EFFECTS OF OPENNESS / CH. 12:EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY

MARS UNIVERSITY, MONSOL, 13TH SEPTEMBER.

“So...” Hathellah said, “your argument basically boils down to your claim that you're not a department that studies ethics?”

“We study it, certainly, but we do not support any particular ethical position, therefore to suggest that we are bound by any particular one is a violation of our principle that no attitude to ethics is preferable to another.”

Ruth's hand rested on her flute, “None at all?”

“That is our position as a department.”

“Ah, now you see, you have just caused yourself a little problem. You have standing before you a Mermaid. As any Mermaid, I am a trained fighter, my knife is as sharp as I can make Martian steel, and my innocent looking flute here is of course a loaded blowpipe.” The man paled, as her knife glinted near his throat before she put it away. “Let me lay out before you an ethical system, it's quite a simple one, and most reasonable and logical within its framework. It is, after all the ancient ethical and legal principles that have ruled Mer interaction with one another and with land-folk for about three thousand four hundred years. You may take notes if you wish, and I wouldn't object in the least to you teaching the students here. And as you claim the principle that no attitude to ethics is preferable to another, I'd be very interested in hearing your reasons why the reasonable application of its principles should or should not guide my actions in relation to yourself. First, let me tell you the first law of the Mer: An oath must be kept because an oath breaker is shark or shark-food. The second law: not all sharks need to be killed, only the dangerous ones. Now, let me expand on the term 'shark-food'. This is a reflection of the experimental and practical theology of our people over thousands of years of history which have made it very clear that there are lots of ways to die, and there's no point getting in the way of divine retribution. If someone's broken a sworn oath, then they've invited divine judgement on themselves, and their appointed shark, rad-storm or meteor is waiting for them at the appointed time. From the first phrase, you can tell that while sharks often have no legs, they can also have two. I'm sure as a learned man, you appreciate the explanatory power of this metaphor. Sharks don't all need killing of course, that's obvious, you'd really wear yourself out if you wanted to destroy a whole chunk of the marine ecosystem, and also by taking out the apex predators you'd upset the balance of nature and cause all sorts of problems like you land-folk have done time and time again. Plus of course, you'd be denying divine judgement one effective tool. So we now get to the point of dangerous sharks. Oh, no sorry, let me back-pedal a little.

Landmen... It's very sad, but you don't know how to keep oaths, it's fairly obvious. It seems to be a failure of your upbringing or your genetics or something, but it's clearly the case. You treat divorce as practically a normal part of marriage, tear up treaties when they don't suit you, and even think yourselves very clever for doing so. Therefore, lacking strong evidence to the contrary, it's best to assume that all landmen are sharks. And watch them carefully to see if they're dangerous or not.

But that doesn't mean you all need wiping out. I mean, we could have, obviously, given that we had fission, fusion and forcefields before you'd even rediscovered steam engines. But not every shark needs killing, just the dangerous ones. Now, what makes a shark dangerous? Obviously, attacking, threatening behaviour are signs that the shark is dangerous, but also anyone who makes someone break a vow is putting them at risk of divine judgement, and that's a very dangerous sort of shark indeed, because they're teaching poison that could undermine society.”

Ruth's knife reappeared in her hand, and she nonchalantly cleaned her finger-nails with it. “So, that's the legal foundation, let's get to ethics. What do I do, as a Mermaid, trained to defend the weak and helpless, when confronted with a probably-shark land-man who proudly claims to teach young people that it's OK to ignore their promises or their vows, and make themselves shark-food? Clearly such a land-man is not just a shark, but a dangerous shark. It's not really even an ethical dilemma is it? More a case of doing my duty and dealing with a destroyer of lives before more harm is done. Do you find a problem with my logic so far?”

“Your logic ignores the value of human life!” the lecturer said.

“Not at all. We value life highly. But the oath-breaker has decided their life is of no use to them, and brought divine judgement on themselves. Who am I to disagree? Is it not for the greater good that the source of the deadly poison of oath-breaking is wiped out than it be propagated in a seat of learning?”

“She's got a point,” Hathellah said, “and quite a sharp one on her knife too, by the look of it. But Ruth, you're going to make a horrible mess on the floor if you knife him, using the dart would be much cleaner.”

Ruth continued, “Is it not the case that the time for divine justice has come for this shark, who revealed to me how he glories in his unrepentant attitude that promises and oaths are of no value? To me, a skilled warrior and killer of dangerous sharks? And indeed, as the princess has stated, here I am, with my blowpipe loaded with a dart tipped with poison, not the muscle relaxant I'd normally carry at home. I wondered why I was unable to find the ingredients to make the muscle relaxant, but perhaps this is the hand of the Judge of All the World at work. It is clearly my duty in this ethics system to act, and destroy this threat. Indeed thus have many land-men perished at the hands of mermaids though the centuries. Their words or actions proved them not just sharks but dangerous sharks and so they died. It is not murder or execution, I merely deal with a dangerous shark who is singularly failing to use the wits God gave him or the tongue God formed in his mouth.”

