Slashdot Mirror
The Economics of Executing Virus Writers
applemasker writes "Slate.com has an article titled Feed The Worms Who Write Worms to the Worms which argues based on economic theory (and somewhat tongue-in-cheek) that it is a 'better investment' to execute the creators of worms, virus and trojan authors, than murderers. Anyone who has tried to resurrect a network or computer after a nasty infection may agree. Although the author does not seriously argue for capital punishment for the script kiddies, it does raise some interesting issues about how much 'value' society puts on certain types of harm and the author's view of a government's role in protecting us from it."
FIRST POST!!!
i like cake
QUICK!
Somebody tell this to dubya!
There might be a use for the old boy yet if we tell him Redmond are terrorists.
If cost-effectiveness ruled us, we'd quickly euthanize all with Alzheimers, mental and emotional disabilities not to mention those with chronic addictions like tobacco, heroin etc. -- they just COST too much.
Because casualties tie up needed resources on the battlefield, all wounded (both sides) would be killed.
This would be cognitive Darwinism at its most extreme -- eliminate the ineffective and inefficient. So what if we lose a Hawking here or there.
OTOH, this has been tried before: By the Third Reich and through the sterilization of "mental defectives" in the U.S. in the first few decades of the last century.
The decision to extend MERCY, to make a decision to be compassionate in the face of raw efficiency is the essence of what makes us human.
Society has a right to protect itself, but there are better ways of doing it than checking our humanity at the door.
Mod me as off-topic.
it5 readers and these challenges Serves to reinforce For trolls'
Most of the expense of the moon trip was in bringing astronauts back from the moon.
We should have just left them there. There's no lack of people who would go, knowing they are going to die on the moon.
Think about all the lives that the millions of dollars could have saved!
and people who still insist on making lame "imagine a beowolf cluster" and "I, for one, welcome our new overlords."
But I was always told the world was a perfect example of God's desires, and God's perfect and the world isn't. Arrrgghh.
Actually if the crime rate is less than 1 in every 1000 people I call that damn good. Example Murder Rate in Rochester, NY is 66 people last year up from 50(I think). out of 750,000 people . It means that it is still less than 1 person out of every 1000. And what's worst is that people are outraged it's so high. Noble goal aint gonna get there.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Well, you created these "savages" when you fucked you girlfriend and made her pregnant.
You should go to jail for giving life to savages.