Lord Woodlouse wrote:You're conveniently ignoring their threat to exterminate our entire species (which given our experience of their biological warfare methods, seems achievable).
l happen to disagree. Because l like being alive just that much. l'm crazy that way.
Personally, I don't. Not enough to want every child on earth to be tortured (human race vs 10% hell-torture is a more difficult ethical question, but it will inevitably turn into 100% hell-torture given the pattern of their behaviour) even assuming they won't bother to harvest adults like you at some point; there's no chemicals in a human child of twelve that aren't in an adult, as far as I know.
Question: when would you stop cooperating with the 456? What if they wanted to harvest
everyone but you? Everyone but your family? What if you or your offspring were freak mutants the 456 want to torture forever, and will kill the world if are not delivered intact and alive? Would you try and escape and let the Earth die, or would you go for the infinite torture, or would you go willingly for the good of the human race? (Any pretense of moral behaviour breaks here, in the real world of non-RAR internet, I'd be far too scared if I knew what was involved, and probably would try and run or kill myself, so rather, would it be
morally right for the government to try and capture you and yours for the 456?)
*shrug* Who knows? lt's entirely possible what we've given them is enough. lf they can prolong life that much they probably don't reproduce that much. Our first "gift" was pretty obviously a sample, the second would logically be enough to jack onto every 456 who wants one.
But again, who knows? One thing l do know is that we're probably going to have limited success comparing human drug addicts to an alien species that happens to enjoy being plugged into our children.
Why? They fucking call it 'The Hit' they've obviously studied our culture enough to find that a satisfactory analogy. They're addicts; their 10% number could be anything - most likely, a number they picked as something they thought humans would go along with; why else pick a nice, round, number prevalant in human culture?
They have every reason to wipe out our species in this instance (they don't have anything but a sample). But we can always say if you come back, we'll destroy any children they ask for.
In which case you'll have to prove it at some point. If you're going to draw a line against further capitulation, then you'd best draw it right away - because eventually, you
will have to bite the bullet and say no - and see if they're willing and able to destroy humanity. All you're doing by delaying that confrontation is buying a few decades for six billion people, in exchange for torture until the days of the Toclafane (potentially) for a hundred million people. Let's say the 456 last a billion years:
Six hundred billion man-years of life, vs one hundred quadrillion man-years of sensory deprivation torture.
And yes, we have seen that at least one species can survive fundemantally socially static for billions of years - the Time Lords.
l seriously doubt 12 was designed to satiate their entire species.
Any number of explanations. Twelve was the number the science team that found humans were 'goooood'. Ten percent is the number of customers they have available, from their hundred trillion member species.
l simply don't know if they'll want more. l merely think it's entirely possible that they won't.
I emphatically disagree.
Meh. l happen to agree with your previous incarnation, that the existence of a DeM was relatively unimportant to the rest of the plot.
Yes, it was. But the issue I have is the fact that they continue to talk about capitulation when the aliens admit it's for drugs, and deliberately compare themselves to human addicts.
The actual DeM used, however, was a trite effort to show, what? Jack hasn't learnt? That the original decision to kill one to save millions was justified, and that it's morally right to give the 456 what they want? What the hell was the point of it? As far as I can tell, the point was to pile cheap hurt on Jack like some cheap fanfic that's going to lead to comfort sex with the Doctor.
My previous incarnation was expecting the likes of UNIT to at least try and fight in some way. Not be utterly spineless to the end.
My previous incarnation thought the moral dilemma was interesting - he also expected the humans to say no, as opposed to knock-head despite having no reason to trust that what they're doing is of any actual benefit.
Given their demonstrations it seems logical that bio-weapons are their preferred methods of killing. They've demonstrated they can cure biological agents. They've not demonstrated any way of blocking the resonance thingywotzits that make them blow up.
Spectacular reasoning there. They've demonstated they can walk people through an innoculation for a flu strain, thus they can cure any unknown pathogen that captain 'I come from an era with technology that makes the 456 look positively pathetic' - nanogenes anyone - can come up with. And again - my example doesn't matter. I don't honestly comprehend what, from a story perspective, makes this ending in any way superior to 'they discover a way to beam on board the 456 ship and Jack blows it up.' - For me, the writer's reason to kill his grandson was
purely to brutalise the character some more. That is why it felt forced.
lt was an attempt to satiate the people. The PM simply thought Frobisher was enough of a doormat that he'd take it. Because he's an utter bastard.
And telling him in advance, before he goes on camera, is
still pointless gloating that means he'll fuck it up somehow.
So they'd arrest him, not execute him.
Why? Torchwood has previously mindwiped and excecuted people on numerous occasions. A reporter even knowing about Torchwood was grounds for sectioning as a lunatic, in Dr Who's 'Tardisodes' - Torchwood acted outside the law until, err, this.
