Revenge At A Price

[Metatwaddle]

I'd probably inject myself, but only because I wouldn't be thinking clearly. It's not a moral thing to do, obviously.

[defanatic]

Given my state of mind, I would do it. Morally... Well, I might do it. How would you find these guys, anyway?

[DesertFly]

Screw revenge, I would inject myself just so I could cause needless havoc and show these pathetic mortals once and for all who their true master is. I would become a god! Muahahahaha! Muahahahaha!!

Seriously though, I probably would.

[haard]

No. Mostly because I have never been much for revenge for its own sake, not when it is only me that has been wounded/slighted/whatever.

Now if those thugs had hurt my wife, it would be an enirely different matter.

[Old Peculier]

I said no, before reading the thread. I didn't consider that I would be not be thinking clearly. Put in this position, I don't know what I'd do, but I'd like to think that I'd die quietly, and perhaps destroy the sample if I could.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Can the purified form of this virus propagate through airborne transmission? If that's the case, I'd do it, because dying would most certainly lead to the discovery of the injector on my corpse and its subsequent analysis. This would possibly cause the infection of several other individuals, who would potentially be able to do far more damage than I.

The virus works only on the genetics of the host it's originally injected into, hence, once it's in you, the best way to produce more off-spring is to force an embryo into genetic relatives so the virus is not a risk here. The issue is that, in order to propagate your kind (which you will soon after you've had your revenge), your best bet is to use your family as hosts for similar organisms, so inevitably, your family gets dragged into this potentially, and being ripped apart by a gestating freak in your chest is not nice.

It's also an RNA virus, so forget any cures which would nullify the choice in this moral quandary anyway (not that I expect anyone would catch you and treat you, the G-Virus makes you pretty much an endlessly mutating beast so you'd adapt to anything short of a C4 surprise).

I could add another factor into this, that being if you do inject yourself, you accidentally unleash the T-Virus as Birkin did. In which case, it'd be a simpler decision given you'd condemn an entire city to plague to be sanitised by a nuke strike. Though on the plus side, street crime plummets that year.

The results do surprise me somewhat here, though it was more biased towards a "yes" vote last night.

[nickolay1]

That wasn't exactly my intended question. Is there any possibility of others being infected if I don't inject myself and simply die? For example, those performing forensic analysis?

[defanatic]

No. Mostly because I have never been much for revenge for its own sake, not when it is only me that has been wounded/slighted/whatever.

Now if those thugs had hurt my wife, it would be an enirely different matter.

So... You'd inject your wife with this stuff so she can carry out revenge?

[Dooey Jo]

So will I just become a mindless zombie, or will I become unable to not kill and infect things, but retain some form of self-awareness? Because... ah, I'll probably take the shot anyway. It's probably better than dying; at least that's what I'm going to think while lying there.

[Bounty]

So will I just become a mindless zombie, or will I become unable to not kill and infect things, but retain some form of self-awareness? Because... ah, I'll probably take the shot anyway. It's probably better than dying; at least that's what I'm going to think while lying there.

Well, if you're like Birkin, you'll become a rapidly mutating bioweapon singlemindedly trying to reproduce and kill for nourishment. Think zombie, but with a sense of self-preservation and enough rudimentary intelligence to follow prey.

[Admiral Valdemar]

That wasn't exactly my intended question. Is there any possibility of others being infected if I don't inject myself and simply die? For example, those performing forensic analysis?

No. For simplicity's sake, the autoinjector is foolproof and won't shatter or anything.

As for what you become, everything Birkin did, pretty much. Your body will go on adapting at amazing speed to any stimuli and so your mind deteriorates too as your form alters endlessly. Any idea of regret after the fact is not going to happen with an animalistic mind.

[haard]

No. Mostly because I have never been much for revenge for its own sake, not when it is only me that has been wounded/slighted/whatever.

Now if those thugs had hurt my wife, it would be an enirely different matter.

So... You'd inject your wife with this stuff so she can carry out revenge?

No, if they killed my wife I'd inject myself to carry out revenge if that was the only way.

I would not sacrefice my family or my humanity for revenge against my would-be murderers, but I would sacrefice a whole lot of things, including myself, to avenge my wife.

[haard]

I might add that I will probably feel different once I have kids...

[Admiral Valdemar]

No, if they killed my wife I'd inject myself to carry out revenge if that was the only way.

I would not sacrefice my family or my humanity for revenge against my would-be murderers, but I would sacrefice a whole lot of things, including myself, to avenge my wife.

So you'd dispell with your normal moral obligations if it was your significant other who was attacked as opposed to yourself? Would the added risk of the same problems occurring not warrant simply letting the police try and do their job rather than go with your own brand of vigilantism?

[haard]

So you'd dispell with your normal moral obligations if it was your significant other who was attacked as opposed to yourself?

Yes.

Would the added risk of the same problems occurring not warrant simply letting the police try and do their job rather than go with your own brand of vigilantism?

No, not for me, even if they were imprisoned (which was not really clear from the original question, "the scum /../ whom no office of the law will punish properly.".

