# Would you permanently enslave a friend to save them from death? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 17, 2009, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708 "2009-08-17T08:15:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/21 "2009-09-06T21:35:34Z")
Under the OP’s conception of slavery, I’d enslave a friend just to have someone to clean my house and mow my lawn. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/22 "2009-09-06T22:10:03Z")
Yes, as I become more and more conformed to the likeness of Jesus, which is God’s plan for humanity, that person would become a slave to righteousness. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/23 "2009-09-06T23:07:14Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Yes, as I become more and more conformed to the likeness of Jesus, which is God’s plan for humanity, that person would become a slave to righteousness. _Some_body needs to have a nice lie-down with a cool, damp cloth over their eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/24 "2009-09-07T04:50:03Z")
So, if they’re totally obedient, what’s to stop you from commanding them to have free will again? ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/25 "2009-09-07T05:41:21Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > But the OP is talking about someone else’s free will, not yours. Right, but I’m not going to do something to someone else that I wouldn’t be willing to have done to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/26 "2009-09-07T11:16:52Z")
What if I order them to go on living their life as before until they receive further orders from me, and then just not give them orders? It’s not being very obedient if they can’t manage to do that. Best case scenario, this works, and the slavery is effectively canceled out. Slightly un-best case scenario, they live their life _mostly_ normally, but with a subdued longing and eagerness to be a slave that will never be fulfilled. Seeing as they were saved from certain death, this might not be considered that bad a disability to live with, compared to other forms of disfigurment or disability they could have escaped with. Worst case, this doesn’t work at _all_, like the Twilight Zone/Outer Limits example above, leaving the friend a pale wreck of their former selves. In which case, I can just order them to take their own life in a painless way—they’re still as dead as they would have been if I’d let them die as a free person, but at least they don’t have to die horribly injured and in pain. A net gain. In any case, at least I turned death into a fighting chance at life. (James T. Kirk, signing off.) ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/27 "2009-09-07T12:59:41Z")
Eh? Is there supposed to be a moral dilemma here? The only worthwhile question is how I can cause these, uh, “accidents” on a much more regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/28 "2009-09-07T13:04:16Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No. I’d kill them myself first. Seriously, man, I really hope to be able to invite you to lunch someday. The OP isn’t talking about indentured servitude: it’s talking about turning a human being into… a tulip with legs (well, apparently, a dildo with legs). Excuse me while I run away screaming. ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/29 "2009-09-07T13:38:34Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Seriously, man, I really hope to be able to invite you to lunch someday. > > The OP isn’t talking about indentured servitude: it’s talking about turning a human being into… a tulip with legs (well, apparently, a dildo with legs). Excuse me while I run away screaming. First, the actual moral quandry is turning a person into a meat-puppet with (presumably) their mind and memories, but with bits overridden as the only alternative to turning them into a corpse. Slavery does tend to beat death, especially in my eyes. I mean, bad as overriding someone’s free will with magic is, I think that overriding it via prolonged absence of vital functions is worse. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/30 "2009-09-07T14:33:56Z")
> [@Electronic\_Chaos](#): > > So, if they’re totally obedient, what’s to stop you from commanding them to have free will again? How would that get my lawn mowed? And my garage needs cleaning. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/31 "2009-09-07T17:26:02Z")
Yes. I’d make the best of the situation. ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/32 "2009-09-07T21:59:07Z")
No. Aside from the ethical considerations, I think that level of devotion would get old very quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/33 "2009-09-07T22:06:05Z")
Only if their soul or personality or whatever were transferred to a perfect likeness of them in monkubine form. If we’re talking that level of magic or magical technology, then surely there’s a way. Monkubine! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/34 "2009-09-07T22:24:39Z")
No. I am not ethically responsible for my friend’s death. But I would be ethically responsible for enslaving another human being. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/35 "2009-09-08T01:53:00Z")
If I chose not to save my friend’s life when it was so easy to do so, I would certainly consider myself responsible for his death. > [@](#): > > On the other, after enslavement, they would no longer be the same person as the one I called my friend. They wouldn’t be exactly the same, but they would be more the same than if they became, for example, a mangled corpse. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/36 "2009-09-08T02:36:05Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > If I chose not to save my friend’s life when it was so easy to do so, I would certainly consider myself responsible for his death.They wouldn’t be exactly the same, but they would be more the same than if they became, for example, a mangled corpse. But it’s not ‘‘so easy to do.’’ You would have to enslave them. In ‘‘saving’’ your friend you are condemning him to a lifetime of servitude. There’s nothing easy about that–for me it would essentially be sacrificing the essence of my personhood in order to save the essence of his. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/37 "2009-09-08T06:15:37Z")
See, to me it would be sacrificing the essence of his personhood in order to preserve his body. The person wouldn’t be there any more, same as if he was dead only without a burial. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/38 "2009-09-08T07:09:46Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Yes, as I become more and more conformed to the likeness of Jesus, which is God’s plan for humanity, that person would become a slave to righteousness. I haven’t laughed out loud while reading the board in a long time. Thanks! As for the OP, I don’t think I would. I can’t imagine how painful it would be to see a close friend of mine follow me around like a zombie for the rest of their lives. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/39 "2009-09-08T10:00:09Z")
Hmmm…how about marrying them? Spouces are not slaves, but the bonds of close affection might protect your friend’s dignity. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708/40 "2009-09-08T21:29:01Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > _Some_body needs to have a nice lie-down with a cool, damp cloth over their eyes. Thanks for that, Captain Welladjusted, glad you could make it. Per the OP: In a heartbeat. I trust my sense of ethics. I make absolutely no judgments on those who don’t. 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-permanently-enslave-a-friend-to-save-them-from-death/506708.md?page=3)