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Ethics of Killing Vat Spawn?
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<blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 8360118" data-attributes="member: 6796468"><p>Way easier to deal with, then, for Ethics and Morality!</p><p></p><p>Philosophical Zombie.</p><p></p><p>Let's assume there's a way to identify humans that do not possess Consciousness or Souls in the way other humans do. These humans still live and act like regular humans, they scream in pain when hurt (even though they don't -really- feel it), they seem to fall in love and care about people (but don't, actually, since they're incapable of true emotion), and they actively seek out food and water like other humans do. If you cut them, they bleed, if you ask them questions they answer. But they don't actually have awareness, consciousness, or souls.</p><p></p><p>Is it okay to kill one of these "Not really a person" people to use their organs to help someone who -is- a person with a soul and a consciousness and internal experiences rather than just the illusion of having those things? Is there anything morally or ethically wrong about killing a "Person" who basically doesn't actually exist? Is it okay to enslave them, or imprison them, or intentionally kill them for your own personal amusement?</p><p></p><p>After all. They're not "Real".</p><p></p><p>Which, of course, has a lot of carryover into the Ham thing, slavery, dehumanization in general...</p><p></p><p>The answer to all of this is: It's incredibly unethical. Because as far as everything that matters can be calculated they are people. And thus it is only morally justified to kill them when you would be morally justified to kill anyone else.</p><p></p><p>That they "Are always evil" doesn't mean diddly squat. If there was a type of Spider that was "Always Evil" and spun it's little webs maliciously in the hopes of murdering flies for sustenance, rather than doing so out of a desire for simple survival, like -really- enjoyed the little fly screams... killing that spider would be a waste of your time if it were in it's nest doing nothing really and truly harmful, or if it were incapable of -actually- doing any harm to you or other humans.</p><p></p><p>You'd just be killing it for killing it's sake.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Steampunkette, post: 8360118, member: 6796468"] Way easier to deal with, then, for Ethics and Morality! Philosophical Zombie. Let's assume there's a way to identify humans that do not possess Consciousness or Souls in the way other humans do. These humans still live and act like regular humans, they scream in pain when hurt (even though they don't -really- feel it), they seem to fall in love and care about people (but don't, actually, since they're incapable of true emotion), and they actively seek out food and water like other humans do. If you cut them, they bleed, if you ask them questions they answer. But they don't actually have awareness, consciousness, or souls. Is it okay to kill one of these "Not really a person" people to use their organs to help someone who -is- a person with a soul and a consciousness and internal experiences rather than just the illusion of having those things? Is there anything morally or ethically wrong about killing a "Person" who basically doesn't actually exist? Is it okay to enslave them, or imprison them, or intentionally kill them for your own personal amusement? After all. They're not "Real". Which, of course, has a lot of carryover into the Ham thing, slavery, dehumanization in general... The answer to all of this is: It's incredibly unethical. Because as far as everything that matters can be calculated they are people. And thus it is only morally justified to kill them when you would be morally justified to kill anyone else. That they "Are always evil" doesn't mean diddly squat. If there was a type of Spider that was "Always Evil" and spun it's little webs maliciously in the hopes of murdering flies for sustenance, rather than doing so out of a desire for simple survival, like -really- enjoyed the little fly screams... killing that spider would be a waste of your time if it were in it's nest doing nothing really and truly harmful, or if it were incapable of -actually- doing any harm to you or other humans. You'd just be killing it for killing it's sake. [/QUOTE]
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