Is this an immoral decision?

A terrorist group threatens to launch drone-strikes - which cannot be prevented - on U.S. domestic territories unless the U.S. President is given over to be tortured to death. So, the U.S. government responds by creating a clone of the President using methods similar to those in The 6th Day.

Do you think the U.S. Government's response is immoral?

The scenario itself has no morality.

Yes, the government's response would be immoral. How is creating a human being just so it can be tortured not a bad thing?

That doesn't sound like a very feasible scenario. However it doesn't sound moral to me. Creating a human person for the purpose to subjecting them to suffering and death does not sound like something I'd ever want to happen. If the United States has the ability to quickly create and clone of a human being surely they can create a defense network that can destroy drones before they can strike. That sounds like the more feasible scenario.

@Brain_Duster:

By not doing so, they would be dooming tens of thousands to death.

We don't negotiate with terrorists.

This is ridiculous logic. You can't assume that alternative methods that don't involve killing/ harming innocents exist just because an advanced cloning system exists.

Well, as has been shown countless of times, thegerg is not the sharpest tool in the shed.

In any case, yes that is extremely immoral.

Or you could you know shoot down the drones....

Then the President should make the sacrifice, not a clone.

The President fought to be in the position that he is in now and is indebted to the people that put him there. More importantly, he accepted all the responsibilities of being president and should not be allowed to back down out of his duties just because he thinks he's too important to die.

Subjecting a clone to torture that the President should rightly receive is wrong.

Impossible man. That'd mean we'd have some kind of missile defense system installed.

I think you need counseling

lol

Obviously the exact specifics of the scenario are irrelevant to the purpose of its creation, which is to present a moral dilemma. I could come up with some crafty explanation as to why the attacks can't be prevented, but that's besides the point. C'mon, LJ. C'mon.

Yes

The tricky part would be dumbing down the clone to act like our current POTUS. Anything smarter and they'd know it's a fake!

The government can do that in our faces and calling it immoral wouldn't change a thing, oh but ot pretends not to know and debate for fun i think

This

Clone or not, its highly unlikely they would give them anything in that situation. Unless they wanted to encourage more terrorist acts in the future.

Ugh, if it is like 'The 6th Day' we could just clone a bunch of Schwarzeneggers to go kill all the terrorists. Problem solved. Jeez, use your head next time Blu.

Sounds like you are just using the plotline of Live Another Day except you are adding clones and exchanging London for US territories.

Cloning people to use as cattle, that sounds pretty wrong. I'd throw that up there with cloning humans for their organs, like in The Island. Same with cloning a bunch of Hitlers, like Boys From Brazil, because that's just perverse.

But cloning, or genetically engineering things, just because you can... sure, why not, I approve.

Silly thread

So we can clone a full human being in a matter of days, but we can't prevent drone strikes (i.e. current technology)?

Seems totally plausible /s

I recommend you watch the first episode of black mirror TC if you haven't already.

@BluRayHiDef: US government are terrorists run by world banking cartel, Bildebergs, Rockefellers and such. You drone others, expect to be droned. Like US HAARP technology flooded Serbia and didnt allow any news coverage of the floods untill almost a week later when Novak Djokovic spoke about it. Big respect to him and his people. That country has survived and been bashed up so many times, they are warriors and were our allies. Wish i could afford to visit Serbia some day...im ranting lol.

Just send Liam Neeson with his particular set of skills.

lol

Liam Neeson would kill US president before handing him to terrorists , he is a bigger threat if it comes down to this lol.

Just send Chuck Norris , he'd kill all terrorists , kills US president and his clones ... and become US prez himself ( Win Win situation ) HeHe

i don't see any differences between giving over the actual president of the US and his clone since you'll be giving the "terrorists" what they want either way and there is absolutely nothing moral or even practical about doing so. it's a simple positive reinforcement mechanism which is basically asking the so called terrorists to repeat their actions. an impractical action can not possibly be moral in anyway.

lol, when I read that I thought of the New Testament, and a certain character who was created so he could be tortured and killed :P

And that's my religious flamebait for the day, thank you very much :P

But on a more serious note, any form of intelligence whether it be natural, artificial/man-made should be given a chance to live with the same rights as humans, so yeah, I think it would be immoral, or amoral at the very least.

Indeed. The only benefit the TC might be thinking of is that you can maintain continuity with the same president. Though, I think the terrorists might notice and be a little upset.

Heh, as if U.S government hasn't done anything immoral.

Isn't this just the plot of The Dark Knight?

The Joker threatens to kill people unless Batman turns himself in. Instead, Batman lets a fake Batman take his place, and uses him to lure out the Joker.

So...I guess I'll just have to defer to Michael Caine's better judgement here. If he says it's the right thing to do, then it's definitely the right thing to do.

Yes it is an immoral decision. The culpability for the decision might be mitigated due to grave fear. I would say that in that case, the president should hand himself over or try to figure a way to defeat the drones.

In any case, a clone wouldn't look like the president as it would start of as an embryo and have to grow through the normal phases of development, meaning it would take 9 months for the clone to be born and then 15 to 20 years for it to reach adulthood.

Just clone the us and have it be a decoy

I specifically said in the OP that the cloning method used would be one similar to that of the movie The 6th Day. The cloning process depicted in that film resulted in clones that were the age of and had the same exact appearance of the original. Also, using a neural mapping device, the memories and brain patterns of the original could be duplicated and implanted into the clone.

well it is BRHD after all

Well if the only options are to let the president be tortured to death, let the clone be tortured to death, or let thousands of citizens die, I'd say the clone would be the best choice. Still immoral though, just the lesser of 3 evils.

actually, isn't letting the president or the clone die the same thing? or does the clone not have the president's memories/personality?

Another thing to consider is if we send the clone to be tortured won't the bad guys know something was up when the real president appears on TV? Or are they going to put him in hiding for the rest of his life?

false. it is the terrorists making the threat that are dooming the people to death

@II_Seraphim_II:

Actually, most Christians are Trinitarians According to Trinitarian Christian belief Jesus Christ is not a creature, He was never created, there was never a time when He did not exist ("Before Abraham came to be I AM"). So saying that Jesus was "created" to be tortured and killed is a misreading of the New Testament. Christ freely consented to be crucified, speaking of giving up His life, Jesus said "No one has taken it away from me; but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father". (John 10:18).

If they have a drone that can strike anywhere without being stopped, why not just drone strike the president instead of going through the hassle of waiting for him to arrive and then torture?