The Human Respect Test

Persuade or force?

When you want to change something, there are only a few ways to get it done. You can put in your own time and money. You can persuade others to help. Or you can make them.

Ten statements. Agree, maybe, or disagree. This isn't about defending yourself from someone who attacks first. It's about what you'd do to get something you want or believe in.

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About this test

Almost everyone persuades in their own life. The question is whether that changes when someone else does the forcing.

There are three ways to gather what it takes to solve a problem: put in your own time and money, persuade others to help, or force them. The first half of this test asks which you'd choose when it's up to you. The second half asks the same questions when a vote, a law, or a leader acts on your behalf.

The two halves are matched, topic by topic, so the difference between your scores is a real measurement: how much more comfortable you are with force once you've delegated it. The Philosophy of Human Respect holds that the difference shouldn't exist. Coercion, theft, and violence always reduce happiness, harmony, and prosperity, and none of that changes with whose hand is on them. If you ask someone to act for you, what they do is on you.

The test doesn't place you left or right. Liberal and conservative values are both good values to live by, and most people hold some of each. What it measures is the method you'd use to advance yours.