Oh yeah I’d be all over that.
A LOT of countries would be holding surprise elections.
What, never? You won’t ever judge anyone else, in case their moral standards permit or encourage whatever it is they’re doing?
Is it instant? Like if a guy was running for a touchdown could I pop him off before the goal line?
Nowadays? I would try to destroy/hide the box. Back in the day? Before they found the right meds for me? [bipolar] Watch out anyone and everyone–including myself.
I’d finally win Celebrity Death Pool.
I would think about myself and press the button as softly as possible.
Frankly, the box sounds kind of handy in a hostage situation, but you don’t want suffering. You want them to go quick, like switching off a light. The point is to save innocent lives. You don’t want them to have time to pull a trigger.
Is it wrong that this made me laugh?
I don’t know how long it would take me to use the box but I don’t believe I would be able to destroy it and I certainly wouldn’t trust anyone else enough to give it to them.
Well…that about sums it up. I do stuff that I think is ok but which others feel warrants stoning or burning, and other folks believe it’s ok to do stuff which I find absolutely incredible. Who’s to say which values are wrong?
In case there’s a bit of reductio ad absurdum brewing (so baby-rapers should be left to rape babies?), I should probably point out I see a distinction between moral judgment and legal process. I also recognize psychosis can lead to some really weird/violent behavior that can necessitate curtailing some personal freedoms. But there’s a difference between saying “that’s dangerous” and “that’s wrong.”
Hey, look. All those famous terrorists just dropped dead. Close up shop, boys. We’re done here.
Oh, come on. It was an accident. That makes you shake with rage? The woman has two other young boys…would you really kill their mother because she accidentally chased her pain meds with a glass of wine an hour later? It wasn’t like she shook, starved, or drowned the kid. She just got distracted feeding her other two kids that she forgot to go back outside. Hell, I doubt I’d even convict her if I were on a jury, let alone kill her!
It’s not quick at all. And I’ve now invented the box. I thought of all of you and then pushed the button.
It might be a few decades before it takes effect. But eventually… ha! Feel my wrath!
Heh…sort of like the ‘quivering palm?’ (Men Who Stare At Goats)
For just a second I thought you were talking about using it on the hostages.
Pop quiz hotshot…
You are familiar with corbomite? I have some. Let’s hope you weren’t thinking of me.
Me, obviously. And frankly, as a moral relativist, you’d have no recourse without revealing yourself to be a hypocrite.
I would start with the person who gave me the box - what kind of evil person walks around handing out magical killing boxes?!? They must be stopped!
If, by that, you mean I don’t have the right to tell you you’re full of beans cuz you’re not the boss of me, then I agree. But just because I allow you your right to your own opinion doesn’t mean I have to adopt it.
And if you tell me I’m wrong, then you’re agreeing with me in principle.
My head hurts!
No, it doesn’t. You have forfeited your judgement of what is right and wrong, I have not. If you would say “killing rapists, arsonists and kidnappers is wrong”, but are unwilling to say “killing innocent people is wrong”, then you are either a hypocrite or a fool.