Interactive ethics
Ethicists have come up with striking thought experiments in order to explore various aspects of common questions. Judith Jarvis Thomson's "A Defense of Abortion" (1971) suggested that if you had been kidnapped by music lovers so that your kidneys and your uniquely compatible blood type could sustain a famous violinist through a nine-month course of treatment, it would be permissible to disconnect (and thereby doom) the violinist if you didn't feel like spending the next nine months of your life in a hospital bed.
This is just one example, but I thought that it would be interesting to let a player work through some of these examples with guidance from certain ethicists. I've taken a tentative first step in creating such a work of interactive fiction:
"Quandary" by Ben Ostrowsky
Chained To A Violinist is a scene. Chained To A Violinist begins when play begins.
Hospital Bed is a room. "Raising your head from the hospital bed, you see a dark red tube quietly pumping blood from your body towards someone behind you. Another dark red tube pumps blood forward into your own body.
A nurse, seeing that you're awake, explains that your kidneys are now sustaining both yourself and a famous violinist who is unconscious in the bed behind you. 'It will be safe to unhook you after nine months,' the nurse explains, 'but until then, another person's life depends on your cooperation.'
As you attempt to make sense of the situation, you realize that you are not alone: several other strangers are in the room, some more oddly dressed than the rest."
Immanuel Kant is here. The description of Immanuel Kant is "An older Prussian man in a wig, perhaps in his seventies, Kant returns your gaze with calm determination, though he appears mildly distressed to see you in this predicament." Understand "Kant" or "Immanuel" or "Emanuel" or "Manny" as Immanuel Kant.
John Stuart Mill is here. The description of John Stuart Mill is "A balding British gentleman, Mill seems lost in thought." Understand "John" or "Mill" as John Stuart Mill.
Judith Jarvis Thomson is here. The description of Judith Jarvis Thomson is "A seventyish American woman, Thomson surveys the room. On her face you can see a shock of recognition, which gives way to sympathetic outrage." Understand "Judith" or "Jarvis" or "Thomson" as Judith Jarvis Thomson.
The bulk of the work is handling conversations with these guides, perhaps in a way similar to Emily Short's Glass (a reworking of the Cinderella story). I want the player to be able to ASK KANT WHAT I SHOULD DO, or ASK MILL ABOUT MY FREEDOM, and ultimately to TELL THE NURSE I WANT TO STAY or TELL THE NURSE TO DISCONNECT THE VIOLINIST. That would end the scene, perhaps leading the player into the Trolley Problem, or (ultimately) into a debriefing room in which an ethicist explains what kind of ethics best matches the decisions the player has made in all these scenes.
I doubt I'll spend much time on this, but I'm just putting it out there for the hell of it.
This is just one example, but I thought that it would be interesting to let a player work through some of these examples with guidance from certain ethicists. I've taken a tentative first step in creating such a work of interactive fiction:
"Quandary" by Ben Ostrowsky
Chained To A Violinist is a scene. Chained To A Violinist begins when play begins.
Hospital Bed is a room. "Raising your head from the hospital bed, you see a dark red tube quietly pumping blood from your body towards someone behind you. Another dark red tube pumps blood forward into your own body.
A nurse, seeing that you're awake, explains that your kidneys are now sustaining both yourself and a famous violinist who is unconscious in the bed behind you. 'It will be safe to unhook you after nine months,' the nurse explains, 'but until then, another person's life depends on your cooperation.'
As you attempt to make sense of the situation, you realize that you are not alone: several other strangers are in the room, some more oddly dressed than the rest."
Immanuel Kant is here. The description of Immanuel Kant is "An older Prussian man in a wig, perhaps in his seventies, Kant returns your gaze with calm determination, though he appears mildly distressed to see you in this predicament." Understand "Kant" or "Immanuel" or "Emanuel" or "Manny" as Immanuel Kant.
John Stuart Mill is here. The description of John Stuart Mill is "A balding British gentleman, Mill seems lost in thought." Understand "John" or "Mill" as John Stuart Mill.
Judith Jarvis Thomson is here. The description of Judith Jarvis Thomson is "A seventyish American woman, Thomson surveys the room. On her face you can see a shock of recognition, which gives way to sympathetic outrage." Understand "Judith" or "Jarvis" or "Thomson" as Judith Jarvis Thomson.
The bulk of the work is handling conversations with these guides, perhaps in a way similar to Emily Short's Glass (a reworking of the Cinderella story). I want the player to be able to ASK KANT WHAT I SHOULD DO, or ASK MILL ABOUT MY FREEDOM, and ultimately to TELL THE NURSE I WANT TO STAY or TELL THE NURSE TO DISCONNECT THE VIOLINIST. That would end the scene, perhaps leading the player into the Trolley Problem, or (ultimately) into a debriefing room in which an ethicist explains what kind of ethics best matches the decisions the player has made in all these scenes.
I doubt I'll spend much time on this, but I'm just putting it out there for the hell of it.