fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, September 9, 2nd period]

"As you might remember from the syllabus I handed out last week," Anakin said as he leaned against his desk, "today's topic is lying. In Fandom, where multiple timelines meet and mingle, lying can be a terribly complex subject."

He gazed around the room. "We have students here from different centuries who by stepping foot onto the island learn immediately about electricity, electronics and reality television. Depending on societies they arrive from, they could learn about guns--or even the very concept of war--and change their worlds irrevocably."

Anakin began pacing. "Sometimes the situation is even more specific. Several years ago, a student arrived here who I knew--but I knew him as a Jedi Master I'd met when I was a small child. I also knew that his death, at least in my timeline, had been a violent one. A teacher I had used to say that the future is constantly in motion, but my experience with multiple timelines seems to show that certain large, galaxy changing events tend to stay constant. Did I have an obligation to tell this student about his future? Or do I respect his timeline and his ability to make his own decisions?"

He sat back down. "The questions today are these: if you have knowledge of the future, what parts would you lie about--even through omission--from someone further behind in the timeline? And if you met someone from your future, would you want to know anything about what you might face someday? Would you respect them for not telling you everything? Or even anything?"

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Cara was not going to think about the fact that if she'd been slightly more forthcoming with why letting Richard destroy Rahl protected the Mord'Sith she mightn't have ended up left for dead at the bottom of a ravine, especially since it was equally likely her sisters knowing her reasons wouldn't have changed anything, or even made things worse.

These were thoughts she didn't have quite often.

Instead she shrugged. "Whatever's necessary." Which did bring up the question of what exactly counted as necessary.

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce

Oof, verb tense hell. That was a little confusing, and this was all starting to trend way too close to sci-fi nerd, Return from the Past territory, so Kennedy was... not too inclined to take it all that seriously.

She got that it was a problem for other people-- Beka came to mind there, for one-- but that was other people's crazy worlds, right? Hers had to make more sense.

Well, considering Wesley had had a very loud, very unpleasant argument with Faith over this very situation, he had a pretty good understanding of what he would want in this type of scenario.

"I'd certainly rather know," he answered promptly. "And I'd be quite upset with someone who elected not to tell me something in my future of relevance. Particularly if it were something negative. I'd rather know so that I could avoid it, or at the very least anticipate it."

"In my experience those claiming foreknowledge of the future tend to be quite vocal with what they think they know." Admittedly Cara's experience had mainly been with seers and followers of prophecy, but she felt the principle held.

阿祖拉
Azula, Princess of the Fire Nation

"Why would I lie about it?" Kennedy asked-- not being belligerent, just honestly curious. "I mean, if I knew something about someone's future that could save their life someday, wouldn't it be pretty unethical of me to keep it to myself?"

Elphaba had no idea, but the topic was very relavent to her. She pondered, though, thinking how it would apply to those who could see visions of the future.

There seemed a lot of responsibility. Both to let people know of potential dangers, but also to protect them from the pain of knowing, as well.

"If someone would have told me my future? I would probably throw them in prison first and then laugh in their face."

Among other things.

"I think the future isn't set in stone," Elphaba said. "Just because things happened one way for you does not mean they will happen the same way for someone in the past. And would it be better for them to live in fear of something that may not happen, then to live happily but unprepared? I... do not think I could make that decision."

Anakin nodded. "And by running headlong into the future intent on changing things, you can make things much worse," he said.

Not that he'd ever done such a thing. Twice. Ahem.

"Tell them what?" Anakin asked. "Everything? What if by coming to Fandom, they've managed to shift their entire timeline and they'll now find you completely insane?"

It was like he could read narrative!

"What counts as necessary to you?" he asked.

"Would you tell them if they asked?" Azula asked, curious.

"If it furthers my goals?" Or it was a Tuesday, or just as a joke, or even if she just felt like it... "I'd lie about everything."

Jono considered that for a moment, and then gave a nod, perhaps a touch uneasily.

//And if you've been in th'past, and saw an opportunity to circumvent something... big. If only for a short while. And if you happened to act on that without thinking,// he said, hedging in on something that he'd done at one point more by reflex than anything. //Come to think of it, and all.//

Never mind that the fact that he'd been involved in a diamond heist at the time was a bit ethically unsound all on its own, there...

//Would that be so terrible?//

Jono, you're contradicting yourself, now.

"Then so be it," Rosalind replied. "If they ask, they are curious enough to know."

"Because maybe their death is the catalyst for other events," Anakin said. "How would you judge which part of the future is more important than others?"

Hypocritical Anakin was hypocritical.

//I suppose that would depend on the situation,// Jono replied, after a moment's thought. //Saying something like, 'yes, someday I'll work with you,' is one thing. Telling a person about something that might haunt them for years or even decades... That would be bloody unfair to them, I think.//

"So you've just restated my question," Anakin replied with a tiny smile. "I'm looking for an answer. I'm not going to judge it--think about feels right for you and then tell me."

Anakin was not at all surprised to hear Azula say that. "Would you make up future events to manipulate someone in a direction you'd like to send them?"

He'd done that.

Anakin nodded. "Ever regret the answer?"

"Why not?" She asked. "I've done it before and I didn't need to invoke future events."

But maybe it was a tactic she could use in the future, she filed that away. Thank you, Master Skywalker.

"That's a complicated question," she noted. "Yes and no."

That depended on point of view. Being unfair to people was something she excelled in if it suited her purposes.

But she was curious. "Never ever? What if that person was an enemy? Would you tell them that they would suffer a gruesome end?"

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Ethics [Thursday, September 9, 2nd period]

Re: Answer the first discussion question [9/9]

Re: Sign in [9/9]

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/9]

Re: Answer the second discussion question [9/9]

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Re: Listen to the lecture [9/9]

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