) or a gradual progression towards moral/ethical apathy.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Soulsong, post: 2943128, member: 15704"] Exactly. I agree completely. Even if one could come up with some sane explanation for this "balancing" intent/behavior, I dare say it would be more evil than neutral. Neutrality does not make sense as a "balancing" alignment. It does make sense as ammorality/anethicality (either ignorance or apathy), indecision (I know what is Good/Evil/Lawful/Chaotic, but I have not determined/realized/accepted which goal I will consciously seek), or as alignment "laziness" (for lack of a better term at the moment. ie I know what is Good/Evil/Lawful/Chaotic, and have a preference, but I choose not to bother because of the effort involved). I might propose a thought experiment to help people understand what their own view of alignment is. It is nothing grand, and has numerous holes, but I think it could be illuminating: Creature A has 100% LG intent (you decide what that is). Creature B is stuck under the influence of a hypothetical alignment translation machine that recognizes the intent (including any meta intent) of each of his actions and causes the performance of an action intending to have the opposite moral/ethical outcome. What alignment would you label this creature if he was further deceived into beleiving that his actions were indeed good, but in reality, continued to cause Chaos and Evil? What alignment would you label this creature if he was able to perceive his true actions and the effects of his actions, but had no way to prevent himself from causing Chaos or Evil? How would this effect the intent of the creature in the long term? It would not want to continue effecting actions opposite of its intent, but it also could not fool the machine into doing what it truly intended. My supposition might be that it would eventually precipitate either cognative dissonance (insanity) or a gradual progression towards moral/ethical apathy. [/QUOTE]
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