Reviewer: Xkcd0088 Signed
Date: April 15 2014
Title: Chapter 1: Cold
I liked the fact that this chapter made it clear that Ashley's captors/friends were cognizant of the possibility that they could of destroyed their relationship with her...But I disliked how they were also aware that said relationship was something they were willing to sacrifice on their altar of 'behavior correction'. It at once makes things better - because they're not oblivious little ogres of authorities - and worse - because they're willing to put their job before their humanity, if only to a small (to them perhaps...) degree. The measure of their respective characters at this point is what they do to heal the damage they've certainly, knowingly caused....perhaps the Omegas have a rehabilitation policy for the people they've already 'rehabilitated'?
To the point of Alphas avoiding Betas to avoid the possibility of being put in an Omega's 'correction camp', I'm kinda leaning towards agreement...the cost-benefit analysis here has a pretty clear winner. If corporal punishment is the norm, even for accidents, then I'd say most people would be best served by simply removing themselves entirely from the setting where a mistake will get you tortured. People can only be so careful, can only employ so much foresight...eventually a mistake will be made and it's a craps shoot as to what's going to happen to you when something goes sideways. It's an even clearer decision from the perspective of a Beta: why expose yourself to an environment where you can be accidently maimed or killed? Is the payoff really worth that? I'd think that one could minimize the potential costs while maximizing the benefits by only exposing oneself to Alphas in scenarios that are strictly controlled in terms of the Alphas you're meeting at the environment you're meeting them in. Doing this would lose some of the 'exciting' (in a fear of imminent death sense...) spontaneity/randomness, but would gain much more assured safety (for all parties involved!). Why a beta would be walking in soccer field frequented by potential pancake machines I do not know...And no, this isn't a "she shouldn't have dressed like that!" scenario, it's a "she shouldn't have crossed the freeway on a damn bicycle!" scenario. You can only expect the people in positions of power over you do employ so much care before the fault shifts from them to you, regardless of how imbalanced the empower may be; humans are literally only capable of devoting so much mental energy to a task such as safety/awareness, which is why "inadvertant manslaughter" can be attributed to a truck driver who runs over a toddler.
I will definitely stay tuned to see what happens next, because at this point I'm really interested in how this universe's ethics turn out...definitely a cliffhanger for me, in a philosophical sense.
@SpookyTaco
There's not going to be an 'ideal' system of justice for a long time (tens of millenia assuming no more Dark Ages and/or asteroid extinctions....), but as technology improves society's criminal justice system will as well. One of the biggest things that stuck with me here is that the existence of telepathy in this particular universe has very big implications (being able to 'perfectly' determine innocence/guilt & being able to avoid the selection of poor candidates for positions of power to name two big ones) that that apply to both criminals and the authorities. The criminals need not fear being wrongfully persecuted and treated with a level of 'punishment' outstripping their crime; the authorities can be staffed with intelligent and non-psychopathic people (I see through your act Jenna, you little sociopath you!). However, upon rereading some of this universes' other stories it may be that the system is set up imperfectly for a reason: the head Omega had gained power but hasn't left her human failings behind (lust for revenge, feeling the need to 'reward' powerful authorities, knowingly appointing less than ideal individuals to power, etc.), so your point about flawed people yielding a flawed system is well taken. (Though it kind of strains my suspension of disbelief when someone who can read minds still has the 'selective empathy' problem that's plagued us since caveman times...how can someone who knows what it's like to be tortured or executed ever condone such a thing when there's even the slightest possibility of being able to pursue an alternative?) . This doesn't answer your question because it's easier to point out perceived flaws in a narrative than come up with your own, but in short an ideal justice system would improve on past failings, not replicate them to a greater degree.
The "Jenna divides into two groups" deal wasn't meant to be taken in the 'racist' (sizeist?) sense, but in the 'tribe vs. non-tribe' sense: Jenna seems to have that (admittedly very common... ) failing whereby she can mentally rationalize the hideous treatment of another person as long as that other person is moved out of her 'people deserving of common decency' category and into the 'non-proprietary undeserving of empathy' category. This is an evolutionary trait that allowed humans in the ancestral environment to raid/rob/rape/kill other tribes of cavemen for resources, because that's what it took to survive at the time. This trait is an anachronistic holdover that, IMO, has no place in the modern world. It infuriates me when people justify terrible abuse of other people just because they've been arbitrarily classified as a 'type of person who deserves abuse'...It's the "no true Scotsman" situation taken to the sickening extreme. That's what I meant by my "two groups" comment...the fact that someone like Jenna who's capable of visiting such horrors on a fellow human (putting aside the fact that she's mentally ill to the point where she enjoys it) is in a position of power is frankly scary as hell, because it uncomfortably reminds you that that's how things are today.
Finally, the notion that "any system devised by human is flawed because we're flawed" is one I find fatalistic and not worth spending time pondering. The time to label a system as flawed and needing improvement is after one proves itself to be broken, not before you ever make the attempt. Saying that imperfection exists is like saying the universe will experience heat death some day - it's not something that should factor in to our future plans unless we can so something about it. We my not be able to do anything about the latter (yet!) but we can address the former by steadily removing our flaws such that our future attempts at utopia get closer an closer. One great way to do this is to learn empathy, which quite a bit of forced thinking an trial/error before it begins to stick. (Another good way is to read some philosophies other than Nietzche.....)
Author's Response: While it's your prerogative to interpret things as you wish, I really was hoping that their comments to Ashley in this chapter would make it clear that this was about more than just "behavior correction" to the girls, that they legitimately wanted to make sure that Ashley never did something like this again because they want her to never have to experience an actual, unrestrained session, as well as try to limit the probability of her feeling the devastation of taking a life out of carelessness later on.
I also kind of want to go into this whole "accident" thing, because some people seem to be focusing on that and I think they're getting the wrong idea as to how the consequences of an accident play out (especially since I haven't really done a story with a legitimate, full-blown accident): The Omegas aren't stupid. They know that accidents can and will happen to people who are ~3 inches tall, regardless of how much they try to limit them or how much care a person thinks they're taking. When such an accident happens, there is no session involved. Full-stop. They may do an investigation into it to be thorough, to make sure someone isn't covering up a more malicious act by claiming the accidental, but they aren't going to put someone through the wringer over it unless malicious intent is found. The reason Ashley is in trouble for this is because she, and she alone, put that boy in a position to be hurt by her carelessness. She is the one who created the situation. I said this in an earlier comment, but she essentially kidnapped him. That is what would have landed Ashley in hot water. She didn't JUST hurt him, she abducted him, even if she did let him go later, and that abduction lead to that boy getting hurt.
I do thank you for reading and commenting, though. You generally give me an interesting read. And while there are some places where we may differ philosophically, I do believe you are right in a good bit of what you say (and I smiled at your comment on reading philosophies other than Nietzche).
