superrific
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Someone gives you a remote doom machine. It has several buttons, which produces the following results.
1, 1a. Putin and Kim Jong Un die.
2. King George III of England dies in 1775 after granting the US independence (let's ignore the time travel paradox for now and assume history would play out the same way, with the only differences being thing that George III did or didn't do with no ripple effects).
3. Hitler dies in prison while trying to draft Mein Kampf in blood
4. Trump and Elon Musk die
5, The 1000 people who owned the most slaves in America in 1850 die (same rules as #2).
6. 10000 vaccine deniers in the US die, and it collapses the anti-vaxx movement.
7. 1,000,000 MAGAs die, in strategic places so that the Dems win the next two elections.
8. The leaders of all terrorist organizations in the world die (here we can exclude state-sponsored terrorism, again to focus the discussion).
You can, at any time, turn the machine off. You can also choose whatever ironic deaths you want. Putin can slip on a banana peel and fall out of a 10 story window, if you want. Dead slaves can arise as zombies and, as actual sub-humans, devour the brains of the plantation owners. And you can also assume that people understand what happened, and you can assume, if you'd like, that some FAFO lessons will be learned.
Which buttons, if any, would you press? Please provide reasons. In my estimate, most Americans would press buttons 1, 3 and 8 without hesitation. I also think that very few Americans would press button 7. Buttons 2, 4, 5, and 6 are more complicated.
These questions go to the heart of political theory, in my view. Every theory of government has to answer these questions. They go to legitimacy and the nature of power evolving over time.
Edit: I changed the hypo slightly for #1 to 1 and 1a, as Putin and KJU present some similar issues but some different ones as well.
1, 1a. Putin and Kim Jong Un die.
2. King George III of England dies in 1775 after granting the US independence (let's ignore the time travel paradox for now and assume history would play out the same way, with the only differences being thing that George III did or didn't do with no ripple effects).
3. Hitler dies in prison while trying to draft Mein Kampf in blood
4. Trump and Elon Musk die
5, The 1000 people who owned the most slaves in America in 1850 die (same rules as #2).
6. 10000 vaccine deniers in the US die, and it collapses the anti-vaxx movement.
7. 1,000,000 MAGAs die, in strategic places so that the Dems win the next two elections.
8. The leaders of all terrorist organizations in the world die (here we can exclude state-sponsored terrorism, again to focus the discussion).
You can, at any time, turn the machine off. You can also choose whatever ironic deaths you want. Putin can slip on a banana peel and fall out of a 10 story window, if you want. Dead slaves can arise as zombies and, as actual sub-humans, devour the brains of the plantation owners. And you can also assume that people understand what happened, and you can assume, if you'd like, that some FAFO lessons will be learned.
Which buttons, if any, would you press? Please provide reasons. In my estimate, most Americans would press buttons 1, 3 and 8 without hesitation. I also think that very few Americans would press button 7. Buttons 2, 4, 5, and 6 are more complicated.
These questions go to the heart of political theory, in my view. Every theory of government has to answer these questions. They go to legitimacy and the nature of power evolving over time.
Edit: I changed the hypo slightly for #1 to 1 and 1a, as Putin and KJU present some similar issues but some different ones as well.
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