I Have an Interesting Moral Question

[cojo965]

Picture this, if you will: it's sometime in the future. Instead of computer-generated digital characters, gamers now control clones in their games. Blood-filled, possibly free-thinking clones that could be made based on anyone. Games that would be compatible with them include:

Shooters
Racers
Fighters
Sports

Now the question is where would you stand on this hypothetical practice?

For, me I have no idea.

Edit: I have to concede, I had no I no idea how to phrase the question and ended up with a shitty thread as a result. Guess I should have thought about it more. Sorry.

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

I'd be against it. If they have the potential for free thought, then I couldn't justify controlling them like puppets. Even setting morality aside, I'd be against this for the sake of practicality, as using clones instead of computer generated characters sounds ludicrously complicated and unnecessary.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Free thinking clones? As in people?

Yeah, I can see problems with this.

 

[username sucks]

Well, if they are free-thinking as you say then to control them would be slavery. Which I am against. So no, this hypothetical was not really difficult at all.

If they are not free thinking (and never were), but still are living organisms, I would have no problem with it except that it seems very cost-ineffective and limiting from a gameplay standpoint. Flesh and blood don't make a person, a mind does.

If I alter it again and the clones have animal level intelligence, It really would depend on the circumstances. If the clones are designed to enjoy the experience and are not actually killed or hurt regularly or intentionally, then I would reluctantly accept it. Any less than that and it is a solid no.

 

[tippy2k2]

That doesn't seem like a very interesting moral question at all.

If they can think for themselves, it's wrong. There's really no ifs ands or buts here. The vast majority of people don't like dog fighting rings; I imagine that pool is going to grow even smaller when you put humans into the mix.

Even if they weren't free will thinking, it seems like an awful waste to use on a video game and not nearly as much fun. They may be controlled by me but they'll still have the limitations of a human body and therefore can't do a lot of the stuff I'd want my games to do.

The only real benefit would be the "real looking" graphics (since it's real life) but that doesn't seem worth it for how much I imagine growing a human that I get to play for thirty seconds (since he's probably been shot by now) would cost...

 

[TheIceQueen]

For a moral question to be considered interesting, there's got to be some sort of moral greyness to it. Some sort of hard decision where the options aren't totally right or wrong, but rather a matter of perspective.

This isn't one of those interesting ones.

If they're free-thinking, then they're people. If they're people, then it's murder. And worst of all, murder for entertainment. That's not grey. That's dark as hell.

If they're not free-thinking, it's still rather dubious to be killing an organism solely for your entertainment.

 

[Heronblade]

enslaving human beings for blood sports...

How is this an interesting moral question again? The fact that a person is a clone does not make them any less of a person, nor any less deserving of the same basic rights as every other human being.

Eliminate the possibility of them having a mind of their own, to the point that they're just remote controlled meat, and then you might have a grey area to discuss.

 

[Asita]

...Did you base this off a movie? Because the concept sounds like Gamer by way of The Island.

More directly: Tossing aside the sheer impracticalness of the system (unlike digital representations clones are limited in nature and would have to be consistently replaced), the fact that this creates a far better argument about desensitizing people to violence and death than the destruction of virtual images ever could, the very fact that you raise the possibility of these being sentient entities kinda leads to a very predictable condemnation of the concept. You might as well be asking 'dog fights, yes or no?'

 

[lacktheknack]

Absolutely not.

All that blood could be used for transfusions. D:

 

[Arakasi]

That doesn't seem like a very interesting moral question at all.
If they can think for themselves, it's wrong. There's really no ifs ands or buts here.

There may, however, be a large abundance of 'however''s.
Like how do you determine if something can think for itself? Do not apes or animals think for themselves? What if the programs could be programmed to desire whatever they get? Etc. etc.

Thankfully some things aren't as simple as people hope they would be.

 

[FPLOON]

Maybe... on one exception... Could I become friends with these clones?

