Maybe. Killing or stealing for a reason doesn't make the action morally good, just less morally bad than the outcome it was intended to prevent. I've never heard the first parenting example.
Agreed, cognition and philosophy are technologies, tools. They shape what we can extract from them.
Thus the problem is not political but philosophical, how would we decide what to do when we cant decide what is worth more.
We are stuck in a local maximum, with Reality as the fitness function :p
I think humanity as a whole (not individual tribes) is quite good at getting out of local maxima in the past 2000 years.
Stable socioeconomic systems that in isolation could've existed for millennia are constantly getting crushed by their slightly more effective neighbors. When they're not crushed from the outside, they get consumed from within. In the end the better economy wins most of the time.
There's already a UK ban on carrying knives in public unless you have an occupational need and they're wrapped up or at least not just sitting in your pocket.
Licensing wouldn't be worthwhile as almost every household would want knives for food preparation.
That is why I said that, as the comparison is pretty weak. The US' gun problem basically wouldn't be a topic of discussion if it was occurring at the rate mass stabbings do in the UK.
Might be it's just not something we are used to in NZ/AU - in Italy you get like 20ml of espresso or if it's cappuccino it's something like 50ml. Quality will be ok. But I can't remember getting 100-200ml drink (i.e. cortado, flat white) for longer enjoyment.
