> a flat-out ban on "the end justifies the means" is now absolutely reasonable
Especially because nobody ever completes the original phrase...
"The ends don't justify the means, because the means make the ends."
If you use war to prevent suffering, you get suffering.
If you use hate to stop hate, you get hate.
etc.
This is a long way of saying, we become the very thing we fight. Humans aren't capable of using "the ends justify the means" without that happening, due to our faulty, hostile wetware... as you note!
Especially because nobody ever completes the original phrase...
"The ends don't justify the means, because the means make the ends."
If you use war to prevent suffering, you get suffering. If you use hate to stop hate, you get hate. etc.
This is a long way of saying, we become the very thing we fight. Humans aren't capable of using "the ends justify the means" without that happening, due to our faulty, hostile wetware... as you note!