[Text] @zobrien

[flying_fish]

[Zed isn't in the best of moods since another person he cared for disappeared, so he's taken to drink. Not that the alcohol has ever helped him, but it has him thinking about home...and some not so pleasant business back there.]

There's an item back home that operates like the Chinese gu. Except instead of venomous creatures, you insert humans. It is said that once the ritual is complete, it will lead to the destruction of the world.

The humans inside are forced to kill each other and mix together until becoming one being. The skin disappears while the skeleton, muscles, and organs fuse together. They're neither dead nor alive because of the magic that binds them.

Let's say the item broke, and a part of the conglomerate was separated from the whole. The humans that make up this "specimen" are children. Do you destroy it to prevent the ritual from being completed?

Comments

text; un: prof.asuka

[recidivate]

You make it almost sound like killing it would be a mercy. But it's still obvious that the proper option is to kill few to save many.

It's similar to the Trolley Problem in ethics.

[flying_fish]

You're right, it is very similar. [Uncomfortably so.]

You're not alone in your answer. I can't say I disagree either on a rational level. The group I was with was split, however, but there was talk of moving the specimen to a place where it could be destroyed.

[recidivate]

[ he'd kill children for a klondike bar, so - ]

You can only be rational. If you spend a lot of time trying to save one, you could fail and lose them all. Do people think they're doing someone a favor by delaying the inevitable.

[flying_fish]

[Satan, why you gotta be like this?]

I think others may have hope that there could be a way to reverse the transformation. The leader of my group is the kind of person who would do anything for that small glimmer of a chance. Although he was not with us at the time, his ideals are something we take to heart.

[recidivate]

If you reverse it, what happens? Someone just tries again. If it requires specific people you deal with those specific ones.

[flying_fish]

Let's say the item can be destroyed. Would that change your opinion?

[recidivate]

There's two important questions I'd have in determining a course of action.

1. What's the likeliness of it being rebuilt? How long would it take to be rebuilt?
2. If it can be rebuilt, even say - 50 years down the line - would they require the same children, or would they be able to use different children? Do the components need to be children?
3. If it is several essentially combining to become one, is it suffering? Is it in pain?
Does it have an extended or shortened lifespan regardless?

I feel like if the children have no chance of a meaningful, individual existence, even if the item can be destroyed, letting them to continue to live because you can't bear the idea of ending them is torture, and shouldn't be considered anything less.

sorry for the late, had to take a mini hiatus

[flying_fish]

1. That's hard to say. I'd say unlikely by the hands of current humans and Beyondians, but I would not be surprised if one of the gods decided to rebuild it.
2. It can be anyone as long as they're human.
3. I cannot say with certainty whether the magic involved in their process has turned off their sense of pain and the resulting lifespan. However, I'm assuming they are in pain.

I do not disagree with the idea that their current state may be living torture. I would not force that on anyone.

all good ~ ♥

[recidivate]

Then ultimately I'd attempt to destroy the machine, as well as kill those who were used as resources. Even if killing them is only for their own sake. I don't think there's anything wrong with taking necessary action for continued survival, especially since it sounds like you're doing the world a favor.