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Questions tagged [ethics]

For questions that deal with whether something is right or wrong regarding certain norms.

11 votes
13 answers
5k views

In my city, magic prevents people from harboring ill intent in their minds. Is there any reasonable need for a police force of any kind?

FOR CONTEXT: In the setting I am developing, there is a city. In this city, by magical means I would happily detail if needed, there is no evil. What I mean by that is no one can harbor ill intent ...
bevel_headed's user avatar
5 votes
7 answers
4k views

Dealing ethically with future human monsters

My world is similar to modern-day Earth, though with additional magical realms not readily accessible from the Rational Realms that are familiar to us. In this world, as many as ten people in every ...
Monty Wild's user avatar
  • 75.2k
3 votes
9 answers
4k views

Would the use of sulfuric acid "piranha" weapons be considered chemical weapons, and thus, War Crimes?

In an alternative reality, people where capable of taking information from the future, and thus, they decided to not only to replicate future technology for the betterment of manking, but also future ...
Fulano's user avatar
  • 491
25 votes
17 answers
6k views

How does a government that uses undead labor avoid perverse incentives?

The setting I'm working on is in terms of tech levels and society best comparable to early 20th century Earth. But with several big differences. One being the existence necromancy and mad science that ...
Demiurge777's user avatar
16 votes
12 answers
6k views

How could a modern democratic state justify the practice of necromancy?

So, we are on a fictional planet where the most powerful human faction (the Union) relies heavily on necrotechny (high-tech necromancy) for historical reasons. Necrotechny brings prosperity and ...
Cyana de Ghourt's user avatar
4 votes
4 answers
385 views

Potential, ethically-questionable advancements in science [closed]

I'm creating a futuristic dystopia in which a religious sect decides to shun advancements in technology and science. The reason for this is that science has evolved in ethically questionable ways. ...
Theresa Kay's user avatar
  • 2,177
3 votes
6 answers
591 views

Would it be morally right to kill fiends by modern world standards? [closed]

Fiends in my story were usually were once human teenagers, but since then (usually voluntary) have gained power, immortality, and supernatural abilities by submitting themselves to The OtherWorld King....
Wilbur Wummins's user avatar
23 votes
7 answers
3k views

First Contact @ Home: How to ethically raise aliens when very little is known about their species and contact is impossible?

We failed to establish communication with the aliens. Our scientists have lost hope in reverse-engineering their technology - what little we can even recognize as technology. The only commonality, it ...
smallobsession's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
175 views

Should a space faring species interfere in a Mass-extinction event, which is necessary for the evolution of a future civilization? [closed]

I recently came across an audiobook called Permian by Devyn Regueira. The synopsis was about a recent discovery of fossilized eggs and two strange cave carvings in Siberia, one that describes the ...
Jacob Badger's user avatar
  • 2,343
15 votes
7 answers
1k views

How to determine the person-hood of starfish aliens?

Our space explorers got some friends together to try to form a galactic union. Most inter-species unions would be an empire where a few species are controlling lots of others, or a partnership between ...
Robert Spencer's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
118 views

Autonomous homonculi vs mass-produced homonculi, which one would be more restricted by the Geneva Convention?

I needed monsters for my story, but with each added "quirk", dragons became more and more like overgrown, but well-behaved, flying housecats with scales. And I also didn't want them to be &...
Mephistopheles's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
1k views

What would be the consequences of a society literally run by sociopaths?

I was listening to a worldbuilding discussion on another site and somebody came up with an idea for a dystopian setting that they called "the worst of all possible worlds". Basically, the ...
user2352714's user avatar
  • 14.2k
18 votes
14 answers
2k views

What would lead an entire country to systematically ignore home invasion, theft and vandalism from 1 particular person? [closed]

Evie is reading a book, when L. runs into her house, smashes all the pots, rifles through her wardrobe and runs off with her life savings and a bottle of red liquid. She doesn't even look up. Carl is ...
Nzall's user avatar
  • 8,479
1 vote
0 answers
220 views

A fictional world where morals and ethics are completely reversed? [closed]

I want to create a world that exist in an alternate universe where all ethics and moral behaviors on earth are completely reversed/backwards. What would society in this alternate world look like?, to ...
user avatar
18 votes
3 answers
2k views

The cruel life-cycle of biscuits (cookies)

Captain's Log For some time we have been monitoring broadcasts from a planet that calls itself "Earth". We have noticed that it is fond of placing short documentaries in slots between the ...
chasly - supports Monica's user avatar

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