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Author Topic: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”  (Read 4668 times)

Bubbles

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If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« on: October 25, 2015, 05:29:04 PM »
If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”


Here is an argument for not doing so, by Forbes ( you have to continue to site to see it )

Quote

Why It's Unethical To Go Back In Time And Kill Baby Hitler


Actual responses to the question were mixed. Several denizens of Twitter questioned whether this was a reasonable question to ask (even if one were in possession of the requisite time machine to do the deed). My Forbes colleague Brian Koberlein has weighed in on the physical improbability of going back to kill baby Hitler. I’d like to turn to the ethical question of whether you should. (Consider this a rather specific case of time machine ethics.)

First, notice that the putative justification for using your time machine to find and kill Hitler as a baby rests on a utilitarian view of ethics, where the right thing to do is what will maximize happiness and minimize unhappiness (taking into account the happiness and unhappiness of everyone). Adult Hitler visited horrors on millions of people. You might assume that killing him as a baby would be the equivalent of erasing him, and all the effects he brought into being, resulting in a better balance of happiness and unhappiness.

http://onforb.es/1GomhjI


So would you be prepared to kill a baby Hitler?

Of the replies they had:

30% said no they wouldn't

28% said not sure

42% said yes they would.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2015, 05:41:10 PM by Rose »
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OH MY WORLD!

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #1 on: October 25, 2015, 05:45:28 PM »
Why would I kill the Hitler baby? I would steal him and teach him to grow petunias from seed.
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Sebastian Toe

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #2 on: October 25, 2015, 06:39:52 PM »
Quote from: Rose on October 25, 2015, 05:29:04 PM
If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”


Yes, if only to see the look on his face just as he was being killed - by a baby!  ;D
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Gordon

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #3 on: October 25, 2015, 09:31:12 PM »
Quote from: Sebastian Toe on October 25, 2015, 06:39:52 PM
Quote from: Rose on October 25, 2015, 05:29:04 PM
If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”


Yes, if only to see the look on his face just as he was being killed - by a baby!  ;D

My grandson (age 13) can't make his mind up about his Halloween costume for next weekend so I'll run the 'killer baby' idea past him  ;)
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Bubbles

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #4 on: October 26, 2015, 12:35:23 AM »
Quote from: Sebastian Toe on October 25, 2015, 06:39:52 PM
Quote from: Rose on October 25, 2015, 05:29:04 PM
If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”


Yes, if only to see the look on his face just as he was being killed - by a baby!  ;D

 :P
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Leonard James

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #5 on: October 26, 2015, 06:08:57 AM »
Quote from: Rose on October 25, 2015, 05:29:04 PM
If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”


Definitely not, but I would do everything in my power to ensure that he grew up learning to respect his fellow man.
« Last Edit: October 26, 2015, 06:35:20 AM by Leonard James »
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Spud

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #6 on: October 26, 2015, 08:19:18 AM »
I read an article about a British WW1 veteran who tells how he came face to face with Hitler, in the trenches iirc. Because Hitler was unarmed and disorientated he let him go instead of shooting him.
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Walt Zingmatilder

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #7 on: October 26, 2015, 08:35:22 AM »
Quote from: Spud on October 26, 2015, 08:19:18 AM
I read an article about a British WW1 veteran who tells how he came face to face with Hitler, in the trenches iirc. Because Hitler was unarmed and disorientated he let him go instead of shooting him.
So he encountered an extreme act of mercy and remained untouched by it.
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Nearly Sane

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #8 on: October 26, 2015, 08:36:52 AM »
Quote from: Spud on October 26, 2015, 08:19:18 AM
I read an article about a British WW1 veteran who tells how he came face to face with Hitler, in the trenches iirc. Because Hitler was unarmed and disorientated he let him go instead of shooting him.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28593256

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Udayana

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #9 on: October 26, 2015, 01:01:59 PM »
Quote from: Leonard James on October 26, 2015, 06:08:57 AM
Quote from: Rose on October 25, 2015, 05:29:04 PM
If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”


Definitely not, but I would do everything in my power to ensure that he grew up learning to respect his fellow man.

You may succeed in that, but how do you know that Hitler would not be replaced by someone who would actually win the war for the Nazis?
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Ah, but I was so much older then ... I'm younger than that now

Leonard James

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #10 on: October 26, 2015, 01:10:17 PM »
Quote from: Udayana on October 26, 2015, 01:01:59 PM
Quote from: Leonard James on October 26, 2015, 06:08:57 AM
Quote from: Rose on October 25, 2015, 05:29:04 PM
If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”


Definitely not, but I would do everything in my power to ensure that he grew up learning to respect his fellow man.

You may succeed in that, but how do you know that Hitler would not be replaced by someone who would actually win the war for the Nazis?

I have no doubt that could have occurred, and I would be to blame!

So let's all sit back and do nothing to prevent injustice.
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Udayana

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #11 on: October 26, 2015, 01:43:01 PM »
Well, we can act now, but going back in time to change something is a bit of a gamble, so not recommended.
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Ah, but I was so much older then ... I'm younger than that now

Leonard James

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #12 on: October 26, 2015, 03:10:05 PM »
Quote from: Udayana on October 26, 2015, 01:43:01 PM
Well, we can act now, but going back in time to change something is a bit of a gamble, so not recommended.

What a good job it's totally impossible then!  :)
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Hope

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #13 on: October 26, 2015, 04:20:23 PM »
Can we certain that we would have been killing the same person, give the fact that by going back in time, the whole fabric of time and space would have been altered?
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ippy

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #14 on: November 13, 2015, 05:09:48 PM »
Knowing the things I know now it might be a good idea if it was possible to go back in time, to get his mother to abort him, I don't know.

Anything like this doesn't feel right to me, I don't know about killing any baby, the whole idea sounds tacky to me.

ippy
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SteveH

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #15 on: September 19, 2016, 01:10:06 PM »
No - it could have disastrous consequences.  Suppose, for example, that another Nazi leader arose, as vile as Hitler but a better military strategist, and the Nazis won the war.  Read 'Making History' by Stephen Fry.
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Brownie

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #16 on: September 19, 2016, 03:30:30 PM »
No I wouldn't, doubt I would leave Britain anyway and I'm too "nervous";  I'd probably have joined a revolutionary group and spent the war plotting things!
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Harrowby Hall

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Re: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?”
« Reply #17 on: September 21, 2016, 02:22:57 PM »
No. Were the opportunity available I might see if I could ensure that a sperm bearing an X chromosome fertilised him her.
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