What would you do with absolute power?

[Jakeyjake]

This thread is inspired by an old thread I made about whether or not it is wrong to step on bugs, but with a different subject. There is an episode of the Twilight Zone called the Little People where a couple astronauts get stranded on a distant planet and while repairing their ship, they stumble upon a tiny civilization of intelligent, almost microbial-sized people who are at least sophisticated enough to build houses, boats, trucks, cities. They appear to be identical to humans in all aspects except their size.

What happens next is an alien version of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. One of the astronauts decides he's going to be their God and begins to dominate the little people through fear and cruelty, based on no godly qualities except the advantage of having evolved to be massively bigger than them. It was a cool episode.

Anyway, what's interesting (at least to me)and possibly shocking to some, is that I don't think I'd act very differently from that guy in his circumstance. If I somehow came across a planet of tiny little aliens that were the size of fleas or smaller to me, I don't think I'd have much of a problem with taking advantage of the size difference. I would love the chance to be revered (or even feared) as a god. Why let them have self-determination if through sheer force, I could make them engineer their society in my own image?

In spite of what I'd do in the above situation, I wouldn't consider myself to be evil, immoral, or unethical. Rather, I'm generally considered to be an all-around great guy by friends and coworkers. I help people all the time for nothing in return, have donated to charities, given people rides, and I even volunteer as an EMT when I can. I run competitively, coach track for no pay. I've never been arrested, vandalized property, or wanted to hurt anyone.

What do you think of the behavior I described? How would you behave when in a situation where you gain absolute power over others? Would you be kind or cruel? Or would you walk away from the situation? Try to stay respectful of one another!

[promethean75]

What would I do with absolute power? Easy. I'd give it away.

[promethean75]

I realise I dont wanna be a miser.

[WendyDarling]

Help as asked, if not asked, do my own thing and visit when invited.

[Urwrongx1000]

Make sweet love to WendyDarling

[promethean75]

Wendy, urwrong would like to give you this.

[Meno_]

Of course, those tiny little people could, conceivably possess tiny little nukes to eliminate You with .

[Peter Kropotkin]

I reject the need for absolute power....

for power is really the ability to control oneself,
and that is the ultimate power.....

the battle to become the ubermensch is about an internal
battle, not an external battle... it is fought in the mind
and heart of being human... not about gaining power over others...
for that in reality, is weakness..

the great people in the world became great because they won
the battle over themselves.. they learned to control themselves,
they fought and won over instincts and emotions.....

then and only then, can we even begin to think about
what we should do beyond ourselves....

Kropotkin

[Fixed Cross]

This thread is inspired by an old thread I made about whether or not it is wrong to step on bugs, but with a different subject. There is an episode of the Twilight Zone called the Little People where a couple astronauts get stranded on a distant planet and while repairing their ship, they stumble upon a tiny civilization of intelligent, almost microbial-sized people who are at least sophisticated enough to build houses, boats, trucks, cities. They appear to be identical to humans in all aspects except their size.

What happens next is an alien version of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. One of the astronauts decides he's going to be their God and begins to dominate the little people through fear and cruelty, based on no godly qualities except the advantage of having evolved to be massively bigger than them. It was a cool episode.

Anyway, what's interesting (at least to me)and possibly shocking to some, is that I don't think I'd act very differently from that guy in his circumstance. If I somehow came across a planet of tiny little aliens that were the size of fleas or smaller to me, I don't think I'd have much of a problem with taking advantage of the size difference. I would love the chance to be revered (or even feared) as a god. Why let them have self-determination if through sheer force, I could make them engineer their society in my own image?

In spite of what I'd do in the above situation, I wouldn't consider myself to be evil, immoral, or unethical. Rather, I'm generally considered to be an all-around great guy by friends and coworkers. I help people all the time for nothing in return, have donated to charities, given people rides, and I even volunteer as an EMT when I can. I run competitively, coach track for no pay. I've never been arrested, vandalized property, or wanted to hurt anyone.

What do you think of the behavior I described? How would you behave when in a situation where you gain absolute power over others? Would you be kind or cruel? Or would you walk away from the situation? Try to stay respectful of one another!

Lulz whats the point of being feared by microbial sized beings?
Id take advantage of the powers Id have to help them though, that would be cool. Be a friendly giant.

