> That's his mistake right there. He was under no moral obligation to fix Nintendo's mistake for them......If you truly have a guilty conscience, then just throw the extra package out, because it is abandoned property.
Do you really want to live in a world where everyone does this?
Imagine you are a small start-up where every penny counts and make the odd mistake here and there and people take advantage of that, destroying you.
Or imagine people are kind and help point out your mistake and give back your ~$500 device.
You get to decide which world you live in, because you are creating it.
I think this kind of thing really does depend on whether you're dealing with a small startup or even an individual human that you're screwing over, or a giant implacable machine like a multinational corporation.
There's no obligation to be nice to the machine, it can't recognise it, and it won't be grateful to you.
+1. The machine analogy is excellent. You have moral obligation to humans. You may decide to have moral obligation to society if you like the one your in and want it to grow. But you have zero obligation toward a souless entity. It's a robot. Optimized for profiting from a service it failed to perform adequatly.
Agree on the moral obligation to humans, but think it's best to keep the focus on not having a moral obligation to corporations (beyond T&Cs or contracts you willingly consent to). Not that you're wrong with the "souless robot" concept, but with the advances in AI, I wouldn't the first one to play out like Chappie.
"Why you humans do this? Why you all lie?" - Chappie
Have you seen "the good place" ? There is a hilarious part where "janet", their omnipotent and omniscient anthropomorphic IA - with basically no concept of suffering - triggers a defense mechanism where she pretends she is scared to die.
You are not taking into account that Nintendo is not a small startup, or an individual. I always go out of my way to help people who need it. I've always found people who've lost cell phones, and I have returned incorrectly shipped items that I have gotten on Ebay and Etsy.
There is a world of difference between a startup or a person, and Nintendo. Nintendo can afford this loss, and maybe they will improve their delivery system because of it.
But if an international mega-corporation accidentally screws themselves instead of me for once, no, I am not going to help them. They would never do the same for me, and it doesn't matter because they are not a person they are just a system, and will not appreciate it anyway.
And also, again, they are abandoning property with me. Are you seriously saying that some corporation can send you something, and expect you to keep it in good condition and then send it back to them? Think about this in terms of responsibility.
Treat others as they would want to be treated. Humans should be treated with kindness, respect, and forgiveness. Hypercapitalisitc international conglomerates should be treated with apathy, taking any advantage of any loophole that you can possibly get away with legally. Given how "they" treat others, its only fitting.
You should also consider the time it would take the company to correct the mistake and whether it's actually worth their time to do so. I'm reminded of this [1] answer on Stack Exchange that sometimes going through customer support costs a company more than they get back from the resolution.
You could do everything right and make no mistakes, and still fail. That's life.
You have a point though, that an economy -- at its core -- is an indirect representation of its host society's morals and values, and throwing around moral indignation does seem appropriate, but it's hard not to side with the defeatists here. Doing the right thing (ie: being morally responsible) carries a risk that only the most steadfast can endure.
I've personally been inconvenienced by this abandoned property issue too.
I agree 100% with the "it is their problem let them discover and fix it" resolution.
Received 4+1 devices, contacted seller, shipped back, somehow I ended up paying for their shipping fee. Could have re-contacted them, did not, retained grudge instead.
Destroying you is harsh. Startups make mistakes all of the time if this is a constant issue it is probably better the issue is visible and can he fixed before scaling.
Do you really want to live in a world where everyone does this?
Imagine you are a small start-up where every penny counts and make the odd mistake here and there and people take advantage of that, destroying you.
Or imagine people are kind and help point out your mistake and give back your ~$500 device.
You get to decide which world you live in, because you are creating it.