6 Larry Niven Quotes on Ethics

Larry Niven quotes on ethics

15. Any citizen, with the help of the organ banks, can live as long as it takes his central nervous system to wear out. This can be a very long time if his circulatory system is kept functioning. ... But the citizen, cannot take more out of the organ banks than goes into them. He must do his utmost to see that they are supplied. ... The only feasible method of supplying the organ banks is through execution of criminals. ... A criminal's pirated body can save a dozen lives. There is now no valid argument against capital punishment for any given crime; for all such argument seeks to prove that killing a man does society no good. Hence the citizen, who wants to live as long and as healthily as possible, will vote any crime into a capital crime if the organ banks are short of material. ... Cite Earth's capital punishment for false advertising, income tax evasion, air pollution, having children without a license. The wonder was that it had taken so long to pass these laws.

16. There were organ banks all over the world, inadequately supplied by people kind enough to will their bodies to medical science. How useful is the body of a man who dies of old age? How fast can you reach a car accident? And in 2043, Arkansas, which had never rescinded the death penalty, made the organ banks the official state method of execution. The idea had spread like wildfire .... like a moral plague, as one critic of the time had put it.

20. Parlette spoke slowly and evenly. 'I am trying to prevent a bloodbath. Is that clear enough for you? I'm trying to prevent a civil war that could kill half the people in this world.'

34. We follow the scientists around and look over their shoulders. They're watching their feet: provable mistakes are bad for them. We're looking as far ahead as we can, and we don't get penalized for mistakes.

47. 9) Ethics change with technology.

54. 4) It is a sin to waste the reader's time.