All that blood could be used for transfusions. D:

Actually, this got me wondering, OP... What would the clone's blood color be?
Red? White? Green? Blue? Purple? RAINBOW??
My curiosity about their overall structure is fascinating me more than having to control them "a la" the movie Gamer, at this point... I mean, even if their blood's a different color than that of human blood, could it still be used for medical purposes?
In fact, you can even extend that to the rest of the clone's own body... Would any of their body parts and/or functions be used for human medical purposes? What about medical purposes for other clones, given we're assuming each clone has the same exact structure to each other, give or take a few altercations to fit the medium they're being controlled in...

 

[Flutterguy]

Does not sound economically viable.

Supposing it was it is still an obvious answer, no. If you can't see why it is obvious you should really become a salesman.

 

[Auron225]

There is no gray in this moral question - just pitch black. What I got from this was; "rather than controlling non-sentient digital people - we control real people who can feel pain and die!"

There is no advantage to this whatsoever unless you're a psychopath who enjoys that sorta thing.

 

[Rastrelly]

1) It's impossible to judge from here. In our society - indeed, this seems impossible. But TS states this is already a technology available and used commonly. So - did Romans consider gladiator fights immoral? Noooo.
2) I strongly doubt this tech would be that interesting. I seriously doubt my clone would be able to do something like this:

... and that clone wouldn't look good enough in that outfit :3

 

[Lotet]

Considering one of my major fantasies is being kept in safe, conscious, semi-stasis while controlling clones... There is no moral problem for me. It would literally be a dream come true. As long as everything is experienced from the clone's point of view, as if I was the clone.

Mmm, I wonder how it would feel to die, how long would our minds be linked and what will the point before termination feel like.

It's one major step closer to an indefinite life span.

 

[Ubiquitous Duck]

I wouldn't really consider this a moral dilemma/question.

I think if you said you were up for this, you would be a very sadistically-minded person, putting people in fights to the death for your own amusement. Sounds very ancient civilisation/barbaric in practice.

 

[Guffe]

gamers now control clones in their games. Blood-filled, possibly free-thinking clones that could be made based on anyone.

Not really a bad question/hypothesis.
But in our time (2014) and this group of people (Escapist) you'll get a 98% hit of people saying it's wrong.

Taking it to the next step, this happens (your --> we control people as our gaming character), how long until people don't care anymore?

You should watch the movie "Gamer", it is about this exact thing you're talking about, and a pretty good movie overall

 

[Yopaz]

Maybe... on one exception... Could I become friends with these clones?

All that blood could be used for transfusions. D:

Actually, this got me wondering, OP... What would the clone's blood color be?
Red? White? Green? Blue? Purple? RAINBOW??
My curiosity about their overall structure is fascinating me more than having to control them "a la" the movie Gamer, at this point... I mean, even if their blood's a different color than that of human blood, could it still be used for medical purposes?
In fact, you can even extend that to the rest of the clone's own body... Would any of their body parts and/or functions be used for human medical purposes? What about medical purposes for other clones, given we're assuming each clone has the same exact structure to each other, give or take a few altercations to fit the medium they're being controlled in...

If blood had a different colour than red it would mean it isn't the same kind of blood. So it wouldn't be useful. It can be fatal to give a person with blood type B- B+ type of blood. Giving him the blood of an octopus or squid (which is blue due to copper rather than iron in the heme groups) wouldn't work.

As long as blood has hemoglobin or myoglobin and an iron cofactor it will be red. Clones will have red blood because they have the same protein coding genes as normal humans.

OT: How is this an interesting moral question? I am against dog fights, cock fights, bull fighting and so on. Those are cruel sports against animals with nowhere near the mental capacity of a human being. Of course I would be opposed to slavery of a group simply because their lives started out in a test tube rather than in a womb.

 

[Hoplon]

Picture this, if you will: it's sometime in the future. Instead of computer-generated digital characters, gamers now control clones in their games. Blood-filled, possibly free-thinking clones that could be made based on anyone. Games that would be compatible with them include:

Shooters
Racers
Fighters
Sports

Now the question is where would you stand on this hypothetical practice?

For, me I have no idea.

Edit: I have to concede, I had no I no idea how to phrase the question and ended up with a shitty thread as a result. Guess I should have thought about it more. Sorry.

This is not so much a moral question as "are you a megalomaniac?"

No you can't create "free thinking" clones and use them as slaves. cos that's what it is, slavery.