A Theoretical Society

[SovietSecrets]

I have been reading something lately and in it, to increase the way humans value life, every year kids before entering school are given an injection. In each 1/1000 injections there is a capsule that will kill the person between the age of 18-24. After passing the age of 24 you are safe and will live for the rest of your life. 24 hours prior to your death, you are given a notice and your family is also compensated. Thus by killing off 1 out of every 1000 people, people work harder and try to read more fulfilling lives knowing it might be them. The person will never know until the notice comes and the rest of the people won't know until the person has died. Now my question for you is, what do you think of this society? Is it one that works better or worse than current ones?

 

[TacticalAssassin1]

Worse 'cause some people will just fuck around and break the law and then just use the excuse "Hey, I might just die tomorrow anyway, right?". Interesting theory though.

 

[TaborMallory]

"Inhumane", but effective. Half of me likes it.

Then again, IRL, it'd cause immeasurable havoc among sheeple.

 

[darkfire613]

And what happens if the smart people are ones who randomly get killed off and all the fucktards survive? I know I wouldn't try at all to do anything if I might die in 4-8 years (yes I'm 14). I'd just blow everything off, saying "what will it matter if I'm dead?" which is the complete opposite of what this system is attempting to accomplish.

 

[Coldsnap]

It's pretty much the same.

You could die any day; car accident, disease, and many other situations that are unforeseeable. It might make some people feel compelled to try and live more fully, but most probably won't think about it.

 

[New York Patrick]

Dude. Do I even need to point out all of the serious flaws in that society?

 

[Margrave Rinstock]

People would Rightly Decapitate the members of any Government so Cruel as to Kill off Much of it's Population just because of some Waked-up theory.

Seriously, Increase Value In Human Life?
If Existence is simply be Wiped out at Random, than that would decrease Peoples Value of Life, "If Human Life is so meaningless that my Government finds it Right to Kill vast Swathes of Good Men and Women, then, Seriously, why bother Improving Society if My sons and Daughters may be Killed for My Efforts."

 

[quack35]

That... sounds like a terrible idea.

What if that was me? Or you?

 

[Kollega]

Randomly killing people to make others work harder? Been there,done that.

It was called "Stalinism".

 

[SovietSecrets]

Dude. Do I even need to point out all of the serious flaws in that society?

By all means, go for it.

And what happens if the smart people are ones who randomly get killed off and all the fucktards survive? I know I wouldn't try at all to do anything if I might die in 4-8 years (yes I'm 14). I'd just blow everything off, saying "what will it matter if I'm dead?" which is the complete opposite of what this system is attempting to accomplish.

Its not a certain death though, its that you MAY die. If you may die then why would you wanna waste all the time you have and then be the one that doesn't have the capsule.

 

[New York Patrick]

Well for one, your proposing RANDOM DEATH!!

And in the event that you want a society to be motivated by RANDOM DEATH!!, there should be higher odds of RANDOM DEATH!!

Also, why the heck are you compensating people for RANDOM DEATH!! anyway?

 

[The Rockerfly]

Hmm I like the random death part but I can't really see this being a part of a real society

Also giving someone education, a home and spending money on them until they are 18 seems like a waste of money, surely doing it at a younger age would be much cheaper?

 

[SovietSecrets]

Well for one, your proposing RANDOM DEATH!!

And in the event that you want a society to be motivated by RANDOM DEATH!!, there should be higher odds of RANDOM DEATH!!

Also, why the heck are you compensating people for RANDOM DEATH!! anyway?

You are compensating the family of the person who died. And yes the society is to be moved by the fact that a random person dies and thus giving other people a higher meaning of life. The idea is they will see that through the age of 18-24 that they should try and work hard and accomplish everything they can.

Hmm I like the random death part but I can't really see this being a part of a real society

Also giving someone education, a home and spending money on them until they are 18 seems like a waste of money, surely doing it at a younger age would be much cheaper?

You gotta pay though for all of them till 18 since its considered adult so you can at least say the person lived through their childhood. Also if its not them, they still get their education.

 

[Margrave Rinstock]

At some Point the State will ask: "As these People are Going to Die Anyway, why Not Put them to Good use Before they Die? Human Medical Experimentation? shure! Slave-Run Plantations? Why not?
Cannon Fodder Child Soldiers? Another Great Idea."

Pretty soon, a lot more than 1 in 1000 people are going to be Declared "Dead for the Good of Society".

 

[Margrave Rinstock]

Also, What If You are Married? Children?

I sure as Hell don't Know what I would say If, when coming Home from the Hospital, was Confronted by My 6-year old Child asking: "Dad, where's Mommy?"
Certainly Not: "She Died a Proud and Strong Citizen, who sacrificed herself for no apparent Reason for the Good of the Many."

In All Honesty, the Concept Nauseates me more than a Little.

 

[New York Patrick]

...So, put it all together, and we can all start to agree that RANDOM DEATH!! is a bad principle to base an entire society on. Even Machiavelli would agree that the ends do not justifiy the means in this case... and that was his whole shtick!

 

[Space Spoons]

Honestly, I don't think it'd be any different from today's society. We drive around in two-ton hunks of metal and glass at a minimum of twenty miles an hour to go to jobs where we interact with stressed out, possibly armed people who could flip out at any minute. And that's not even taking into account the fact that we live in a country that's regularly referred to as "evil" and thus targeted for terrorist attacks.

We face the risk of violent, sudden death each and every day. The only way to cope with it is to not dwell on it and try to get along with your life while you still have it. I think that same principal would probably apply in this theoretical society of yours.

 

[Flos]

That's just silly.

Okay, so. We're not moved by our military, cops, firefighters, or coast guard, who all die for actual reasons but we'll be completely and utterly moved by one person who drew the unlucky number. That doesn't add value to human life.

In fact, it takes away value. Compensating the family? Oh, great. I lost my daughter but I got this fabulous door prize!

 

[The Jono]

I won't lie to you, that's not a fantastic idea. Coming from someone who's heard the idea that all of Africa be left to die, or you should line up everyone against a wall and halve the population of the Earth. On a basic level yes, it deals with overpopulation, but so does air-striking a housing estate. The injection idea's just more planned. And anyway, no democracy could manage that, so you'd need some kind of mad totalitarian, and we all know where that goes, ladies and gentlemen.

Plus, what about people who are scared of injections?

 

[Animated Rope]

This is one idea of a policy, I'm not sure if you can call it a society.