[Arcturus Descending]

This thread is inspired by an old thread I made about whether or not it is wrong to step on bugs, but with a different subject. There is an episode of the Twilight Zone called the Little People where a couple astronauts get stranded on a distant planet and while repairing their ship, they stumble upon a tiny civilization of intelligent, almost microbial-sized people who are at least sophisticated enough to build houses, boats, trucks, cities. They appear to be identical to humans in all aspects except their size.

What happens next is an alien version of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. One of the astronauts decides he's going to be their God and begins to dominate the little people through fear and cruelty, based on no godly qualities except the advantage of having evolved to be massively bigger than them. It was a cool episode.

Anyway, what's interesting (at least to me)and possibly shocking to some, is that I don't think I'd act very differently from that guy in his circumstance. If I somehow came across a planet of tiny little aliens that were the size of fleas or smaller to me, I don't think I'd have much of a problem with taking advantage of the size difference. I would love the chance to be revered (or even feared) as a god. Why let them have self-determination if through sheer force, I could make them engineer their society in my own image?

In spite of what I'd do in the above situation, I wouldn't consider myself to be evil, immoral, or unethical. Rather, I'm generally considered to be an all-around great guy by friends and coworkers. I help people all the time for nothing in return, have donated to charities, given people rides, and I even volunteer as an EMT when I can. I run competitively, coach track for no pay. I've never been arrested, vandalized property, or wanted to hurt anyone.

What do you think of the behavior I described? How would you behave when in a situation where you gain absolute power over others? Would you be kind or cruel? Or would you walk away from the situation? Try to stay respectful of one another!

Can you name anyone in history who had absolute power over everyone who did not at some point live to regret it?

You are a great guy you say and yet you would not hesitate to exercise power over those tiny little aliens. simply because of their tiny stature. Never judge a book by its cover.

You realize, do you not, that power does corrupt, depending on the individual. There are even those so-called individuals who believe that they are incapable of being made corrupt and yet ….there they go … down the drain. "Know Thyself."

If you would chose to be different on another planet than on our own, ask yourself then "How ethical am I really?"

Do you step on or step around little bugs which you find when you are out strolling? Can the mandate to do no harm be eradicated simply because you are in deep space somewhere?

I might say that it takes greater inner/outer power and intelligence to work with these little guys, to get to know them and their culture, et cetera.


"Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions.” – Marcus Aurelius

[Meno_]

Llillyput comes to mind, and how the tiny inhabitants view of the giant.

Reverse that, another fairy tale , Jack and beenstock.


And then that mix down the rabbit hole.

The end of the yellow brick road , where Dorothy wakes up from a devastating nightmare,

All these fairy tales, really beg for a return, a return to normalcy,, home to what has been.golden oldie, more a fit to contain within the pages of a sci fi charicature then any real progressive policy position.

Good morning america$

[iambiguous]

What would I do with absolute power? Give it to me and find out.

[Jakeyjake]

This thread is inspired by an old thread I made about whether or not it is wrong to step on bugs, but with a different subject. There is an episode of the Twilight Zone called the Little People where a couple astronauts get stranded on a distant planet and while repairing their ship, they stumble upon a tiny civilization of intelligent, almost microbial-sized people who are at least sophisticated enough to build houses, boats, trucks, cities. They appear to be identical to humans in all aspects except their size.

What happens next is an alien version of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. One of the astronauts decides he's going to be their God and begins to dominate the little people through fear and cruelty, based on no godly qualities except the advantage of having evolved to be massively bigger than them. It was a cool episode.

Anyway, what's interesting (at least to me)and possibly shocking to some, is that I don't think I'd act very differently from that guy in his circumstance. If I somehow came across a planet of tiny little aliens that were the size of fleas or smaller to me, I don't think I'd have much of a problem with taking advantage of the size difference. I would love the chance to be revered (or even feared) as a god. Why let them have self-determination if through sheer force, I could make them engineer their society in my own image?

In spite of what I'd do in the above situation, I wouldn't consider myself to be evil, immoral, or unethical. Rather, I'm generally considered to be an all-around great guy by friends and coworkers. I help people all the time for nothing in return, have donated to charities, given people rides, and I even volunteer as an EMT when I can. I run competitively, coach track for no pay. I've never been arrested, vandalized property, or wanted to hurt anyone.