“It would be murder!” The lecturer said, in terror.

“No, it would be ridding the world of a dangerous shark. The world would be a safer place.”

“Mercy, please mercy!” The lecturer pleaded.

“Oh, that word,” Ruth said, “Now that is an interesting word, isn't it? It has been thought that it was mercy to give a condemned man a knife to fall on, or to shoot a man rather than hang him. Which sort of mercy do you ask for?”

“My life! If not for my sake then my wife's!”

“But that's not one of your options in this ethics system.”

“I don't want that ethics system! Whatever happened to you being Christians?”

“Ah! You do prefer one ethics system over another. That's good, so do I. Repeat after me please: 'I prefer the Judeo-Christian ethical system that places a unique value on human life, and allows for repentance.'”

“I prefer the Judeo-Christian ethical system that places a unique value on human life, and allows for repentance.”

“Say 'I prefer mercy, not justice'.”

“I prefer mercy, not justice.”

“Because I need mercy.”

“Because I need mercy.”

“You have mercy and a chance to repent, and in case you forgot, this was a teaching exercise and you were never in danger. Sharks don't get to take notes, man! But let me teach you some more. I am Mer, we know how to keep oaths. In the year of our Lord Jesus Christ, nineteen hundred and twenty seven, the number of Mer adults who had not turned from idol-worship and become Christians reached zero, and my people vowed that we would never again allow any form of slavery, nor would we worship the Baals and Ashteroths, Molech or the gods of Greece who had been our constant source of bickering for millennia. We had many religions but one set of laws all could agree to. Many ethical systems, but we knew that there was a judge of all the world, and the basis of our ethics was survival in a hostile world where becoming shark-food is easy. Not all of us are now Christians, but most are. Do not seek to tell a Mer that all ethical systems are equally valid. We have long memories and know what a stupid destructive lie that is.”

“And your blow-pipe is really tipped with poison?”

“The pipe? No. The dart in it, yes. If I shot someone with it they'd probably be on the floor within five heartbeats and dead in a couple of minutes. But we've valued human life uniquely for three centuries. The only people who have been hit by a poison-tipped blow-dart have been intent on murder. I would hesitate to use it, I'm sure, even faced with a mad axeman. So, I am really looking forward to getting some proper muscle relaxant for my darts. That'll make someone fall over in less than three heart beats and hasn't killed anyone in all its use.”

“And it's used often?” Hathella asked.

“Mostly by teenagers on each other, it also gets used by teachers on really rowdy kids, or in controlled application by doctors to control muscle spasm. This ends the lecture for today. Please pass on what you've learned to your colleagues and students and revise your idiotic teaching policies.”

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MARS COUNCIL OFFICES, 2PM. TUESOL 14TH SEPTEMBER

“Madam ambassador, thank you for coming. We've had a complaint from the University about your behaviour yesterday.” Claudia Fedira said.

“I presume this is in referral to the tutorial in practical philosophy that I gave to a senior lecturer in that department?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

“His department head states that you threatened him.”

“I do not deny that he probably felt threatened, however I feel that his feeling threatened was entirely the result of his failure to believe my introduction of the topic as being of a theoretical nature.”

“You drew your knife on him.”

“I demonstrated that I had it, and then used it to clean my nails. I don't think that's particularly threatening behaviour. It was never less than a foot from him, and that was at full extension of my arm. If I'd wanted to threaten him it would have been almost touching his skin, with my arm half-bent.”

“You stated that you had poison darts in your blow pipe.”

“I have one dart in my pipe, you can't load multiple darts in the thing, it's a single barreled weapon, not a revolver.”

“You stated that many land-people had died because of the logic that you were presenting to him.”

“It is true, before our people became Christians, many did die. At no time did I tell him that I held to that merciless viewpoint.”

“You noticed him reacting in terror, but failed to respond.”

“If he failed to understand my reminders that we were engaged in a theoretical philosophical debate, is it my duty to remind him every sentence? He had, after all, just delighted in insulting myself and the princess, advocated an amoral ethic and furthermore claimed that a blatant lie was in fact the unembellished truth. Surely he cannot claim that he has the privilege of saying one thing and meaning another but that when I give him a historical lesson in how flawed his arguments were I need to preface my every statement 'this is how we treated ethics three hundred years ago'? The thing I find really sad is that he held so tightly to his lie and he was so very slow to realise what he really thought that I had to get him to repeat it as though he was an errant five year old.”