Suffice to say, I would not really care for justice, but vengeance. While I agree with the idea of the state monopoly on violence, and I understand that the society would have to (at least try to) punish me, it would not change the fact that I would seek revenge.

Of course, I'd normally do that in a more mundane way (5.65 probably), but if the choice was the virus or no vengeance, I do think I would chose the virus.

[SylasGaunt]

your family gets dragged into this potentially, and being ripped apart by a gestating freak in your chest is not nice.

IIRC that only happens to incompatible hosts.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Yes.

Interesting. Why?

No, not for me, even if they were imprisoned (which was not really clear from the original question, "the scum /../ whom no office of the law will punish properly.".

You have the usual chances of conviction, so they could get off from a technicality or get a lousy sentence. Either way, depending on your mentality, some would rather beat the living shit out of these people as opposed to letting justice take its course.

Suffice to say, I would not really care for justice, but vengeance. While I agree with the idea of the state monopoly on violence, and I understand that the society would have to (at least try to) punish me, it would not change the fact that I would seek revenge.

Of course, I'd normally do that in a more mundane way (5.65 probably), but if the choice was the virus or no vengeance, I do think I would chose the virus.

I'm curious as to why you'd go that route when it was a loved one attacked, but not yourself. The consequences are the same near enough with other innocents likely targets no matter who is harmed. You make the case that your wife is a special situation that demands relentless vengeance without limits, while your death would pass by without such violent repercussions.

IIRC that only happens to incompatible hosts.

We never really find out, but if it goes the way you went, you still have your family becoming what you are and anyone else being torn asunder by your pseudocopies.

[haard]

Yes.

Interesting. Why?

No, not for me, even if they were imprisoned (which was not really clear from the original question, "the scum /../ whom no office of the law will punish properly.".

You have the usual chances of conviction, so they could get off from a technicality or get a lousy sentence. Either way, depending on your mentality, some would rather beat the living shit out of these people as opposed to letting justice take its course.

Suffice to say, I would not really care for justice, but vengeance. While I agree with the idea of the state monopoly on violence, and I understand that the society would have to (at least try to) punish me, it would not change the fact that I would seek revenge.

Of course, I'd normally do that in a more mundane way (5.65 probably), but if the choice was the virus or no vengeance, I do think I would chose the virus.

I'm curious as to why you'd go that route when it was a loved one attacked, but not yourself. The consequences are the same near enough with other innocents likely targets no matter who is harmed. You make the case that your wife is a special situation that demands relentless vengeance without limits, while your death would pass by without such violent repercussions.

Well, I do not agree that the consequenses are the same - not even similar, to me.

If I die, I die, and it is for others to handle that. Of course I do not want to die, and I would fight to survive but 'after the fact', so to speak, I do not require vengeance. Suffice to say, I am not one to hold a grudge. I dislike people from time to time, I just don't have any urge to hurt them.

Not that I am perfect in this matter - I love sparring both verbal and physical, and in the heat of battle you sometimes overstep the bounds.



Now all this changes when it comes to my wife. Why? No easy answer.

(below this, I've been writing and revriting for half an hour... so much thought, so little text )
Lots of reasons I can think of, but the true one is that I feel that way; when I think of anyone hurting her, I feel hate.


Vengeance would not be for her obviously, since she was dead, but for me.

[Guardsman Bass]

Considering that I would be in a state of total mindfucking pain after the attack, I would choose to live, and slaughter the little punks. Although it'll get messy later, maybe I'll start an urban legend that will greatly discourage street crime.

[SWPIGWANG]

I'd probably be too busy dying to do anything. (consider how little I do when I'm actually alive)

I am my mind, and I'm dead anyways. No point inflicting more.

[Agent Fisher]

I would choose no. Even though people here may look down upon my beliefs, I believe I'm going somewhere better when I die.

[Oni Koneko Damien]

I'd *like* to choose no. If I were in the mindset I am in now, I would choose no. The thing is, after being beaten, slashed, and left for dead in a cold gutter, I'm fairly certain that adrenaline levels would be hitting a critical plataeu in my body, and thinking clearly would be the last thing I'd be doing. In that situation, I'd probably be reduced to a rather animalistic state of mind: Survive at all costs, which means despite all my sound moral objections now, I'd take the injection anyways because at the time, I'd be mentally incapacitated.

[Oni Koneko Damien]

Holy crap, I just completely tied up the votes at thirty-three each...how's that for a split crowd?

[Guardsman Bass]

I would choose no. Even though people here may look down upon my beliefs, I believe I'm going somewhere better when I die.

Yeah, but are you going to remember that when you are dying, right after fighting an intense struggle with a group of thugs?

[Admiral Valdemar]

I would choose no. Even though people here may look down upon my beliefs, I believe I'm going somewhere better when I die.

Yeah, but are you going to remember that when you are dying, right after fighting an intense struggle with a group of thugs?

I would bet "no", given a lot of people start doubting their worldview at times of extreme stress, which getting beaten to death most certainly is. To be in a sound state-of-mind when at Death's door is hard to do, heck, I've had friends who doubted their Christian afterlife when a relative was terminally ill, letalone themselves.

You'd have to be truly apathetic or noble and able to keep a real grip on your sanity to pass up the payback option.