National Fungus Park?

[Jamski]

Because the UN charter is against the taking of life, except in self defense ? In RL, I mean, and we can assume that any future UN charter will say the same thing.
Imagine if the police went around looking for future murderers and then killed them. Or if we went into a jungle with the aim of killing all the poisonous snakes, tigers etc., if you want to complian that the mindworms are not on that level.

-Jam

[GeneralTacticus]

Because the UN charter is against the taking of life, except in self defense ?

Given that the sole purpose for which the worms exist is to kill us, attacking them on sight is self-defence.

[Jamski]

GT, by no stretch of the imagination can attacking on sight be described as "self-defence", regardless of the intention of the mind worms to attack us in the future. In a cold war scenario is it possible that a "first strike" is self defence? If I knew you wanted to kill me, would I be justified in killing you first? Far better would be to let you try, and for me to defend myself, even if this would reduce my chances of "victory". If I'm threatened by a group of teenagers in the street, do I then threaten or attack the next teenager I see, worried that he is a hooligan too? Of course not. Although I may walk a bit faster, or go to the other side of the street...

-Jam

[GeneralTacticus]

Do you also believe that it is unnacceptable for a soldier to shoot first if he sees an enemy? We're in a state of permanent war with the worms.

[Jamski]

Originally posted by GeneralTacticus
We're in a state of permanent war with the worms.

I'm not sure about that... more a state of misunderstanding, which I hope to see corrected in the future. The worms which attack us, we sadly must defend against, leading to the deaths of the worms (or our men) but I see no reason to take an attack and move aginst the wild worms with our millitary.

-Jam

[GeneralTacticus]

I'm not sure about that... more a state of misunderstanding, which I hope to see corrected in the future.

The sole purpose for which they exist is to seek out sentient life and destroy it. Doesn't sound much like a misunderstanding to me.

btw, i'm not advocating that we go out and hunt worms just to get rid of them (that's impossible), but rather that we hunt them because we can make use of the energy it brings in.

[Jamski]

You want to go out and kill another living, thinking being, just for the energy ? Come on, GT. This is hardly justifiable.

-Jam

[GeneralTacticus]

The worms are not thinking beings. They are part of a thinking being (the fungal network) but they aren't sentient in themselves.

[Jamski]

OK, then you want to mutilate a thinking being for cash. Either you work in a tattoo parlor or...

-Jam

[GeneralTacticus]

Or I simply don't see a problem with killing things that kill us and profiting from it. I think we should hunt them because it brings in money, and I think it's justifiable to hunt them because they exist to kill us.

[Jamski]

Let's take the tiger as an example.
The tiger is a large predator, it is very dangerous. A tiger has a very nice fur coat too! Because the tiger is a large predator, it sees humans as prey. So it will often kill them for food. A tiger, however, is one of the animals in the cat family. These animals will sometimes kill for sport, or if they feel threatened. The tiger will attack humans for no reason.

Should we then make a tiger preserve, and then send in men with guns to kill the tigers ? We could sell those nice fur coats for lots of money.

-Jam

[GeneralTacticus]

No, because the tiger is only a threat if one actually lives near it. The same cannot be said of the worms.

[Archaic]

Killing these worms is no different from killing Cows for their meat. Or perhaps Chickens, since these things are "Free Range", and everything tastes like chicken anyway.

[GeneralTacticus]

Careful, he might be a vegetarian.

[Jamski]

Yes. I'm a veggie. No surprise there, eh?

Worms are also only a threat if one lives near them. Since their natural habit is the whole of Planet, I think the tiger comparison holds.

-Jam