• Question: What would the world be like without any laws

    Asked by Y E S to Ben, Sam, Kirsty, Maggi, Rose on 13 Jun 2017.
    • Photo: Rose Turner

      Rose Turner answered on 13 Jun 2017:

      Wow what a great question.

      There is a book and a film called K-PAX about a (possible) alien who comes from a world without a need for laws. According to him, everyone on his planet just ‘does what needs doing when it needs doing’. That would be great, wouldn’t it!

      My view is that we need laws. Something that is right for one person might not be right for another, and so laws protect vulnerable people from being taken advantage of. Before needing to be enforced, they operate as a code of conduct that people and organisations (including schools!) must adhere to. Laws are often changing, because our understanding of what is right and wrong changes over time and according to different contexts. Laws are often very complicated too, and so they are regularly being updated – like when an unprecedented (not seen before) case arises.

      I imagine that people would set out rules and codes of conduct even if we didn’t have official laws (this seems likely if we consider evidence that most species of animal appear to operate according to behavioural codes). The risk then would be that some people would then take rule-making and justice into their own hands, which could be dangerous; people could gain power unfairly and people with less power could be vulnerable. I think the legal system, while not perfect, is a great achievement.

    • Photo: Kirsty Miller

      Kirsty Miller answered on 16 Jun 2017:

      Hi 🙂 That’s a great question! I think it would come to some sort of balance. There’s something called game theory which I think is really relevant – the idea is that some people will always cheat and try to exploit others, and some people will always try to help others. Not everyone could cheat though because then nothing could work, and the cheaters would ‘die out’. Similarly, not everyone could be kind because then they would be so busy helping others that they wouldn’t have anything left to look after themselves (I’m obviously simplifying this hugely!), so the kind people would end up dying out. This all means that you could never have a population that was just cheaters, or one that was all kind people, so there always be a rough balance. So to answer your question, I think it would figure itself out! 🙂

Comments