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It's genuinely horrifying to me that people appear to be upvoting the creation of a subhuman caste and delegating responsibility to them. Please think this thro
by Godel_unicode 5y ago
It's genuinely horrifying to me that people appear to be upvoting the creation of a subhuman caste and delegating responsibility to them. Please think this through a bit more carefully, it's an interesting thought experiment but a terrible idea.
Consider also that not being able to lie is absolutely not the same thing as being trustworthy. If we've learned anything the last two years, it's that people can deeply believe some shocking things.
- swayvil 5y agoI'm getting upvotes? And what's so subhuman about it? It might be quite freeing and desirable. No more enbeastifying than military indoctrination. And yes, you could be trusted to not lie. To eschew deceit. That is a highly desirable flavor of trustworthiness. But yes, trusted to be a member of your particular ideological tribe would involve a completely different program and forehead tattoo, of course.
- tovej 5y agoSounds like prime material for sci-fi horror
- swayvil 5y agoYou people are square as delaware I swear. I can think of a dozen horrible things that are popularly embraced with both hands. And you guys don't even blink. My idea, otoh, might be awesome.
- swagasaurus-rex 5y agoCould these public servants be subject to being misled? They can tell the truth but they aren't all knowing, they won't necessarily know when they've been lied to. Could these public servants be become a tool for a more powerful political entity? Perhaps truth is more subjective than we hoped, or perhaps they have been conditioned with a failsafe - to keep them from speaking certain truths. Could these public servants decide they don't like the life they've been given? They are humans, not mere tools.
- swayvil 5y agoSubject to mislement, subversion or change of opinion? Of course not. The procedure would also induce omniscience /s
- ThrowawayR2 5y ago> "And yes, you could be trusted to not lie. To eschew deceit." Leaving aside that being unable to lie has nothing to do with knowing the truth, that poor wretch would be the most unelectable creature in existence. The voters do not want to hear that "we don't know what the right answer yet", "this solution is the right path in the long run but will cause poverty and suffering today", and other unpalatable truths that are largely unavoidable as part of governing a population.
- ceejayoz 5y agoIt's pretty heavily downvoted by now, but I took the comment as a pretty clear https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal scenario.
- Loughla 5y agoMore likely it's this: https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Imperial_Conditioning https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Imperial_Conditioning
- swayvil 4y agoGreg Egan explores this idea too. In his Quarantine. From the perspective of a guy who was involuntarily programmed for loyalty. Interesting stuff. Stephen R Donaldson also touches the subject a little in his gap stuff. Of course these days we'd probably mark them with an RFID chip. Just beneath the back of the skull, in the spine, right next to the microbomb. (Keep getting that god damn you're posting too fast bullshit. Thank Hacker News for protecting you from bad thoughts) (Expand your scifi literacy)
- swayvil 4y agoPeople are, as a rule, conventional and reactionary. And they like to peck at their reflection and bark at shadows. That's people.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- krageon 4y ago> subhuman caste Politicians that can't lie are objectively better than ones that can. That makes them superhuman, in this case.