On Karma

[Syne]

Who said the property was small and unfenced, or the dogs unvaccinated? No one's posted a link to the actual story here anyway.

[Magical Realist]

Local news segment detailing the event:

https://youtu.be/B3mbUPSLdCU

[Yazata]

Do you believe in Karma

Not really. But I definitely like it.

Having said that I don't believe that karma is true, I can't actually say that I believe it's false either. It's unfalsifable.

in the general sense of people getting what they deserve in the end?

Maybe that's why I like it. Karma is a way of conceiving of the universe as fundamentally fair.

It seems to me one does not have to be religious to agree with this principle.

I like that too. It doesn't imply all the additional theistic baggage that divine-judgment theories do.

I find myself uttering such phrases like "Payback's a bitch." and "What goes around comes around." at appropriate moments.

I think that we all do. FAFO (fuck around, find out) is currently trending on social media.

I guess based on that I do believe in karma, even though I have no empirical grounds for doing so. It's like superstitions--beliefs subconsciously ingrained in our psyche that predate our 21st century modern scientific ego consciousness.

I'm inclined to think of all ethics and morality that way, I guess. (I'm attracted to evolutionary ethics.) Not only am I doubtful about karma, I'm equally doubtful about objective good and evil. So karma has as much empirical justification as right and wrong do... and as little.

---

An absolutely horrible incident occurred the other day here in Portland that has me ashamed of my prior karmic speculations. A 6 year boy old was staying at a neighbor's house and went into the garage where the two dogs were being kept (great dane and mastif mix). The dogs attacked the boy, mauling him and killing him. The lady who owned the dogs tried to make them stop but was attacked too and only injured. It's events like this that make me rethink karma and certainly a loving god. Absolutely senseless and meaningless tragedy!

The idea of karma is associated with the idea of reincarnation precisely because of the problem of suffering saints and prospering sinners.

Imagine a newborn baby born with horrible birth defects. If that baby was a new individual, then there would be no moral explanation for his/her affliction. But if the baby was the latest incarnation in an endless chain of lives, then the affliction might be rationalized as the karmic result of things done in a previous incarnation.

Similarly, a truly horrible person might live a very full and comfortable life. The karmic idea predicts that he/she would receive the inevitable reward in a future life.

Again, I see the idea of karma as a way for people to conceive of the universe as fundamentally fair.

[Syne]

The woman entered the garage to take care of her two dogs and the 6-year-old boy opened the door behind her.
...
The boy had been told to stay away from the dogs before because they were dangerous, police said.
- https://www.koin.com/news/portland/child...ink-block2

The boy should have been taught to heed such warnings, if actually given. There's not usually a way to lock a garage door from the outside. So not sure the dog owner could have taken further precautions.