“You reduced him to a snivelling wreck and made him unfit for work.”

“I helped him to realise the department's position was morally and judicially repugnant, that philosophy is not a set of mental gymnastics for saying I'm cleverer than you are but that it has life and death consequences. I think he will be a much better lecturer and a better man as a result.”

“Judicially repugnant?”

“Under Mer law, absolutely. He declared that the breaking or keeping of oaths and promises was merely a matter of ethical position and the department resolutely took no ethical position.

"I explained to him how, under Mer law, that position and his role as an educator of the young made him guilty of promoting oath-breaking.

"The natural consequence of oath-breaking is death, and therefore promoting oathbreaking is a capital crime under Mer law, something only a dangerous shark would do. I pointed out that under our ancient moral code it was my duty as a protector of the young to make sure he didn't spread his poisonous ideas and by stating them gleefully in my presence he'd revealed himself to be a dangerous shark and condemned himself to death. As a Christian, however, I value the image of God he bears, and I have the overriding obligation to give him the opportunity to repent of his sins and reform his ways. As a man who lives by his mind, he ought to have realised that he was never in danger, because you don't tell a dangerous shark to take notes so he can teach others. If you're dealing with a dangerous shark you attack and kill the thing at top speed before it can take a chunk out of you.”

“I see. But you're saying that philosophy is illegal under Mer law?”

“Not at all. Trying to convince people there is no consequence for oath breaking is illegal, but you're allowed to play with ideas as much as you like. I never thought I'd have the chance to put that classroom debate into practice again, it was fun.”

“Classroom debate?”

“We used to have class debates. You know, 'Sathie, take the line of Epicurus, against Ruth advocating the Spartan position'. I did like arguing the Spartan position, it was really simple to argue. You know... 'By letting me speak first, you concede that you are weak. The weak deserve to die, as every right-thinking Spartan knows. Are you so weak you need help, or will you fall on your own dagger?' Then of course we had to dissect the arguments and point out logical flaws in all of them.”

“You studied the Greek philosophers?”

“Of course. Our library never burned down.”

“So... you'd maintain it was merely an intellectual debate, as you'd expect any philosopher worth his salt to engage in daily?”

“It was more serious than that, as the man has been poorly educated and obviously felt under pressure to uphold an indefensible system. I had a duty to demonstrate his errors and allow him to see how hollow his words were.”

“I see. Well, please don't bring poison-tipped darts into debates in the future. Ruth.”

“I'll be getting some proper muscle relaxant ones on Frisol, when my package arrives. I'll feel a lot happier carrying those. If some mad axe-murderer comes at me when I've got one of those loaded I don't need to work out if there's some other way to stop him than certain death, and he's going to find himself going all floppy.”

“Are you aware of any mad axe-murderers on Mars, Ruth?”

“No. If I was then be sure I'd let you know.”

“Thank you, Madam Ambassador. Now, do you feel up to a little discussion with the head of the philosophy department?”

“Would postponing until Monsol be acceptable? I'd like to be properly equipped, and he might like time to brush up on his classics?”

“Can I sell tickets?” Claudia asked.

“As long as I have get some free for friends. Hathellah made a lovely contribution to my debate with the lecturer.”

“Do I want to know?”

“She just suggested that if I needed to kill the guy then the dart was better, since using my knife would make a nasty mess on the floor. She's funny.”

“Hmm. Barbarian humor at its best.”

----------------------------------------

EMBASSY OF ATLANTIS, MARS, THURSOL 16TH SEPTEMBER

“Hello? Is anyone there?” Ruth heard the airlock intercom from her field dome. It wasn't a voice she recognised, but the woman looked harmless, from what Ruth could see. Which wasn't much, of course, because the visitor had her breather on.

Ruth put down her fork and clicked the release on her wrist unit. “Come in, I'll be right with you,” Ruth said, and went to the hallway.

By the time Ruth arrived, the airlock had finished cycling the woman in, and she'd removed her breather mask. “Sorry, I was just turning my compost.”

“Sorry to interrupt, I just thought I'd drop by to say thank you.”

“Urm, you're welcome. What for?”

“Smashing my husband's idiocy on Monsol.”

“Oh, the lecturer?”

“Yes. He actually came to Bible-study last night.”

“I'm glad. I think I shook him up a bit more than I intended. How is he?”

“Alive that's the only way to describe him. Like he's realised there's more to life than writing papers.”

“Hopefully he has.”

“You really told him he was under a death-sentence?”

