Let’s say I lease or buy some storefront space in a hard luck section of town. My business is buying souls, and I will pay a crisp 100.00 bill per soul, all applicants welcome. Sellers have to sign a document and swear and oath that the document is binding, and the 100.00 is theirs.
Why I would want to do this is irrelevant. Let’s just say I’m an eccentric with some spending money, and this is how I choose to spend my time.
Is there anything, in any legal code or ordinance, that would potentially prevent me from contracting with people for their souls? I can’t see how anyone could legally stop me from doing this.
As a side question, would you sell you soul for 100.00 in the manner described above? If you’re an atheist you should have nothing to fear, and a fresh Ben Franklin for your trouble. If you’re a sophisticated person of faith you should realize that people can’t buy souls, and 100.00 would be some handy pocket change.
You read SDMB and what do you get?
Another day older and sillier yet.
Saint Peter, don’t you call me 'cause I can’t go …
I owe my soul to astro’s store.
Absolutely nothing, as far as I can see. It’s as tangible (and arguably more legitimate) as those folks selling naming rights to stars.
But don’t count on atheists selling and religious folk refusing. Fredric Brown wrote a story about just such a situation, and it was atheist that refused to sell, while the religious person sold immediately, convinced that the sale was not binding. Interesting story.
There is already a thriving industry founded upon soul-based commerce (mediums, exorcists, psychics, faith-healers, etc.), so I can’t see why your idea should be treated any differently.
You must realise, of course, that you probably would have no recourse if your clients bilked you of souls, promising to hand over the soul in good faith, and then making away with both it and your money on the sly. Customer service is also going to be a headache, as inevitably some folks will come back to your store claiming their second-hand soul has a defect. If you’re just planning on buying the souls and not reselling them for a profit, I’d say what’s stopping you is a rotten business model.
Here’s a suggestion: Don’t refurbish the souls and resell them. Rather, be a collector, but put the souls on display in a public gallery. Your profits will only be limited by public curiosity.
I think you should build a hi-tech looking device like a dentist’s chair, surrounded with lots of flashing lights and emitting electronic noises. Get them to sign the release in the outer office, them show them into the inner room with the SoulSucker 2000. Throw the switch, and see how many of them back out.
Years ago, a french magazine did exactly this experiment. They asked random people in the street if they were willing to sell their souls. They would also show them a legal-looking document to sign.
Weirdly enough, if I’m not mistaken, they wouldn’t find takers when they offered a relatively significant, though not huge, payment (around 1500 ) but people would be willing to sell their soul for a symbolic amount (say, 10 ). At least, that’s how they reported it…
Based on the Simpsons episode, I did precisely this in college. I bought my then-agnostic friend’s soul. I believe I wrote a thread about it … Like to hear it? Here it goes…
Sure it sounds like fun. “Nobody has to sell their soul unless they want to, so what’s the harm?” you think. But what if it catchs on? What if millions of people sell their souls and the Earth becomes overrun with soulless zombie people? Chaos, destruction, the collapse of civilization, plus Top 40 radio will suck even more.
