From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Wed Nov 25 1998 - 09:02:43 MST
From: Paul Hughes <planetp@aci.net>
>> But what about the victim?
>>
>> Since I believe the only current possibility of life after death
>> involves cryonics, the debt owed the victim is infinite.
>>
>> I postulate that the death penalty is the only just solution for
>> the unlawful and malicious nonrecoverable termination of a
>> fellow human being.
>Either you are hallucinating or you know of some 'magical'
>technology I'm unaware of. Since when is killing a persons
>murderer capable of resurrecting the deceased? Since I don't of
>any such device, killing someone will *not* bring the dead back to
>life. So how is this 'death penalty' even beginning to pay the
>debt to the victim? They are dead! It may feel good to exercise
>your savage lust for vengeance. But it is neither rational or
>just, let alone extropian. It is vengeance pure and simple.
I am not hallucinating, nor have I inplied any such technology.
The debt is paid with the murderer's life even thought it is of
lesser value. I have no savage lust for vengeance, just a
completely rational desire for justice.
The victim is dead, but not forgotten. It is in his/her best
interest, and ours, that justice is served.
>Otherwise, please demonstrate how the death penalty will pay back
>this infinite debt to the victim (since they are already dead),
>and how it is anything other than an acting out of ones need for
>vengeance.
As I pointed out above, the debt cannot be repaid since the value
of the murderers life is less than that of the victim. Yet justice
demands he/she pay all they can.
You choose to forget the victim, I chose rationally to forget the
murderer.
Brian
Member, Extropy Institute
www.extropy.org
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