What do you think of the behavior I described? How would you behave when in a situation where you gain absolute power over others? Would you be kind or cruel? Or would you walk away from the situation? Try to stay respectful of one another!

Lulz whats the point of being feared by microbial sized beings?
Id take advantage of the powers Id have to help them though, that would be cool. Be a friendly giant.

I should clarify; in the episode in question they weren't really truly microbe sized. They were more like flea-sized. Here's a still from the episode that demonstrates their size:

https://cdnmetv.metv.com/as1fZ-1443478196-blog-88.png
https://twilightzone.fandom.com/wiki/The_Little_People

And what would the point be? Well at that scale they would probably need to devote their entire industry to mass produce food to sustain a being so much more massive. But besides that, I think it would be fascinating to shape their society in whichever way I wanted. I would agree that being feared by a bunch of microbes is pointless, and I sort of mischaracterized the their scale. However, in this situation, the alien beings are tiny but still discernable. They would have the same level of intelligence, sophistication, and technology, but just tinier in scale. So being a tyrant to them would be appealing, or at least it would be to a guy like me.

[Jakeyjake]

Can you name anyone in history who had absolute power over everyone who did not at some point live to regret it?

You are a great guy you say and yet you would not hesitate to exercise power over those tiny little aliens. simply because of their tiny stature. Never judge a book by its cover.

You realize, do you not, that power does corrupt, depending on the individual. There are even those so-called individuals who believe that they are incapable of being made corrupt and yet ….there they go … down the drain. "Know Thyself."

To your first question, I can't name anyone but that is because I can't recall anyone in history ever having absolute power over anyone in the way that I'm talking about. The people in history who derived their power through unquestioning military loyalty or political influence still had to work within the system to maintain and utilize their power. No matter how strong their military assets and political capital, ultimately their power still came from other people. They couldn't hold on to it, which led to their downfall. In the example I'm giving in my OP, the astronaut was an unstoppable giant. He didn't need political influence or military might to rule, because he could simply crush their cities... which as I recall, he did.

If you would chose to be different on another planet than on our own, ask yourself then "How ethical am I really?"

Do you step on or step around little bugs which you find when you are out strolling? Can the mandate to do no harm be eradicated simply because you are in deep space somewhere?

I might say that it takes greater inner/outer power and intelligence to work with these little guys, to get to know them and their culture, et cetera.


"Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions.” – Marcus Aurelius

I think the ethics might change depending on the circumstance, but that's justifiable. For example I'm not unethical in my daily life, but in my daily life I'm just an ordinary guy. But if I were on an alien planet and a tiny civilization looked up to me like some hulking titan, I would want to assert my dominance.

To your last question, no, I don't step around bugs. I step on them. What do you expect though? I am a guy, after all.

[Meno_]

Can you name anyone in history who had absolute power over everyone who did not at some point live to regret it?

You are a great guy you say and yet you would not hesitate to exercise power over those tiny little aliens. simply because of their tiny stature. Never judge a book by its cover.

You realize, do you not, that power does corrupt, depending on the individual. There are even those so-called individuals who believe that they are incapable of being made corrupt and yet ….there they go … down the drain. "Know Thyself."

To your first question, I can't name anyone but that is because I can't recall anyone in history ever having absolute power over anyone in the way that I'm talking about. The people in history who derived their power through unquestioning military loyalty or political influence still had to work within the system to maintain and utilize their power. No matter how strong their military assets and political capital, ultimately their power still came from other people. They couldn't hold on to it, which led to their downfall. In the example I'm giving in my OP, the astronaut was an unstoppable giant. He didn't need political influence or military might to rule, because he could simply crush their cities... which as I recall, he did.

If you would chose to be different on another planet than on our own, ask yourself then "How ethical am I really?"

Do you step on or step around little bugs which you find when you are out strolling? Can the mandate to do no harm be eradicated simply because you are in deep space somewhere?

I might say that it takes greater inner/outer power and intelligence to work with these little guys, to get to know them and their culture, et cetera.


"Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions.” – Marcus Aurelius

I think the ethics might change depending on the circumstance, but that's justifiable. For example I'm not unethical in my daily life, but in my daily life I'm just an ordinary guy. But if I were on an alien planet and a tiny civilization looked up to me like some hulking titan, I would want to assert my dominance.

To your last question, no, I don't step around bugs. I step on them. What do you expect though? I am a guy, after all.

To put it mildly.

[Jakeyjake]

To put it mildly.

Wait...what?!

[Arcturus Descending]

Jakeyjake

I think the ethics might change depending on the circumstance, but that's justifiable.

How about the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima? I suppose that sometimes ethics is like morality - in the eye of the beholder.
The killing of innocents - Japanese men, women and CHILDREN who were bombed. Was that really justifiable? Were the lives of those non-military people less important than the lives of our American soldiers albeit they say that many of our soldiers lives were saved because of that. Were they simply the spoils of war?

But was that truly justifiable or just in the eyes of the powers that be? Was that ethical? What does Jakeyjake think about that?
What is the most ethical thing which we can say? Perhaps to do no harm at least insomuch as we are able to.

For example I'm not unethical in my daily life, but in my daily life I'm just an ordinary guy.

Are you just considering the big actions when you say that? Can there be little incidents where you might be just a bit less than ethical?

But if I were on an alien planet and a tiny civilization looked up to me like some hulking titan, I would want to assert my dominance.

You are being facetious here, right? Big guy, little guys, where is the dominance? But then again, if there were more than enough of them, you would probably go down!

To your last question, no, I don't step around bugs. I step on them. What do you expect though? I am a guy, after all.

I wonder - if they could speak to you - what they would say about the value of their lives.

I am not trying to make a mountain out of a molehill here... just trying to delve a wee bit deeper.

[Jakeyjake]

How about the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima? I suppose that sometimes ethics is like morality - in the eye of the beholder.
The killing of innocents - Japanese men, women and CHILDREN who were bombed. Was that really justifiable? Were the lives of those non-military people less important than the lives of our American soldiers albeit they say that many of our soldiers lives were saved because of that. Were they simply the spoils of war? But was that truly justifiable or just in the eyes of the powers that be? Was that ethical? What does Jakeyjake think about that?
What is the most ethical thing which we can say? Perhaps to do no harm at least insomuch as we are able to.

The use of atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima were never moral or ethical from where I stand, but I bet you that most of the people who developed those weapons and green-lit their use on Japan were convinced either by themselves or by others that what they were doing was ethical. Once instructed to perform or aid in deeds that they once would have denounced, people often will rationalize their behavior, often citing circumstances that they believe are exceptional to their specific situation.

Are you just considering the big actions when you say that? Can there be little incidents where you might be just a bit less than ethical?

Such as..? Does calling in sick to work in order to go to the beach count as an unethical incident? Is that the magnitude you're looking at? If so: guilty.

:lol: You are being facetious here, right? Big guy, little guys, where is the dominance? But then again, if there were more than enough of them, you would probably go down!

What do you mean where is the dominance? Dominance is controlling or influencing things. Bigger things can more easily dominate littler things. If there were enough, yeah... a race of tiny people may find a way to take down the giant in the scenario I described in the OP. However, I could think of ways to prevent that-- such as purposely demolishing the structures they’d normally consider sacrosanct – buildings that wouldn’t normally be military targets. If I wanted to prevent any sort of uprising, I’d stamp my feet down on their schools, hospitals, nursing homes. Imagine how powerful a deterrent it could be, if it was made clear that any dissent would result in a giant white sneaker coming down to flatten a school building or the nursing home granny is playing bingo in.

I wonder - if they could speak to you - what they would say about the value of their lives.

I am not trying to make a mountain out of a molehill here... just trying to delve a wee bit deeper.

That's as far-fetched a scenario as the one I described in my OP, considering that bugs exist in a world far below me, while I exist in a world that is far above their perception: distant and unreachable. However, I actually don't have to suspend disbelief for your scenario. That is because we already know what most insects value: reproducing like crazy (often cannibalizing one another after doing so) and invading each other's territory for resources. Ants especially are practically genocidal, warring with and killing rival colonies without regard for the individual lives of their soldiers and sometimes even abducting larvae from the conquered in order to produce a generation of slaves for the colony. Ants don't value even their own lives, and in sufficient numbers they will continue trying to gather food even when some jerk like me is stepping on them. I'd be the guy to know: I've stepped on a lot of ants.

