The Code Breaker

by Walter Isaacson

On most great moral issues, there are two competing perspectives. One emphasizes individual rights, personal liberty, and a deference to personal choice. Stemming from John Locke and other Enlightenment thinkers of the seventeenth century, this tradition recognizes that people will have different beliefs about what is good for their lives, and it argues that the state should give them a lot of liberty to make their own choices, as long as they do not harm others. The contrasting perspectives are those that view justice and morality through the lens of what is best for the society and perhaps even (in the case of bioengineering and climate policy) the species. Examples include requirements that schoolkids be vaccinated and that people wear masks during a pandemic. The emphasis on societal benefits rather than individual rights can take the form of John Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism, which seeks the greatest amount of happiness in a society even if that means trampling on the liberty of some individuals. Or it can take the form of more complex social contract theories,