01. voice. angels dancing on the head of a pin

[ikanteven]

[ Chidi has been contemplating it ever since his arrival—what does the fact that people have powers here mean for the state of ethics in this world? Are people being responsible with what they’ve been given? Is everyone here like him, a person who could never have dreamed of having these types of powers in the worlds he came from?

In the end, he makes a decision that he needs to get more input before deciding. The communicator he’s been given is familiar technology, and he has no problem navigating its interface. He turns on the voice function and begins to broadcast. ]

I have a question for everyone here. Actually, a few questions. I’d like to get everyone’s input, if I can—don’t feel like you’re bothering me with your answer. I want to know everyone’s experience with this and everyone’s opinion.

First, a little background on me. My field of expertise is in the field of ethics and moral philosophy. I have written a lot about this subject, and I’d like to start a new study based on how these fields may be different in this world than in the one I was trained in.

So, here are my questions:

One: Do you personally come from a world where people have the kinds of powers that they have here? Furthermore, did you have powers yourself?

Two: If so, what were the moral and ethical implications of people deciding to use these powers, or choosing not to use them? And if not, do you feel a moral and ethical obligation to use your powers to help people?

And three: Do you consider yourself a good person?

Comments

Re: voice;

[snarkbot]

That's good to hear, sir. It does seem rather self-serving to declare myself sentient, so outside confirmation is appreciated.


[ He's a bit wry, but more sincere than you'd think. Sentient or not, it's hard to shake the programming that puts humans first and himself second. ]

If I may ask, what are the answers you'd give to your questions?

voice;

[ikanteven]

People didn't have superpowers in my world, so any thoughts people had on that were merely speculative.

I did like to think of myself as a good person, before my death. Once I arrived in the afterlife I learned...things hadn't been as good as I thought.

voice;

[snarkbot]

Excuse me, would offering condolences be appropriate if the death in question is your own?

[ If this were any of the other dead people he knew (which is more than he really thinks is necessary), most of them prefer to speak about it in a sarcastic gallows humour kind of way, but he's not about to assume that's the case here. ]

voice;

[ikanteven]

I don't see why not. And thank you.

Assuming that was you meaning to offer them.

[snarkbot]

That was indeed my intention, sir.

If your background was in ethics and moral philosophy, I'm sure you were a good person.

[ikanteven]

I tried. I did try. It turns out that perhaps...it wasn't enough.

[snarkbot]

[ Hmm. There's something about this that feels oddly familiar. ]

I'm not programmed for moral philosophy or metaphysics, sir, but in my experience there are a lot of humans who don't even try at all. And I've met the greatest heroes in the world, who have saved billions of lives and entire planets, and all of them were just trying their best and all of them were flawed in other ways. I have records of the course of hundreds of years of human history, and there is not a single instance of perfection.

I do not know what you did or didn't do, sir, but as long as you weren't putting poisonous fear gas into the water main of a major city, I'm sure you can't have been that bad.