1. There are many versions of the Golden rule (Platinum, Iron, etc.). Every culture and tradition has one. They appear in every major (and most minor) world religions.

The oldest is probably from Egypt:

"That which you hate to be done to you, do not do to another."

2. The Platinum rule goes one level up: it recognizes different people want to be treated differently. It states:

Treat other people as they want to be treated.

Philosopher Karl Popper is likely who coined the term.

3. The trap in all of these rules are the exceptions.

Can you have a stock market that honors any of these rules? If you buy X low because you know (but they don't) you can sell it high in a week.. that breaks most of these rules.

Competition is at odds with the golden rule.

4. And that's the problem with platitudes. They are noble aspirations but they work against parts of our nature.

This is OK if we recognize them. "Oh wait, for me to win they have to lose. Hmmm. Is there a better way?"

Rather than deny it or ignore it. Which we often do.

5. The primary basis for skirting the rules is "well, this only applies to X" - even though the laws don't say there are exceptions. We add those.

We're tribal by nature. We protect our families before we protect strangers. But the rule doesn't say we should do that. Hmmmmmm.

6. It's worth noting that when many of these rules were written the people who wrote them were at war with some other group. So they were literally written in contradiction.

And we are creatures of contradiction. We shouldn't think of these rules without remembering that.

7. The Greeks had this one:

"Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing." – Thales

It's more gentle as laws go - "avoid". That's more on the mark, isn't it? We all have bad days or let panic or selfishness get the better of us.

8. And then there's the Stoics. Who can be hard to bear: they were wealthy people talking about living without things (hmmm). They had this:

"Treat your inferior as you would wish your superior to treat you." - Seneca

He wrote that about his slaves, which... breaks the rule!

9. The golden rule is often tied to this:

Love your neighbor as yourself - Leviticus 19:18

But neighbor is.... a flexible term! Is it the dude in the house next door? the next city? country?

Good Samaritan parable says it's even your enemy! Oh dear. So no wars then, right?

10. This is where the rules flounder for us. In the parable one person is saved. But in the story the tension between Jews and Samaritans continues (it's implied at least).

So the golden rule is often a good act in a bad system, a balm to a symptom but not the cause.

11. The conclusion to this riff on the challenges of Golden rules are Samaritan Laws.

Written to protect ppl who were trying to help from getting sued(!). This is where moral law meets modern state law.

And like the rule itself, there are many variants

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Samaritan_law

12. Curiously social media make the golden rule(and variants) harder to practice. We're encouraged by design to act fast and with first emotions. It's more efficient to challenge/judge/RT than think, consider and see assumptions.

13. References:

I can't name many sources as I've studied this informally for many years. I used Wikipedia which has good (but not flawless) summations:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule#Criticism