 The “fact of our separate existences” is “the fact that that no moral balancing act can take place among us” (because costs and benefits add up within persons’ lives and not across them). In contrast, the further fact that there are moral side-constraints against imposing sacrifices on some to serve the interests of others is a reflection of the “fact of our separate existences”. We come to the affirmation of those side-constraints when we sufficiently respect and take account of the separateness of  persons.[7]  This is what Nozick must mean when he says that “The moral side constraints upon what we may do… reflect the fact of our separate existences” (33). The fact of our separate existences—as Nozick parses that fact—is the morally impressive fact about the nature of individuals that provides us with reason to be circumspect in our conduct toward one another. We respect or honor others as agents with rational ends of their own not by promoting their ends as we do our own but, rather, by not sacrificing them to our ends.