ShowerThoughts

2020 readers

26 users here now

Sometimes we have those little epiphanies in the shower.. sometimes they come from other places. This is a home for those epiphanies.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

csm10495@sh.itjust.works

-20

Murder doesn't cause death (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 5 months ago by loaExMachina@sh.itjust.works to c/showerthoughts@sh.itjust.works

6 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Killing someone doesn't change whether or not they die, only when.

The only thing that determines whether or not someone will die is whether or not they were born. Therefore, the only cause of death is birth.

The only case in which murder changes the amount of people who will die is if a person who would've otherwise had children is killed. By preventing birth it prevents death. In other words, murder can only decrease the amount of people who will die or keep it the same, but never increase it.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What in the pink donkey fuck did I just read?

[–] loaExMachina@sh.itjust.works -2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Just maths.

Of course, this has no moral or political bearing, I am no advocate of murder. Just a little unintuitive fact.

It plays on the ambiguity of the word "cause". Is the cause the reason why something was going to happen, or the reason why it happened precisely when it did? Say you set a stone on another at such a fragile balance that it could fall at any moment for any reason. Five minutes later, the wind blows and the stone falls. Was the cause of the fall you setting the stone where you did, or was it the wind? That's debatable. But now, assume you put the stone on a big snowball instead. As it gets warmer, whatever you do, the stone will end up on the floor. Say a squirrel jumps on the snowball and the stone falls before the snow has melted. If you see the stone at this time, and are asked why the stone is on the floor, you will certainly blame the squirrel. But if you only see the stone being set, the leave and come back in the summer. If asked why the stone is there, certainly you will think that the cause was that it was set on a snowball. But then, does it matter whether or not you know about the squirrel? If there had been a squirrel and the stone hadn't been set on the snowball, the stone wouldn't be one the floor there. But if the stone had been set on the snowball and there hadn't been a squirrel, it would now still be on the floor at roughly the same place. Therefore, the squirrel isn't the determining factor. However, whether you ask the question before of after the snow has melted changes your answer.

We think as murder (the squirrel) as the cause of death because we ask the question before the snow has melted (before a person's natural lifetime has elapsed). But if you consider it on the long term, the answer changes. The murder is no longer the cause of death.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago

This sounds like a Schrödinger's Brain sort of theory. Like, is your brain alive or not? We will never know, until it's removed from the container...

Go read a dictionary, murder is literally killing someone, or some creature, intentionally.

Let's try not to do or even think about that yo.