“Sort of. But we're not on Atlantis, and I'm a Christian.”

“But if you had been on Atlantis?”

“He wouldn't be allowed to teach the poisonous lie that all ethics systems are equally valid, and he'd know how important keeping oaths and promises are.”

“I think he does, really. But they're under pressure to be inclusive, to not give offence....”

“He gave offence by saying what he did, that's the problem with that relativist rubbish from the age of chaos. It undermines the basic truths that underlie a stable society. At least to my upbringing, the legal code of my people.”

“He said you'd named him a dangerous shark. Is that a permanent status?”

“Not if he changes. It's not like we go round tattooing sharks to say 'this one is dangerous'. Sorry, come and have a seat, would you like a drink?”

“Oh, thank you. Your home is lovely!”

“Thank you.”

“I... I don't see much here that's recognisably from Earth at all.”

“No. MarsCorp, may they be blessed by better management someday, gave me the wrong ticket. Social instead of Professional, and I was too ignorant to ask the truthsayer association about it. So I got here with my backpack and only when I'd taken them to court did the Corp even start talking about compensation. But... If I'd had my cargo I probably wouldn't have my complex, yet, so it was all just working out OK, when I got declared to be ambassador and the Council decided that me being truthsayer to the Council just didn't fit with me being an ambassador. Yet another change...”

“You must have had a lot.”

“Yes. Quite a lot.”

“We've been here twenty years, came for my husband's job. Now my son is thinking he'd like to go to Earth, and see all the sights. Which of course now includes Atlantis.”

“That's quite a trip. And not cheap, either.”

“Yes. He seems to think he'll be able to earn his way doing odd jobs.”

“He might, but they're going to be very odd, not to mention unpleasant. I've been there, done that. It's tough, and there's no social contract.”

“Can I ask... why did you leave Atlantis?”

“It was that or be a dangerous shark. I fell in love with a Christian, I hadn't known he was then and didn't think to ask. I had no desire to become a Christian myself. Then I was told that if we married he'd be breaking his commitment to God. I told him, said we had to break up. He said he didn't care. I slapped him for being willing to break his oath to God, shot him with a floppy-dart and ran in tears to the high council, who agreed with me that it was far better to leave than either becoming a Christian when my heart wasn't in it, or be instrumental in someone breaking an oath.”

“But you're a Christian now?”

“Yes. I finally accepted that I was making a complete mess of my life on the ship here, having fallen for yet another Christian. Then it turned out he was a fairly close cousin. Neither of us were interested in incest.”

“Oh dear. That must have been painful.”

“Actually... I'd felt that it wasn't going to work for a while. I'd been hopeful that it would, but it hadn't really felt right. He took it pretty badly, but he's a happy man now — he and his fiancée are bringing in his big harvest as we speak, and are going to get married on Satursol.”

“Big harvest already? That's fast. And you?”

“The Mer princess your husband's department insulted has a rather nice twin brother who asked me out last week. What's your son's dream?”

“Apart from his solar system tour, you mean? He's interested in big scale engineering. He says Mars is too undeveloped for anything like that. That's the other reason I came... there have been rumours you're planning something big and I wondered, is it all going to be Mer engineers?”

“Two big terraforming projects in parallel, actually: Robert, my boyfriend, is going to be working on a ground-based comet shredder to flood Argyre, That's going to be almost exclusively Martian technology and engineers. The Atlantis science academy are working on a process that'll turn rock into atmosphere and water. That's probably going to all be ultra-secret technology inside, but unless they turn it into some kind of remote controlled horizontal drilling machine, then it's going to need driving or feeding with rocks or something. And if it does turn into a remote controlled canal maker, then then someone's got to plan a route for it. Don't expect Mer to be involved long term with that either, really. They're far more likely to be building domes or swimming. One issue we're struggling with is what people might be paid with, though, so it's all rather woolly so far.”

“You're making it as you go along then? Sounds very Martian.”

“And quite Mer too.”

“How do you pay your scientists and engineers?”

“Feed them and let them work on their own projects as long as they spend a certain amount of time on boring stuff.”

“Might work here too I suppose.”

“Maybe. If we had that many fields and fish.”

“For which you need the sea and a good atmosphere. What a challenge! The comet shredder sounds interesting, but you're going to be filling Argyre a long time.”

“Depends how big the comets are. We're currently thinking of comets up to five kilometres diameter, to be turned to water within about three hours. So to avoid making a tidal wave or killing people in currents, then we're going to need a waterfall at least thirty kilometres wide into the crater, and which is all good, hard, regolith-free bedrock.”

“That's.... quite a big project, isn't it?”

“It is, feel free to tell your son that's what the council are going to be thinking about.”