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Eliezer_Yudkowsky comments on The Sword of Good - Less Wrong
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If you believe someone is evil, hunt them down and kill them, and afterward realize they weren't, it was a mistake. It was also murder. It's not as though you killed in self defense or accidentally dropped an air conditioner on them. Manslaughter is not a defense that can be employed simply because you changed your mind.
Perhaps I should clarify: I don't mean "mistake" in that "he mistook his wife for a burglar and killed her". That's manslaughter. I mean "mistake" in that "he mistakenly murdered a good person instead of a bad one". Ba gur bgure unaq, jura Uvebh xvyyrq Qbys ng gur raq, ur jnfa'g znxvat n zvfgnxr (ubjrire, V fgvyy guvax vg jnf zheqre).
I perceive that you have not yet learned to use the logic of the Phoenix.
Care to elaborate on that rather cryptic remark?
logic of the phoenix?
No, this logic of the Phoenix. What makes you think cutting off someone's head is murder?
"He died, but you have taught me a new meaning for 'is dead'." (From the same book.)
I figured that Vhazhar really wouldn't be able to save Dolf. That's why it's a sacrifice.
Not every decapitation is murder, but "the wizard stopped, ceased to exist...as something seemed to flow away" is suggestive.
I was thinking the same thing. The way Eliezer wrote that bit seemed to make it clear that something rather more than mere decapitation occurred there.
Hm, so it does. Well, if Hirou had no way of knowing that, then it's manslaughter at worst.
Though, actually spelling it out directly does end up sounding funny. "Well... I don't know that cutting off his head with this sword would kill him... I mean, is it really reasonable for me to have expected that?" :)
(Actually, I thought I'd deleted the "ceased to exist" phrase. I'll go ahead and take it out.)