The Morality of Ethics and Other Considerations

[James_Syagrius]

Some, I am sure, will find it absurd that I, of all people, muse on such topics. But when sitting among one’s olive trees, one hears whispers of many things.

Since our inception, for good or ill, Capsuleers have always been at the vanguard of the cluster’s technological refinement; notice I refrained from using the word progress. The ‘evolution’ from being what we were to what we are is indeed a defining moment in any self-reflective Capsuleer’s ‘life,’ it raises profound questions about the nature of the soul and its relationship to this altered existence.

While the nature of how one becomes a Capsuleer has evolved over time, the process still requires the death of the physical self in the first instance. Many Capsuleers of a religious/spiritual bent grapple with whether they still possess a soul in their ‘infomorph’ form. Does the soul reside in unity with the biological? Many traditions believe a ‘soul’ may inhabit many bodies over time. Being born and re-born yet retaining the self, even if seen through a glass darkly, “a different face, a different name, but always me.” There has been a good deal of debate around the topic, but in my estimation, few, if any, definitive answers.

Is the functional immortality that ‘infomorphs’ enjoy a blessing or a curse? While we can now live indefinitely, in my estimation, it should compel us to confront closely the moral implications of our actions. I understand that some do not share this proposition. Some Capsuleers become reckless, even depraved, believing that death and all the morals and ethics that undergird said mortality have lost their meaning. Meanwhile, respecting the moral and ethical boundaries that define us as sentient beings, others are beset by the feeling of enhanced responsibility that comes with their newfound longevity and the implications of power accompanying it.

As we embrace the technological, there is growing concern that many are losing touch with humanity. The inability to experience ‘life’ without the possibility of death has led some to feel disconnected from the trials and tribulations of our mortal kin. Perhaps the very things that give life meaning.

The power ‘infomorphs’ wield is immense. Our individual and collective actions shape the fate of billions, and this power inevitably leads to ethical dilemmas. Some Capsuleers have used their abilities for munificent purposes, some have exploited them for personal gain, and others simply to cause suffering and destruction for no other purpose than its own.

I will not consider the cost to the individual self and its potential soul presented by the many furtive and failed attempts toward collective consciousness.

To me, the existential question regarding the meaning and purpose of life is what we, or even if we strive, what it means to be truly alive when one has transcended the physical. Retaining our humanity and those grounded ethics and morals can lead us to achieve a higher state, if not of being, then at least of understanding.

I look forward to your ideas on the topic, should you choose to share. Should you find yourself adrift, take a moment and listen to the gentle murmurings of life.

Best Regards.
J.S.

[Sevmaiko_Kuvilkaarin]

My take on being a capsuleer is that I will lead a violent life. It would be all too easy to lose myself to cynicism, nihilism, and gratuitous destruction. However even though I may come to have much blood on my hands I choose not to forget that it takes a greater strength of character to live in a cruel and indifferent universe but still decide to maintain my sense of kindness, and to not leave myself shut from compassion towards myself and others that may come into my life.

I suppose if I must kill another, it costs nothing to be kind.

[Mizhara_Del_thul]

I would question if anything has changed at all upon attaining capsuleerdom. I am me, no different than I was then, other than the exact same changes everyone would have when gaining experience and accrue enough bad days to attain a measure of wisdom.

What has changed is largely the scale of things. I wander further, see further, hear more, feel a a thousand more stars searing my hull or my skin. My acts of cruelty affects more people, acts of kindness measured in freighterloads and cities rather than pocketfuls and individuals… and yet it is all motivated by the same codes, principles and integrity it ever was. Mine.

Meaning certainly hasn’t changed either. Gaze upon the universe’s greatest structures, billions of galaxies clustering in shapes beyond beauty or grind it all into its most fundamental particles and you won’t find a single gram of “meaning”, any more than other figments of our imaginations like beauty and justice and so forth. Meaning only exists on the very specific scale of things that we inhabit, and as always is only what we conjure up for ourselves. Whether or not I am ‘meaningful’ to anyone but me is entirely up to those I affect, and the things I find meaning in are wholly unique to myself. The scale of my existence has shifted, but the meaning of my life is exactly the same as ever. Mine and unique to me.

