Paradise On Earth & The Immortal Chimpanzee
Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:01 pmWith apologies to Infected Mushroom, I'm going to be jacking your style for this one.
Please consider the following hypothetical.
God, or some equivalent omnipotent force, is real, and he comes to you with a choice. You can end virtually all human suffering - poverty, war, scarcity, oppression, all of it. Any problem that cannot be solved with material technology granted by God will be similarly resolved by him through divine intervention. Climate change will be reversed, farming and animal torture made obsolete by food and medical innovations, everyone will get the healthcare they need, all class barriers and national borders are abolished, all living beings will more or less live in a paradise on Earth. And, for the sake of this hypothetical, "paradise on Earth" takes the shape of whatever you personally imagine it to be. Your ideal world. Not heaven - people are still mortal, but we're essentially dropped off at the point of achieving fully automated luxury communism and 99% of the way toward undoing original sin. Don't overthink it too much, but basically every living creature on Earth in the present and future will be relieved of systemic suffering and life will be effortlessly comfortable until your natural death.
There is, naturally, a price.
There is a chimpanzee out there, somewhere in the wilderness, living among his kind and completely unaware of what fate is to befall him. If you choose to accept the above offer, this chimpanzee will be plucked from his home and granted immortality. He will then be strapped to a chair, hidden away from the world, and tortured for all of eternity. His torment will be continual and maximal; he will experience as much pain as it is possible for an ape to experience, at every waking moment without fail. Not only this, but the chimpanzee has no idea what is going on or why he is suffering. You can remove the chimpanzee at any time, but he will lose his immortality and society will collapse, likely ending all of existence in nuclear hellfire. And given the chimp now has to live with the trauma of his torture, I wouldn't exactly say the pain stops anyway.
Of course, you can reject this offer, and life will continue as it is across the planet. Suffering will continue, billions will experience pain and hurt from the many woes of society and nature alike, for eons to come. But the monkey will be spared. For those of you who are religious, I will add the caveat that God insists there is no right or wrong decision, and whichever path you choose will not affect your entrance to heaven. And, for the sake of the hypothesis, let's assume that all of humanity will know about your decision either way.
What do you do?
Disclaimer: though this question strongly resembles the story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas", I have decided in this instance to remove any and all nuance from the situation and change the human child living in a dark room getting whipped every day to an immortal monkey strapped to a torture chair with no reprieve at all from his suffering. I did this in the hopes that, on top of I would ask that when you consider your answer, try not to find ways around the question, or to try and "cheat" the system ("wHaT iF i gAvE tHe mOnKeY pAiNkIlLeRs??") -- I find these questions are much more fun when you remove any and all nuance from them and debate solely on the two absolute scenarios that would result from your decision. However, I would also welcome any alteration of the basic premise of the question if it will result in a different decision, so we can compare and explore some interesting questions about ethics. For example, a friend of mine said he would not accept the offer, but would if the chimp were replaced with an immortal human child in the torture chair.
Please consider the following hypothetical.
God, or some equivalent omnipotent force, is real, and he comes to you with a choice. You can end virtually all human suffering - poverty, war, scarcity, oppression, all of it. Any problem that cannot be solved with material technology granted by God will be similarly resolved by him through divine intervention. Climate change will be reversed, farming and animal torture made obsolete by food and medical innovations, everyone will get the healthcare they need, all class barriers and national borders are abolished, all living beings will more or less live in a paradise on Earth. And, for the sake of this hypothetical, "paradise on Earth" takes the shape of whatever you personally imagine it to be. Your ideal world. Not heaven - people are still mortal, but we're essentially dropped off at the point of achieving fully automated luxury communism and 99% of the way toward undoing original sin. Don't overthink it too much, but basically every living creature on Earth in the present and future will be relieved of systemic suffering and life will be effortlessly comfortable until your natural death.
There is, naturally, a price.
There is a chimpanzee out there, somewhere in the wilderness, living among his kind and completely unaware of what fate is to befall him. If you choose to accept the above offer, this chimpanzee will be plucked from his home and granted immortality. He will then be strapped to a chair, hidden away from the world, and tortured for all of eternity. His torment will be continual and maximal; he will experience as much pain as it is possible for an ape to experience, at every waking moment without fail. Not only this, but the chimpanzee has no idea what is going on or why he is suffering. You can remove the chimpanzee at any time, but he will lose his immortality and society will collapse, likely ending all of existence in nuclear hellfire. And given the chimp now has to live with the trauma of his torture, I wouldn't exactly say the pain stops anyway.
Of course, you can reject this offer, and life will continue as it is across the planet. Suffering will continue, billions will experience pain and hurt from the many woes of society and nature alike, for eons to come. But the monkey will be spared. For those of you who are religious, I will add the caveat that God insists there is no right or wrong decision, and whichever path you choose will not affect your entrance to heaven. And, for the sake of the hypothesis, let's assume that all of humanity will know about your decision either way.
What do you do?
Disclaimer: though this question strongly resembles the story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas", I have decided in this instance to remove any and all nuance from the situation and change the human child living in a dark room getting whipped every day to an immortal monkey strapped to a torture chair with no reprieve at all from his suffering. I did this in the hopes that, on top of I would ask that when you consider your answer, try not to find ways around the question, or to try and "cheat" the system ("wHaT iF i gAvE tHe mOnKeY pAiNkIlLeRs??") -- I find these questions are much more fun when you remove any and all nuance from them and debate solely on the two absolute scenarios that would result from your decision. However, I would also welcome any alteration of the basic premise of the question if it will result in a different decision, so we can compare and explore some interesting questions about ethics. For example, a friend of mine said he would not accept the offer, but would if the chimp were replaced with an immortal human child in the torture chair.