[Meno_]

The lesser evolved creatures such as ants and viruses overcoming civilization is currently again a proper metaphor for alien invasion, when the chips of immunity are down for humankind.

Nukes also are metaphoric of unleashed powers waged , and guess what form of life would survive a nuclear war? You guessed it: the cockroach.

Hope I never need to isolate myself in a strange castle, whete I find myself changed into a bug, the result of all the positive accumulation. of karmic rewards which my supposed good and loving actions earned me!


Maybe what's coming is inavoidable, and AI will incorporate all the techno-oligarchs , in order to save what's left.
Maybe we should presupposes and reiterate Orwell's truth in these noticeable coming attractions.

[Karpel Tunnel]

The idea is scary, actually. Not because I would worry about being evil or in my terms doing things that now I would rather not do to people, but because I wouldn't know what the hell to do, at least in terms of the big stuff. I would certainly make my own situation more comfortable right off the bat. Little decisions might be easy, but what to do about suffering, mortality, people I hate, vicious people, certain metaphysical issue, the destruction of nature, carnivores and their prey, that is things that seem built in to the current situation that bother me, I don't know. I guess if I had absolute power, this would mean that I could grant myself absolute knowledge, so then I could make the right choices. But the idea of filling myself with absolute knowledge is also rather frightening. I mean, right now I am sure there are things I don't want to know about myself and people around me. I certainly strive to find that stuff out, in increments, but to have all knoweldge pour into me so that I could not make monkey's paw wishes in relation to general problematic issues, fuck, that's some scary shit.

[Jakeyjake]

The idea is scary, actually. Not because I would worry about being evil or in my terms doing things that now I would rather not do to people, but because I wouldn't know what the hell to do, at least in terms of the big stuff. I would certainly make my own situation more comfortable right off the bat. Little decisions might be easy, but what to do about suffering, mortality, people I hate, vicious people, certain metaphysical issue, the destruction of nature, carnivores and their prey, that is things that seem built in to the current situation that bother me, I don't know. I guess if I had absolute power, this would mean that I could grant myself absolute knowledge, so then I could make the right choices. But the idea of filling myself with absolute knowledge is also rather frightening. I mean, right now I am sure there are things I don't want to know about myself and people around me. I certainly strive to find that stuff out, in increments, but to have all knoweldge pour into me so that I could not make monkey's paw wishes in relation to general problematic issues, fuck, that's some scary shit.

Hmm, how is that scary? It's exciting.

[WendyDarling]

Make sweet love to WendyDarling

OMG, Urwrong, you're comment was so unexpectedly funny that I about spit out my coffee laughing so hard!

Arc's back, yay!

[WendyDarling]

The idea is scary, actually. Not because I would worry about being evil or in my terms doing things that now I would rather not do to people, but because I wouldn't know what the hell to do, at least in terms of the big stuff. I would certainly make my own situation more comfortable right off the bat. Little decisions might be easy, but what to do about suffering, mortality, people I hate, vicious people, certain metaphysical issue, the destruction of nature, carnivores and their prey, that is things that seem built in to the current situation that bother me, I don't know. I guess if I had absolute power, this would mean that I could grant myself absolute knowledge, so then I could make the right choices. But the idea of filling myself with absolute knowledge is also rather frightening. I mean, right now I am sure there are things I don't want to know about myself and people around me. I certainly strive to find that stuff out, in increments, but to have all knoweldge pour into me so that I could not make monkey's paw wishes in relation to general problematic issues, fuck, that's some scary shit.

You are the big stuff only in regards to the size of the itsy bitsy people do you have absolute power over them, not God powers of being all knowing, just giant power from what I understood or did I misread it?

[Urwrongx1000]

lol

[Jakeyjake]

Of course, those tiny little people could, conceivably possess tiny little nukes to eliminate You with .

Hm, not without significant harm to their own people. They would also have to deal with my giant rotting corpse. Although I guess that would still be less problematic than if I were still alive and stamping my feet on their towns for fun.