We have power. We have wealth. We have a freedom unprecedented in New Eden.

Yet… there is no difference between me and the most base serf when it comes to morality and ethics, except for scale.

The actual question is whether or not one has the stomach to still do the right thing, when the price in blood is an ocean rather than a spilled cup.

[Sevmaiko_Kuvilkaarin]

Yeah, it’s too easy to forget we’re still the same sack of meat we started out with when we jack into the pod for too long.

[Yuu_Sharisa]

sorry what was the question?

[Elsebeth_Rhiannon]

Three things:

1. Capsuleers are not immortal, they do die. I have lost more people of those who started with me 20 years ago than are still flying with me. Leading cause of death for capsuleers is suicide. Cloning accidents also happen, though they are increasingly rare.

2. The “I am a capsuleer, I am losing my humanity, woe is me” is a cop-out. You are not losing your humanity. You are a human. A cloned human yes, but a human person. If you are a bad person, a cold person, an uncaring person, it is not because you have lost your humanity. It is not unhuman to be bad, cold, uncaring. It is just being an asshole.

3. For a rich and powerful person on one hand, and for someone regularly mapping their normal body/mind to a nonhuman entity (a spaceship) on the other, maintaining one’s connection to one’s “spirit”, “soul”, “baseline mind” and to other humans requires some paying attention. You need to care about your physical/spiritual well-being, you need to push yourself a little bit to connect with other people. But this is nothing special to capsuleers as such - it is the same for anyone who has the chance to indulge themselves or to immerse themselves in their work. It is also a completely human problem.

[Utari_Onzo]

Capsuleer immortality has been debunked given the frequency of pilots that either retire out from the pod, and therefore the contract that allows them to keep coming back from cloneloss, or from dying and either choosing not to be recloned previously or more rarely it being impossible for whatever medical or technological complication involved. Besides, it’s only been two decades since the pod technology became available to freelance captains. Two decades doesn’t even get you to the age of majority in some jurisdictions! Speak to me about ‘immortality’ after a few millenia, see if there’s still medtechs, labs and an authorising agency around to continue the current status quo.

Further, while your flesh is new, your memories are not. You are still genetically, and mentally, you and therefore (as others have previously stated) are responsible for the choices and consequences of your previous ‘life’ as well as your future ones. Morality doesn’t end and start with each new clone, it continues throughout the existence of your ‘self’. Hypothetical: Just because someone might have an accident and fall into a coma, or entirely lose all long term memory, does not mean they are exempt from the consequences of their actions, for example murder. As has been stated by others, those Capsuleers that go off the deep end, often high on the idea of being ‘immortal’ and therefore ‘free’ of ethical responsibility, it’s because they are bad people with bad impulse control and bad ethics. They are not demigods to be worshiped, they are deranged entitled brats.

[Wanda_Fayne]

I have long believed that a Soul is just a force of life. A life energy.
Scientifically this seems the most logical conclusion.
How does this then relate to morality?

Biologically, life starts and ends at the cellular level. To divide, multiply, grow, and respond to stimuli. Morality does not exist at this level. Or does it?
Eukaryotic cells and prokaryotic cells came together and formed a symbiotic relationship which allowed for more complex cellular development. Multi-cellular organisms are a result.
Just as the individual cells in an organism must work together for the greater sake of the whole, morality also starts and ends at the cellular level. Failing this the organism suffers.

Is it not the hubris of humanity to put ourselves above or outside the natural order of life?
Whether or not we work together for the welfare of all life, or succumb to the notion that we are individuals entitled to all that we can take might be the only thing that truly separates us from being nothing more than a complex virus.