Utilitarianism

Red lights on. Yeah, that seems to have done it. Okay, yeah, that's all that's that's on. Right. Oh that's on. That that's on. Um okay, uh twenty five point. Good. Okay. Okay. This is a normal broadcast from a normal radio. That's a lie. This is an emergency broadcast from an emergency radio. I I'm I'm not much of a radio guy.

I did do theatre at high school and I quite liked it. I mean I always got so nervous on stage though, so I did think that radio might be the better option. So expect technical difficulties. Yeah. Good evening, citizens of Ethics. And anyone nearby whose radio can also pick up this frequency. Especially people nearby whose radios can pick up this frequency.

I've got a lot to report on, and I'm afraid at times this broadcast may become difficult to listen to. But let me start with this Stay the hell away from epic. The to the the town, th is is what I mean is the town, not the philosophy. J I mean go wild with the philosophy, it's great, it's a big fan of ethics, me, but it's just hmm Yeah. The town.

I'm sure you will remember the death of Ethics last mayor. It was only three months ago. She was only forty-seven and it was so sudden, an aneurysm in her sleep. Sorry, this is relevant, I promise. Just I I need to tell the whole story or else it doesn't make sense. Sorry. Please keep listening. The town was sent into a scattered panic as we tried desperately to replace her.

Of course, the town council stepped in in the meantime to pick up her duties, but this town operating as it does, it was imperative she be replaced with the utmost haste. And so she was, though perhaps with a little too much haste. Ian Jacobs. This is a story about him. Seemed to be an ideal candidate. A small time politician from a neighboring city, he was known for his level head and his ability to broker a compromise. Outside of work, he was notoriously a family man and at

He was a a good guy. Odd thing to say about a politician, I know, but he was just he was just nice. Affable. The kind of person you always thought would never make it in politics. His first day on the job he gave a speech from the steps of the council building. Despite the muggy spring air, he still opted to wear the traditional top hat and log coat. It's More an homage to the town's founder than a fundamental part of the job, but still, it was appreciated, showed his dedication.

At the time his speech seemed and I don't want to be rude here quite unremarkable. Now, however, with hindsight on our side, there is a certain bitter irony to it. Press Secretary Rory Norse transcribed the event. I'll read it to you now.

This is relevant. Dear people of ethics. I am so honored that you would elect me, an outsider to your home, as your mayor. But as of right now, I implore you, do not think of me solely as your mayor. First and foremost, I am a father, a husband, and now a citizen of this town. Your interests are my interests. I will do my utmost to take care of your individual needs, but what I believe in most is justice and equality.

Equal opportunity without special treatment. That was part of the platform you elected me on, and I intend to uphold it. This is already a great town. You don't need me to tell you that. But I truly believe that I can help make it better. All I ever wanted in life was a loving family and the opportunity to make a real positive difference in the lives of others.

I already have the perfect family in Alice and Grace. Now it's time for me to do everything in my power to improve the lives of everyone here in Ethics. The crowd applauded. Even I cracked a smile. This is an old story, though. I'm not the one I intended to tell. Or rather, it's only the beginning of the story I intend to tell.

After his speech, the mayor began his first day of work here, and for a while everything went back to normal. Well, normal for ethics. But it was fine. It was fine. And then, a few weeks ago, a town council meeting was called and proposals were made. Dr. Clayton, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Ethics Hospital, proposed that

Okay, look. There's a real problem with organ donation here in ethics. It's probably the same everywhere too, I suppose, but people just they don't want to part with their organs. Even after death. Even though they know that they won't feel a thing. Even though this non-act, this thing that they don't even need to participate in, will save lives. They'd rather have their insides incinerated with the rest of their worthless bodies than even consider helping a Sorry, sorry.

This broadcast is really getting away from me. Emergency broadcast. Donate your organs. The doctor proposed that we be allowed to kill patients with healthy organs, provided their remains could be used to save multiple people on the organ donation list. Hmm it's awful, right? The council voted unanimously against the measure, though of course their vote has no actual merit.

Thankfully, the mayor turned the proposal down and in doing so endorsed a different principle. It is not ethical to kill a non-combatant civilian in order to save the lives of others. Utilitarianism works well enough as a general principle, but when it comes down to actual exchange of human life, I I guess it's a different story. No one wants to be a murderer. No one wants to be a murderer.

There was invasive media coverage of the event, as is the norm here. If you're local, you can see Mr Um Crane at the library. He keeps an excellent archive of the town's history. If you're not local, don't come here. Unless you can help. Then please do. Like but only if you can. But okay, sorry, getting tom tight. Just need to finish telling you what happened. The mayor's first proposal day was considered a general success, and after a while things died down. Just for a little bit.

I think it's time we talk a little about the mayor's family. I'm a great believer in freedom of press, and this is an emergency, but I also believe in human decency. I don't think it's right to report mundane details of civilian lives. However. What I'm about to tell you has all been made public knowledge before, and is vital to the rest of my broadcast. Grace is the mayor's daughter.

He's talked a lot in interviews about her, about how she was born with an incurable heart condition, and how, despite this, she never gave up on anything. She wasn't meant to live past ten, and here she is, fourteen. She got four whole extra years of life before her heart gave in completely, at which point Dr. Clayton gave her four whole weeks on an AED. Nothing to be done but a transplant, he said. And the waiting list was far longer than four weeks. I'm sure you see where this is going.

Everything I've espoused so far is common knowledge and ethics. But what I'm about to tell you now is Well, it's the emergency that I'm broadcasting about. I only know about this because I was there for some of it, and I know I shouldn't be telling. anyone about this and I know it might it might put me in danger in town, but I don't care. Someone has to know. Someone who isn't me, someone who who can help. Please help.

