What causes us not to kill?

[Lord George]

Just imagine that hypothetically for a day you could get away with killing another person with no repercussions from then law, would you kill someone? would you take the chance to spill blood? What I'm basically asking is would you take a life if you could?

For me I think I would, I think the desire to kill is only restrained by my fear of repercussions from the law and the punishment that would follow, but if I knew I would not be punished I don't think I would be held back by anything. What are your thoughts?

 

[Molikroth]

You don't say whether or not there's a chance there could be non-legal repercussions, I.E. angry family members. If not, hell yes. If so, I'd judge it on how likely I think it is the family would learn who killed their darling son.

As for addressing the thread title; hive mind, mob rule, insanity.

 

[Blayze]

Like damn near everyone else, I'm constrained by three factors (Possibly more): Vengeance, punishment and guilt. Without punishment, there would only be guilt -- both personal and inflicted upon me by others if they knew of my actions -- and people seeking vengeance.

I'd rather not die from some family member of the deceased coming after me with a fireaxe. So no, I wouldn't kill.

Self-defence however, my usual rules apply. If you attempt to hurt me, you instantly forfeit all right to not being killed. Whether or not I could in that situation is down to personal ability and anger.

 

[rossatdi]

Er...basic human sympathy? People are not programmed to murder members of their own group. Which is why most war propaganda normally demonizes the other side.

No human society has ever condoned the ruleless murdering of their own. In duels, at the coliseum, for blood sacrifices, in punishment and so on.

 

[Redlac]

It would depend entirely on the situation. Currently no one person I have met so far has made me want to kill them.

 

[Volucer]

It would depend entirely on the situation. Currently no one person I have met so far has made me want to kill them.

Not a driver then?

 

[Akas]

Kill? No. But that doesn't mean that I wouldn't mind nudging them in one direction or the other. Killing ends a life prematurely, is likely to inspire vengeance, and in general is too messy to work around (even with complete law immunity, there's still body disposal, faking an alibi in case of further investigation, etc.) But nudging someone towards salvation or self-destruction doesn't cause anything like that. Make an alcoholic, break one, see how much mental pressure someone can stand, deprive someone of inordinate amounts of sleep, those could all be achieved by simple, invisible nudges. If I had a week of nudging versus a day of killing, I'd take the nudge.

As for why people are prevented from killing/kill? Petty annoyances and grudges, for the most part. There aren't too many completely evil people in the world: very few people believe they're doing something wrong when they commit heinous deeds.

 

[Bakery]

Killing is Bad and Wrong, there should be a separate word for killing like Badwrong or Badong, yes, killing is Badong.

(mega cookie to anyone who gets the reference)

 

[Clashero]

I'd kill Castro, definitely. It's the Communism I'm against, it's the Authoritarianism.

 

[Larmo]

Killing is Bad and Wrong, there should be a separate word for killing like Badwrong or Badong, yes, killing is Badong.

(mega cookie to anyone who gets the reference)

Kung Pow

But as for topic, killing for me is to much trouble even without fear of repercussions. Im to lazy to do much of anything that requires a lot of effort and killing and its aftermath, the clean-up, is to much of a bother for me to, well, bother with

 

[trlkly]

If there were absolutely no repercussions, I thought I might. But then I realized, it wouldn't get at the heart of the issue. What I want is to make them feel like I feel. So, if they hurt me, I would want to hurt them. But if I killed them, they wouldn't be feeling any pain.

And then I realized that the real issue is just that I don't want to feel hurt. And since we're talking about hypotheticals that could never really happen, I'll merely create another: a machine that can erase any hurt.

 

[Danny Ocean]

For me I think I would, I think the desire to kill is only restrained by my fear of repercussions from the law and the punishment that would follow, but if I knew I would not be punished I don't think I would be held back by anything. What are your thoughts?

To quote fable 2, as much as I may dislike it:

"Good job killing those bandits, but think about this. Imagine all the memories you have of your life so far, all the good ones. They had those memories, too. Do you feel the weight of responsibility on yourself now?"
[sup]or something like that[/sup]

That's why I'd never kill someone.

 

[Zac_Dai]

I'd kill Castro, definitely. It's the Communism I'm against, it's the Authoritarianism.

He is practically dead anyway. You want to kill his brother, he is in charge now.

Anyway killing another human being is an act that a majority of the population could never bring themselves to do.

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that during wars only around 20% of soldiers would actually shoot at the enemy, the rest would deliberately miss.

The problem was so bad for the US during WW2 that they redeveloped training to psychologically condition soldiers to kill and due to this kill rates had gone up to 95% in the Vietnam war. Apparently this technique also causes post-traumatic stress disorder due to the mind not being able to deal with what the body did.

This [http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/killing.html]and this [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3512662527238873429&ei=r2clSZKbFY-w2AKP2fj4DQ&q=truth+about+killing] link gives more information about it. I know some people might completely disagree with theories here, but I would like to believe it as it shows the human race is better than we think.

 

[emptyother]

I would kill a person if i could. Reason to kill? To stop him from spreading pain and pure evilness to the rest of the population. Subjects are so-called assholes. And they know it themselves and even though they are confronted directly, they refuse to change to the better.
As far as i see it, the world is better off without them.

But even though i could save a lot of other people this asshole's pure evilness, i would not pay the price of my own life. This life is too valuable to me that i want to waste away in some kind of prison, even though i know a lot of other people have to suffer because of it.

"Good job killing those bandits, but think about this. Imagine all the memories you have of your life so far, all the good ones. They had those memories, too. Do you feel the weight of responsibility on yourself now?"
[sup]or something like that[/sup]

That's why I'd never kill someone.

Actually, this is a good example to use... Imagine all the good memories they have about implanting bad memories into other people. Harassing people is something they consider FUN! Makes me really want to kill them.

 

[jewru]

ya i probably would, but soon after or before i did some one would probably kill me so meh,

edit: oh but if i could kill/die in a cool way id want to go out like scarface. all coked up getin shot to pieces while shooting other people to pieces...yah that be nice.

 

[orifice]

Running out of ammo.

 

[InvisibleMilk]

hmmmn. Interesting thread here. I'm not sure about what I would do.
Sorry about the whole political thing again, but if I wasn't afraid of going to hell or just not going to feel bad later.

I'd stab Obama

 

[MONTGOMERYWOODRUFF69]

The list is too long and I'm too damn lazy.

 

[curlycrouton]

"What causes us not to kill?"

There's a very, very easy answer to that question.

The frontal lobe.

 

[Shadowtek]

If their wass nothing in the law saying that I couldnt, yes. just tell me the day, and I have several people in mind.