Escaping Planet of the Apes: was [MEDIA] Chicago Suntime's death penalty

Paul Hughes (planetp@aci.net)
Wed, 02 Dec 1998 01:31:12 -0800

"Joe E. Dees" wrote:

> > > Not only that, but I would vote for a provisio that mandates that
> > > executions are performed in a manner that allows essential organs
> > > to be harvested, and that such harvesting is required, so that the
> > > murderers, unable to restore the lives they took, may at least
> > > partially pay in kind by sustaining the lives of others. Joe
> >
> > I'll re-quote Mike Lorrey on this topic:
> >
> > "Putting a profit motive before the state would cause the state to seek to
> > expand the penalty to more and more crimes. Even, and especially, in a
> > popular
> > democracy, with an aging population, there will be public pressure to expand
> > the
> > penalty to more and more crimes."
> >>
> > Now, are you someone who claims to be an extropic individual while
> > simultaneously advocating that a centralized state kill people for money?
> >
> > Paul Hughes
> >
> >
> Rather, to employ more lucrative lawyer-hours, we will delay, and
> even deny, justice, only to save the lives of those most likely to take
> others prematurely, at the expense of indubitably innocent lives
> which could be saved. Exactly which planet are you from? It can't
> be the one the rest of us humans live on. I am a humanist and I
> know them well; humanists are my friends. Paul, you're no humanist.

Huh? Most prominent Humanist organizations, such as the Unitarian Church, are adamantly opposed to the Death Penalty. Your ignorance is embarrassing. Which planet are you on?

But your right I'm no humanist, I'm a transhumanist! The need to kill and harvest organs of others guilty of murder are qualities of a domesticated primate species called humans (that of greed and vengeance), that I'm doing everything in my power to escape.

Rather than see us continue a perpetual cycle of vengeance in the name of 'JUSTICE' (a slippery concept if there ever was one!), I'd rather see an emphasis on rehabilitation - something the US prison system has so far shown very little interest in. Since I don't expect the emotional intelligence of the average person to increase much in the near future, I've focused my efforts instead on getting off this primitive rock of savage domesticated primates and heading for the stars as soon as possible.

Paul Hughes