Meanwhile, back in OnTopic Land…
Kill. After all the war and the millions the kid’s probably killed, he knew by now the war would kill him somehow.
You can get the cure for cancer by burning down an orphanage and guess what, its free kitten and puppy day.
burn it to the ground, or no cure!
What have the orphans ever done for me?
well, I figured since you used to be an orphan you might have like sympathy or somthing.
Consider it burned.
Break the kid’s kneecaps. Then break the aliens’ kneecaps with my new-found god-powers.
I have this kneecap-breakin’ thing, y’know?
shatters Nero’s kneecaps beyond all repair and spells
Originally posted by Charlemagne
well, I figured since you used to be an orphan you might have like sympathy or somthing.
And considering I was one of the kids who got the crap beaten out of regularly, I don’t hold any particular fondness for them. Burn it.
The “vengeance upon the aliens” notion also came up at another board I posted this at, but it doesn’t fly. 1) Even if you gain godlike powers, the aliens are the source of that power. Anything you can do, they can do, and they’re better at it from long experience. You don’t have a chance. Secondly, the aliens have done nothing wrong. They can only grant godhood to one race. Rather than being deceptive or arbitrary, they offered it to both of us. Had either branch of humanity yielded the power to the other, no war would have been necessary–and after all, both branches are human. We’re all the same. To an alien race, with more logic and less selfishness than humans (and I find it hard to believe that anything could be as selfish as a human,) it would only make sense for one party to yield the power to the other instead of going to war and slaughtering innocents. The responsibility for the war, and the deaths which occurred as a result, belongs with the warring parties alone.
The sad thing is, if humans WERE to receive such an offer, war would inevitably result. Fear is a powerful motivator, and even people with no use for godlike powers would snatch at them to keep the power out of the hands of other people, because we would fear what the others would do with power which we could not resist.
Secondly, there was the comment that any civilization that would put a child in the cockpit deserves to die. (This is a paraphrase, of course; the same idea also came up at a different board where I posted this dilemma). That doesn’t fly with me, either. If you were a general, can you honestly say that you would not put a child in the cockpit in order to protect your people against a hostile race which will obtain limitless power if they defeat you?
Now, if I were directly involved–If I were a champion–I would spare the child, because I don’t think I could force myself to murder a child like that. But remove myself from the action–I’m a general, and I have a responsibility to every single human being on Earth to do my best to win this war so that limitless power will not wind up in the hands of a people who I fear would use it to exterminate all life on Earth–With that kind of responsibility, I would choose whatever champion has the best chance of winning. It doesn’t matter who it is–whoever is the best pilot, I would put in the cockpit, be it a warrior or no. I would have absolutely no hesitation to put a pacifist monk in the cockpit if I had some means of coercing him to use his full ability to defeat the enemy. Unethical perhaps, but look at the stakes? And I would be motivated not by greed, but by fear, which is a natural and essential part of what it means to be human.
Under the threat of extinction, desperate measures must needs be taken.
I also noticed one little side issue both here and at EoFF: Every one of you who used a pronoun seems to have assumed that the child was male 
I’d pictured her as a little girl.
It’s more natural to put “he,” especially in this case; males are more likely to win at all costs and kill.
Originally posted by Cala
It’s more natural to put “he,” especially in this case; males are more likely to win at all costs and kill.
Prove your statement. I want actual psychological evidence. Not from a Freudian or a Neo-Freudian, either.
Originally posted by Cala
It’s more natural to put “he,” especially in this case; males are more likely to win at all costs and kill.
Only if you blindly accept stereotypes in defiance of the evidence of your own eyes. Every female I’ve ever met, including some nuns, is more aggressive than I.
But that, methinks, is fodder for another thread. Which I am too lazy to make right now.
This is the stupidest question ever. Being the champion of the whole Earth, one would simply kill the child and win the war. If you thought about this intelligently however, the whole idea is absurd. There are no ethics in war, despite people’s attempt to make rules. Anger clouds reason. Also, why can the aliens only give godhood to just one group if both are the same? Why would they give godhood at all, since humans are capable of such destruction, it would be utter chaos, and someone would very shortly destroy the universe.
Personally, I believe that if you can sacrafice one life to save many, that is the right choice. I don’t know if I could do it myself, but it is very clear to me. I still think the entire topic is garbage though.
Originally posted by demigod
… There are no ethics in war, despite people’s attempt to make rules…
i.e. war crimes. Stupid things like rape and killing civilians… IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN.
That doesn’t make it tolerable.
And there are plenty of honorable soldiers. Plenty. It’s only the dishonorable ones who get press.
It was your question MJ. Or were you talking about Cala’s examples specifically.
Sure there are plenty of honorable soldiers. On the other hand, there are whole countries that refuse to accept the Geneva convention laws (I believe).
with god-like powers, you could simply undo any atrocities you committed to achieve that power.
now if one of the stipulations was billions of souls would suffer an eternity in hell and you couldn’t do anything about it, then no - i’d have to pass. nothing could be that cruel.
Cut him down where he stands, in a society like that, mercy to the enemy is unheard of.
Why would the aliens give godhood to the humans, after seeing the violent war that is going on? If these aliens are so good, then why would they allow this war to continue? If I were the aliens, I would say both sides are too irresponsible to have such power. Also, if the aliens raised these humans on a different planet, wouldn’t they study them out of curiosity? And wouldn’t they realize how violent humans are? If they are so intelligent, wouldn’t they be able to predict that a war would break out if they promised ultimate power to a power-hungry race? I still think the aliens should get blasted into oblivion.
Well if he doesn’t mind I think I’ll borrow the line from BahamutXero’s sig, to answer your question, TubaMUte.
“Man is intelligent, ‘alien’ people are stupid.”