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The ability to kill anyone one chose would be a far more terrifying weapon if used to instill fear. If someone used to this ability to kill individuals who didn

The ability to kill anyone one chose would be a far more terrifying weapon if used to instill fear. If someone used to this ability to kill individuals who didn't fit their agenda but kept anonymity about their goals, whatever changed they wished would only happen fairly slowly and haphazardly - those replacing the dead wouldn't have that much chance to produce different policies. Also, even a bunch of seemingly random deaths with implications would likely produce terrifying fits of paranoia and retribution in the populace - remember humans can't not-see patterns in the thing they focus on, so a death-weapon would change the world this way - not sure if that what your psychopath wanted. If an actor could kill "anyone nominated to head party X" then things would get ugly but even more, "do these things and you're immune" notes could certainly get people moving, especially if these were seemingly benevolent. "Random company heads die 'till CO2 production declines X amount" for example.

Arnavion 7y ago
The Death Note could control what the victim did before their death. So Global Warming Kira could definitely have those random company heads die next to a piece of paper with "the deaths will continue until CO2 declines" written on it.
- whatshisface 7y ago
  Then you could write, "Before their death, the CEO of Gas Inc. will invent nuclear fusion, spread it to every market, and then live a long and happy life."
  - adnzzzzZ 7y ago
    There's a limit of a few days, if I remember correctly, on how long you can control people for before they die.
  - the8472 7y ago
    There are rules that would prevent that (they can only do things within their means, 1 month time limit). What could work is an investment in such technologies, public announcements and then disappearing, maybe falling off a yacht or such a thing.
    - zaarn 7y ago
      "Scientist X, working on Fusion, discovers method that advances research by decades, then dies of happiness and a caffeine overdose"
  - astine 7y ago
    In the show this was limited to things that were both possible and that the target might realistically be able to do.
    - jandrese 7y ago
      And really, it's what a death demon can do with some good old fashioned possession. So he can jump into a nearby truck driver and into the victim and have them meet in the middle of the road, but he doesn't necessarily know what the hell a prime number is.
- arugulum 7y ago
  To clarify the Death Note rules discussion, this would be possible, but would need to be adjusted such that it's something the company heads would have reasonable done. So something more akin to "Ceo Ceoson, overcome by immense guilt over environmental destruction, writes down 'Companies 1-16 are responsibl for the dying environment and we don't deserve to live.' having a heart attack." It needs to double up as a stand-alone action as well as a threat.
prewett 7y ago
This is exactly what happens in totalitarian regimes. I know the CCP does this in China, but I assume Hitler, Stalin, Mao, maybe the Saudis, did/do this.
- SenHeng 7y ago
  To a lesser extreme, so does Singapore. Not that I have a reference anymore, but there used to be articles in the state controlled newspaper mentioning the fuzzy bounds of allowed political discourse akin to I'll know it when I see it and if you so happen to cross this boundary, well that's your own fault for getting involved in politics at all, you should've stuck to simple peasantry.
dredmorbius 7y ago
On "invisible death": Regularity, order, and prompt obedience to command are qualities which, in modern armies, are of more importance towards determining the fate of battles than the dexterity and skill of the soldiers in the use of their arms. But the noise of firearms, the smoke, and the invisible death to which every man feels himself every moment exposed as soon as he comes within cannon-shot, and frequently a long time before the battle can be well said to be engaged, must render it very difficult to maintain any considerable degree of this regularity, order, and prompt obedience, even in the beginning of a modern battle. In an ancient battle there was no noise but what arose from the human voice; there was no smoke, there was no invisible cause of wounds or death. Every man, till some mortal weapon actually did approach him, saw clearly that no such weapon was near him. In these circumstances, and among troops who had some confidence in their own skill and dexterity in the use of their arms, it must have been a good deal less difficult to preserve some degree regularity and order, not only in the beginning, but through the whole progress of an ancient battle, and till one of the two armies was fairly defeated. -- Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations/Book_V/Chapter_1 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations/Book_V/... There are three uses of the word "invisible" in the text. Two refer to invisiblbe causes of injury or death, and their psychological impact.

Arnavion 7y ago

The Death Note could control what the victim did before their death. So Global Warming Kira could definitely have those random company heads die next to a piece of paper with "the deaths will continue until CO2 declines" written on it.

whatshisface 7y ago
Then you could write, "Before their death, the CEO of Gas Inc. will invent nuclear fusion, spread it to every market, and then live a long and happy life."
- adnzzzzZ 7y ago
  There's a limit of a few days, if I remember correctly, on how long you can control people for before they die.
- the8472 7y ago
  There are rules that would prevent that (they can only do things within their means, 1 month time limit). What could work is an investment in such technologies, public announcements and then disappearing, maybe falling off a yacht or such a thing.
  - zaarn 7y ago
    "Scientist X, working on Fusion, discovers method that advances research by decades, then dies of happiness and a caffeine overdose"
- astine 7y ago
  In the show this was limited to things that were both possible and that the target might realistically be able to do.
  - jandrese 7y ago
    And really, it's what a death demon can do with some good old fashioned possession. So he can jump into a nearby truck driver and into the victim and have them meet in the middle of the road, but he doesn't necessarily know what the hell a prime number is.
arugulum 7y ago
To clarify the Death Note rules discussion, this would be possible, but would need to be adjusted such that it's something the company heads would have reasonable done. So something more akin to "Ceo Ceoson, overcome by immense guilt over environmental destruction, writes down 'Companies 1-16 are responsibl for the dying environment and we don't deserve to live.' having a heart attack." It needs to double up as a stand-alone action as well as a threat.

prewett 7y ago

This is exactly what happens in totalitarian regimes. I know the CCP does this in China, but I assume Hitler, Stalin, Mao, maybe the Saudis, did/do this.

SenHeng 7y ago
To a lesser extreme, so does Singapore. Not that I have a reference anymore, but there used to be articles in the state controlled newspaper mentioning the fuzzy bounds of allowed political discourse akin to I'll know it when I see it and if you so happen to cross this boundary, well that's your own fault for getting involved in politics at all, you should've stuck to simple peasantry.

dredmorbius 7y ago

On "invisible death": Regularity, order, and prompt obedience to command are qualities which, in modern armies, are of more importance towards determining the fate of battles than the dexterity and skill of the soldiers in the use of their arms. But the noise of firearms, the smoke, and the invisible death to which every man feels himself every moment exposed as soon as he comes within cannon-shot, and frequently a long time before the battle can be well said to be engaged, must render it very difficult to maintain any considerable degree of this regularity, order, and prompt obedience, even in the beginning of a modern battle. In an ancient battle there was no noise but what arose from the human voice; there was no smoke, there was no invisible cause of wounds or death. Every man, till some mortal weapon actually did approach him, saw clearly that no such weapon was near him. In these circumstances, and among troops who had some confidence in their own skill and dexterity in the use of their arms, it must have been a good deal less difficult to preserve some degree regularity and order, not only in the beginning, but through the whole progress of an ancient battle, and till one of the two armies was fairly defeated. -- Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations/Book_V/Chapter_1 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations/Book_V/... There are three uses of the word "invisible" in the text. Two refer to invisiblbe causes of injury or death, and their psychological impact.