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Comment by awbvious

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Comment by awbvious

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So, it turns out the trolley was invented by a Mr. ForgottenToTime. A brilliant inventor who was really good at making locomotive machines, but not so much at convincing people to invest in his ideas. Because he told people honestly that his ideas may not see practical application right away, but with enough funding and coordination, possibly someday. But it might simply just take a lot of time and testing before it can be done safely. Not that many people would listen to him anyway, as he wasn't born rich.

Nonetheless, he preserved and started a modest company making decent trolley designs and rudimentary prototypes. Was coming along nicely, and probably would have gotten to the point of safe, general public use on its own with the help of other like-minded individuals in about twenty years. Not really a long time if you think about it.

Along came Samsamelo Altbankmenusk. Basically, the opposite of him. Really good at convincing people to invest in ideas, not so much at inventing locomotive machines. But so good at convincing, he could even convince you he was a brilliant inventor himself. Obviously, the only way he could do that is with blatant lies.

Now Samsamelo knew, at least conventionally, that lying is “wrong.” At least according to “society” which inconveniently has all the money that he wants. On top of the large amount of money he was born with, of course.

He also knows that society will allow wanting money for a societally-deemed-good purpose, such as feeding oneself and one's family. In extreme situations, like one is destitute and has no other option, it can even forgive/excuse lying or stealing to feed one's family. In other words, if it's for really good, but you need to do slightly bad, and you have no other options–society accepts.

But Samsamelo has plenty of money to feed himself and family. He nonetheless wants more. And he has seen among the many rich people around him that lying and stealing are very effective ways to do it. If he could just think of some way of justifying it, he could lie and steal, get lots of money, and be a “good” man.

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