[ExI] punishment

[Gordon Swobe]

--- On Sun, 3/22/09, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:

>> Should we make the guilty suffer?
> 
> Yes.

In that case I think you must reject Spike's interesting proposal that we place the guilty into suffer-free states of cryonic suspension. Spike's idea addresses rehabilitation (he proposes to thaw them if and when we find a way to cure their criminal dispositions) and deterrence (at least to the extent that it deters second offenses), but it seems to reject retribution. 

> To me, attempting to make true criminals into better
> people exhibits sheer arrogance on our part.

If I understand you, you reject rehabilitation as a justification for incarceration while accepting retribution and deterrence and perhaps also other justifications. Yes?

> The story of a certain Viking (I'll call him Rolf)...

<snip>

>... It's us against them, and those of *us* who don't realize
> that---those idiots among us---are just helping us dig
> our own graves.

Here you seem to have channeled Nietzsche. Nevermind whether it's good or evil for Rolf the Viking to spare or to slaughter infants! We must look Beyond Good and Evil, to Will to Power. :)

-gts