The mayor returned to the council in a panic, hoping they could revise their decision. They were surprisingly unrattled by his change of heart, but informed him that once a decision was made, it stuck. Distraught, he returned to Grace's bedside.

but not for long. As soon as Alice returned home to collect some of Grace's things, Ian headed straight to doctor Clayton's office. He cried. The doctor smirked, papers were signed, and hands were shaken. The next day, three patients received the organs they had so desperately been awaiting, Grace included. This miraculous story, however, did not make front page news. What did instead was this. Woman found dead in Ethics Woods.

The article went on to detail that she was as of yet unidentified, clearly from out of town, and that it appeared she had fallen and broken her neck whilst hiking in the woods. That's the story everyone in town heard. That's the story everyone believes is true. But here's what really happened. You can find anything on the internet bullets, a gun, a total lack of abandon.

A person who has all three. And you can ask this person to do whatever you like, provided you have the money. You could even ask them to kill an innocent woman, so you can steal her heart to save your daughter. So that's exactly what the mayor did. Or rather, in the cowardly fashion of a politician, that's what he got someone else to do for him. Ian Jacobs is a murderer. Not even of a patient, someone already struggling to cling to life, but a healthy adult, a stranger from outside of town.

They promised it would be quick and painless. How can death, no matter how quick, ever be painless? There's that shooting pain of anxiety before the trigger is pulled. The fear so cold it freezes your blood to ice. holding you in place as the bullet rushes towards you. You don't have time to run, but you already know you're going to die. Then the physical pain. Tearing of skin and muscle as the bullet forces its way through.

And then there's an eternity maybe a literal eternity, we'll never know. As you pass away, as you know you've been killed. And people have the nerve to say that's painless. They had to shoot her through the head to protect her heart. We think she was on a solo camping expedition up near the top of the valley, so there was no one to identify the body. They put her in the graveyard, while it was still dark out. A gravestone is a pile of dirt. Wow. That's the broadcast. I hope you got that.

It's been a while since I studied Bentham. Been a while since I studied anything, to be fair. Did he ever think something like this would come of his theory? Would he even have cared? It was created to be mathematical, and the mayor clearly did the maths. The death of one unnamed woman in exchange for the happiness of three families, the happiness of the entire town. When you put it like that, it it almost seems like he did the right thing. I didn't know that lady. I won't claim to.

But there is a version of this story where the mayor could be seen as a hero. where he killed one murderer, criminal, abuser to save three innocent people, and I suppose there's a version where he killed the leading cancer research scientist, someone involved in vital peace agreement relations, a mother to young children, but God no, that's not worse really, is it? She's still a possum. She's always just a person. It's never right to

Oh god. Okay. Look. That's what the mayor forgot that night, when he signed that lady's death warrant. She was a person. She also had a family. She also came from a town. Have they declared her missing yet? Are they sharing posters online? Are they listening to my broadcast right now horror stricken? Are people who didn't even know her, people on the other side of the world even now reading the desperate pleas of her family to bring her home?

Does their pain not factor into the equation? That's the crux of it, really. You're always hurting someone. You lift one side of the seesaw and the other end comes crashing down on someone's head. I thought the whole goddamn point of this town was to avoid relying on old, antiquated rules, but look where we are! Look! Worse off than anywhere with a government, worse off than anywhere I've ever lit ever been before.

Where do we learn our moral code from if not the people who tried to figure it out before us? People shouldn't be living like this. We shouldn't be allowed to live like this. Our mayor just killed a woman. A woman he had to kill to save his daughter's life, but still he got away with murder! That doesn't negate that! Anyone from town who's listening move if you can. It isn't normal to live like this. You'd be better off anywhere else, and if you can't, be careful. Everyone else? Please help us.

Alert the authorities. Tell anyone. I know they know of our town's existence, but they can't know just how dire things have gotten. They just how bad the power imbalance is. If anyone's listening.

If anyone cares, please do something because I can't and it's going to kill me. Hello? I'm so sorry to bother you. Hello? I can see that your lights on. I won't be any trouble, I just need to borrow a phone, mine's dead. I'm lost. I was hiking in the woods with my mum and she went to go buy water, but that was almost a day ago now, and I don't know what to do. I'm not from this town. Please can I come in? Please I I don't know what else to do. Please help, I'm so scared.

It appears there's been a development in our story. Ethics Town is a member of the Faustian Nonsense Network. This episode you heard Rhys Lawton as the radio host and Listogina as the girl, with additional voices from Paige Adams, David. Subby Loganathan and Delilah Tahiri. It was written and produced by C. L. Hendry, with sound design by Kyguillem Pritchard, and themed by Mick Sidle.

If you're enjoying the show, you can leave us a tip on Kofi, or follow us anywhere on social media at ethicstown.com. Thank you for listening. This program was brought to you by a network of dedicated artists with creative soul souls just like just like yours yours, yours, yours, yours. Faustian nonsense, thank you for your patronage. Just like yours. It started with a return.

I was called to aid and deep down somewhere in my mind I knew what it was. I, Adam Delta V, who was formed in Eden and cursed with immortality for my crimes. I knew of this thing. I know it. I remember. It was there in Eden. I'm sure of it. I pursue it, following its trail of chaos and destruction. I intend to stop it. It's related to what I did. I can

The space between us is vast, and I will face hardship. I will bear witness to terrible things. You have until tomorrow to relinquish your supplies and weapons to us. Some of the more courageous of you may be considering other possibilities. I urge you to reconsider. And for the sake of all that exists in this universe, I must reach my goal. In this game of first will. Will you join me?

Chain of Being, a mythic science fiction podcast. Listen to the complete season one on your favourite podcatcher now.