The Magic Button

[drscott]

One of the conventional types of science fiction story has the hero discover some "magic" device -- a time-traveling watch, invisibility, teleportation. Usually this leads to trouble -- rarely does the hero act cautiously in exploring the parameters of this new power.

So here's my question: suppose you came into possession of a magic button that allowed you to painlessly remove from existence any person or persons of your choice at the moment you pushed it. Would you use it? And on who?

Comments

[tdjohnsn.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing it is because if they are bad enough to buttonize, they shouldn't get an easy out. On the other hand, in terms of benefit to humanity, just having them be gone would be enough, no vengence needed.

Maybe it makes a difference whether you are buttonizing people who make you angry, or doing it in a more cool, calculated fashion. I know I am not usually the "make'em pay" sort, but once I got going on the abandoned kitties, just making the people who dumped them disapear didn't seem like enough.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I'm a big believer in Pavlovian conditioning: reward good behavior, punish bad behavior and eventually you'll get a net positive gain. Simply blotting people out with the touch of a button is so lacking in style. It overlooks the opportunity of a public demonstration of punishment of evil. Worse, it effectively rewards bad behavior by allowing evil-doers to enjoy short-term gain until the point they blink painlessly out of existance: it's a great incentive to do bad in a Really Big Way, like starting pre-emptive wars in the middle east or leaking names of CIA agents.

On the whole, the button to obliterate evil is rather, well, aesthetically displeasing.

And then there's the issue about transparency of process. Being able to blot out individuals without consequence implies a lack of accountability by the button holder. If such a device were available, accountability would require public knowledge of the holder of the device and the rules for its use. This may set up an interesting prisoner's dilemma if there were more than one such device: since any holder could be wiped out by any other holder, it would be ideal to collude to avoid blotting out each other, but it would be safest for each individual to wipe out the others pre-emptively.

And things get progressively messier from there.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

You bring up some fun points for a story to explore. The lack of accountability is why the idea is so evil. It would be interesting to have the main character do something stupid, allow the device to be duplicated, then watch the world change as the consequences reverberate. Sounds rather like Bester's The Stars My Destination.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

Beware HTML tags you don't really understand. This picture ended up halfway into the next reply!

[excessor.livejournal.com]

LOL