Re Is the death penalty extropian?

Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Wed, 25 Nov 1998 08:02:43 -0800 (PST)

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