Ethical question

Jul 24, 2009 22:38

If aliens were going to destroy the Earth unless you gave them 10% of the Earth's children, would you?

P.S. Jack Harkness is a bastard.

television, ethics, science fiction

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Comments 20

wishesofastar July 26 2009, 19:09:32 UTC
Well, what are they planning to do with said children? I imagine that, to be fair, the decision would have to come from the parents. If we could get 10% of the world's parents to agree to give up their kids, why not? Of course, children old enough to form their own decisions would have to agree as well. Also, how are we defining "children"? All of the Earth's population under the age of 18? That would make a hell of a dent. I need details.

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nontacitare July 26 2009, 22:57:54 UTC
Well, what are they planning to do with said children?

Unknown. The aliens aren't saying.

If we could get 10% of the world's parents to agree to give up their kids, why not?

Well, the children's lives and free will would be over. What if we couldn't get 10% of the world's parents to sacrifice their children for the greater good? Would you still do it?

Also, how are we defining "children"?
Old enough to walk and talk; young enough not to have gone through puberty. Principally elementary school age.

Personally, I wouldn't, even if I knew the Earth could be destroyed. I'd try to find another alternative.

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wishesofastar July 27 2009, 01:07:15 UTC
Yes, an alternative would be preferable. I certainly wouldn't want to consider it.

Well, the children's lives and free will would be over.

We're not sure about their lives, right? After all, the aliens aren't telling us what's going to happen to the kids. Maybe they'll be raised in more nurturing environments than any human parents could provide (though this seems extremely unlikely).

Really, I'm just giving you a bit of a hard time. :) I don't think any society would ever agree to this.

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nontacitare July 27 2009, 02:11:29 UTC
We're not sure about their lives, right? After all, the aliens aren't telling us what's going to happen to the kids

We have seen one child who was taken 40 years earlier. It's appearance has been altered, it doesn't react to outside stimuli, and it's hooked up to an alien like some sort of battery.

I don't think any society would ever agree to this.
I don't think any parent would ever agree to this, but governments? If they had the chance to get rid of the "undesirables?"

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dtbrookes July 27 2009, 01:50:31 UTC
Yes, as long as the aliens made a binding agreement to not destroy the earth any time in the future, or return after any period of time asking for another 10% of the children in return for not destroying the earth

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nontacitare July 27 2009, 02:13:16 UTC
They've already visited one country on Earth 40 years earlier and took 12 children; the aliens have also hinted that they see Earth's children as a renewable resource.

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sister_shaman July 27 2009, 22:33:18 UTC
They wanted the children because of the 'chemicals' they produced. Children were the aliens 'heroin', they were essentially main-lining them.

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nontacitare July 28 2009, 03:21:17 UTC
Thanks. I missed a crucial 10 minutes when my mom called.

So what would you have done?

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sister_shaman July 28 2009, 14:48:59 UTC
When I'm watching something good like Torchwood or Dr.Who, I usually let my phone go to voice mail. I know, I'm wicked ( ... )

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nontacitare July 29 2009, 02:26:39 UTC
Jack's too much the hero to run away.

I think I see him more as a loner thief who was drafted as a hero, and tries to live up to the job description. I didn't like the note the show ended on, but it seemed very much in character to me.

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elvensunhame July 27 2009, 22:55:19 UTC
Geeez! These are kids we're talking about. NO WAY would I allow a child be to be taken. Children are our world's treasures. If I had a way to protect them and everyone else I would. Blowing aliens out of the sky sounds like a good plan; esp if results were seen from first kidnapping.

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nontacitare July 28 2009, 03:22:05 UTC
What would you do if you couldn't blow the aliens out of the sky?

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elvensunhame July 28 2009, 23:31:32 UTC
Die fighting for freedom

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tesinth July 28 2009, 04:07:53 UTC
If the aliens could destroy the earth then they certainly don't need our permission to take 10% of our kids. Of course, destroying the earth could be a bluff, after all, why would they destroy something they want (kids?). It would be more logical to enslave all of humanity and take the kids as they wish (I promise not to work as an consultant for the aliens ( ... )

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nontacitare July 28 2009, 19:00:54 UTC
If the aliens could destroy the earth then they certainly don't need our permission to take 10% of our kids.

Our atmosphere is deadly to the aliens. They need our help to appear on the Earth at all, and then only in confined conditions. What they can do is poison our atmosphere from outer space, which would of course would also kill the kids.

who the hell put me in charge anyways?
Everyone's passing the buck. The UN gives it to the US; the US gives it to its largest university (OSU); OSU gives it to the science department; the science department is deadlocked and since you're doing maintenance in their building, they turn to you to be the tie-breaker.

("The Baby-Eating Aliens")
I stayed up way too late reading this story. Thanks for the link; it was fascinating.

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tesinth July 29 2009, 02:37:41 UTC
One flaw in your first assertion is that if the aliens can survive in the near-vacuum of space, they should be able to do just fine in our atmosphere; if a ship's hull can survive in space it should also protect the occupants from any toxic (to them) gasses in our air. Of course, they won't be coming down in their mother-ships but rather smaller vessels, but it is logical to assume that these ships will offer the same protection in one form or another (structurally or some weird force-field type thing). Another nail in the "they can't come down here" coffin is that they probably would have developed at least a basic (advanced by our standards) understanding and usage of robotics, potentially allowing their drones to come down and capture our children if they in fact were unable to. (Seriously not trying to question the overall scenario you proposed, just trying to avoid any huge possible logical flaws such as occurred in the movie 'Signs', Yeah, a frickin' alien civilization is going to come across the galaxy to invade a world that ( ... )

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nontacitare July 29 2009, 03:15:00 UTC
One flaw in your first assertion is that if the aliens can survive in the near-vacuum of space, they should be able to do just fine in our atmosphere; if a ship's hull can survive in space it should also protect the occupants from any toxic (to them) gasses in our air. I wondered about that while watching the show. It's also possible the aliens didn't come down to Earth because they didn't want to be targets; they knew they were safe in their space ships.

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