001: anonymous text
A moment of your time is all I ask, and in it, the answer to a question that has busied the minds of some of the world's greatest and consequently most idle thinkers. Your philosophical standing is not crucial here, merely answer by instinct.
Is it permissable to deliberately cause unhappiness, destitution or even death to the few, if the resulting consequence is the happiness and well being of the many?
Before you answer, consider:
- Natural selection is seen in nature as a rule; the weak and the sick are picked off by predators, improving the overall health and natural resistance to predators in the long term.
- Human hunters interfere with this process not by killing the weak and sick, but by seeking out the most
powerful and fertile beasts, and instead killing those.
- Humans do not suffer from natural selection. The weak and sick are provided the means by which to live in comfort, even reproduce. They are not predated on.
- Consider also the value of human life as defined by the Port. From prices placed on people's heads (alive or dead), to the difference between those rich living in their private enclaves and those poor in Sectors 9 and 10, who live without Darkness proofing and what would many would call the basic human right to a safe and comfortable environment.
- If you can bend your mind around the concept, then consider also the role of slavery in the city. Are their human rights the same as yours? Are yours the same as a natural citizen's?
Is it permissable to deliberately cause unhappiness, destitution or even death to the few, if the resulting consequence is the happiness and well being of the many?
Before you answer, consider:
- Natural selection is seen in nature as a rule; the weak and the sick are picked off by predators, improving the overall health and natural resistance to predators in the long term.
- Human hunters interfere with this process not by killing the weak and sick, but by seeking out the most
powerful and fertile beasts, and instead killing those.
- Humans do not suffer from natural selection. The weak and sick are provided the means by which to live in comfort, even reproduce. They are not predated on.
- Consider also the value of human life as defined by the Port. From prices placed on people's heads (alive or dead), to the difference between those rich living in their private enclaves and those poor in Sectors 9 and 10, who live without Darkness proofing and what would many would call the basic human right to a safe and comfortable environment.
- If you can bend your mind around the concept, then consider also the role of slavery in the city. Are their human rights the same as yours? Are yours the same as a natural citizen's?