Finally, we are 100% crime-free!

Calm down, all you lawyer-types; it's only a hypothetical.

Anyhoo, wat do now? We have a legal system to dismantle, law enforcement officers to re-employ and a lot of judges to keep in hookers and blow.

You are wondering how this happened? Well, a drug has been developed that exaggerates a person's empathy sufficiently that even a complete sociopath no longer wants to cause harm or distress to another living thing.

This'll further entail all prisons, probation services and other related lines of work to eventually be phased out, leaving another swathe of unemployed people.

Do we start this drug program, or would it upset the apple-cart too much?

ps. The drug has already been tested on Charlie Manson, who has now become an avid fan of reality tv shows, and an impressive adept of knitting.

Despite the obvious social benefits, I can't get behind any program that forces the population to take a personality altering substance. That's taking too much away from people's own autonomy, and it's a precedent that I don't want to set WRT government control of people's bodies.

Why? There's pressure and persuasion used to make people take plenty of other drugs.

Pop an Instant Kalmer^TM every morning, sail through your day without a frown ever touching your forehead.

Forcing mild-altering drugs on people is the hallmark of a grim dystopian clusterfuck, and should not be a goal for a free society.

I'm too much of a nerd: my immediate reaction to the hypothetical was that the drug would turn 0.01% of the population into cannibalistic rage-zombies.

How can it be a hallmark of anything if it hasn't been tried?

Don't they already do this, with "chemical castration?"

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Originally posted by ivan astikov

You are wondering how this happened? Well, a drug has been developed that exaggerates a person's empathy sufficiently that even a complete sociopath no longer wants to cause harm or distress to another living thing.

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As a side effect, I think you also put the medical profession out of business as well

Back to the OP. I tihnk you just described the opening plot of Blake's Seven.

Then again, instead of giving it to everyone, perhaps it would be better to give it just to those people convicted of crime. At that point they would never be in a state to commit a crime again.

However, even if you manage to stop people like this, you would not be able to get rid of the Legal Service. It would still be required for things like contracts, business law and personal law although it would be a lot more relaxed than nowadays.

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Originally posted by CatInASuit

Then again, instead of giving it to everyone, perhaps it would be better to give it just to those people convicted of crime. At that point they would never be in a state to commit a crime again.

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This might jar against your cotton-candy view of the world, but there are "honest folks" out there now trying to pluck up the courage to commit a crime, just to get by in this current financial climate. And honest, respectable family members are going off their rockers left, right and center and commiting terrible crimes. No, I think it's best if we all have it. If it prevents one more shooting spree in a high school, or McD's, it's gotta be worth our discomfort at taking an extra bit of medicine in our lives.

And as a beneficial side-effect, we also remove all psychotics who are protected by a badge and a uniform from positions of authority, too. Double-bonus.

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Originally posted by CatInASuit

Back to the OP. I tihnk you just described the opening plot of Blake's Seven.

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Fwiw, I never saw the opening episode of Blake's 7, or any of the following episodes. I grew out of that space-faring fantasy bollocks around the age of 10, when I stopped reading Dan Dare comics.

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Originally posted by ivan astikov

This might jar against your cotton-candy view of the world, but there are "honest folks" out there now trying to pluck up the courage to commit a crime, just to get by in this current financial climate. And honest, respectable family members are going off their rockers left, right and center and commiting terrible crimes. No, I think it's best if we all have it. If it prevents one more shooting spree in a high school, or McD's, it's gotta be worth our discomfort at taking an extra bit of medicine in our lives.

And as a beneficial side-effect, we also remove all psychotics who are protected by a badge and a uniform from positions of authority, too. Double-bonus.

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Far be it from me to dissuade you from your misanthropic view of the world, but not everyone is a scumbag. There are also people who are not looking to commit a crime and as such there is no reason for them to take it.

Use it as a deterrent and then people will think twice about committing a crime, seeing as they will spend the rest of their days in a drugged out screaming horror.

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Originally posted by CatInASuit

Far be it from me to dissuade you from your misanthropic view of the world, but not everyone is a scumbag. There are also people who are not looking to commit a crime and as such there is no reason for them to take it.

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I can't see how wanting to make the world crime-free is in any way misanthropic? My methods might be unsound, but we've got to start somewhere with suggestions for how to go about it.

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Originally posted by CatInASuit

Use it as a deterrent and then people will think twice about committing a crime, seeing as they will spend the rest of their days in a drugged out screaming horror.

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You've not taken any illicit "scary" drugs, have you? For every person who gets the screaming heebeegeebees, there'll be another... what? 20,000 minimum, shall we say, who have a rather nice time and go to bed and sleep off the devastating side-effects, such as an achy belly.

But this is a little off-topic, so I'll shut up waffling.

So, 100% crime-free society... have we decided whether it's an idealist's pipe dream, or if it is even desirable yet?

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Originally posted by ivan astikov

So, 100% crime-free society... have we decided whether it's an idealist's pipe dream, or if it is even desirable yet?

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It's a nice ideal to aim for, but as we are only human, we are likely to fall short.

However, I don't think you have fully thought through all the side effects of the drug you are proposing? What do you think the full side effects are of never being able to cause harm or distress to any living thing are?

No more wars, no more excessive defense budgets, no more martial arts woo-instilling dojos...you mean stuff like that?

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Originally posted by ivan astikov

No more wars, no more excessive defense budgets, no more martial arts woo-instilling dojos...you mean stuff like that?

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Come on Ivan, that's the easy answer. Think a little.

Here's an example. Someone falls and breaks a limb. No-one is going to be able to reset it, because in doing so it will cause harm and distress to the person as you do so.

Result: someone has a permanently broken limb.

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Originally posted by CatInASuit

Come on Ivan, that's the easy answer. Think a little.

Here's an example. Someone falls and breaks a limb. No-one is going to be able to reset it, because in doing so it will cause harm and distress to the person as you do so.

Result: someone has a permanently broken limb.

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Erm...heard of anesthetics? Just because you are on one drug, it doesn't mean you can't take others.

Actually, never mind giving it to criminals.

It should become mandatory for all dentists.