Comments on Life, the Universe & Everything.: Can Evil Be Good?

Okay, think about this:At some point in the distan...

2008-05-01T22:34:00.000Z

Okay, think about this:

At some point in the distance roots of your family tree, it's quiet possible, if not probable, that some poor woman had sex forced upon her to create one of your ancestors.

If that "evil" act had not taken place, you would not now exist, or any of your family.

This thought came to me when I was thinking about the recent arrest of the man in Austria, who has kept his daughter locked in his cellar for 24 years and fathered 7 children with her. The horror of this experience for the daughter doesn't bear thinking about.

But again - if I could go back in time and prevent this, I would be 'killing' the 6 remaining children.

I think about this when a red light catches me. I...

2008-05-01T19:30:00.000Z

I think about this when a red light catches me. I've been thinking this for years. However, that's also given me the time to think that this kind of thing is relatively rare...I seriously doubt any red light or slow driver blocking my way saved me from paralysis, coma, or death. Possibl, but unlikely.

And, most likely the rise of Hitler to power didn't save us from a fate even worse. (What kind of hell on Earth could "justify" the holocaust?)

So although an evil event/person can serendipitously affect an individual, I wouldn't use this idea as a base principle. More like something to ease road rage.

Hi!I strongly recommend Stephen Fry's novel "Makin...

2008-05-01T13:23:00.000Z

Hi!

I strongly recommend Stephen Fry's novel "Making History", which fits your post staggeringly well :-) : an alternate history of WWII.

Thoroughly enjoyable (as is all of his work < /Fry fangirl>!

(from wiki) "Making History (1997) is the third novel by Stephen Fry. The plot involves the creation of an alternate history where Hitler never existed. The book won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History."

http://www.amazon.com/Making-History-Stephen-Fry/dp/1569471509

You could go back to the end of WW1 - Hitler had n...

2008-05-01T07:40:00.000Z

You could go back to the end of WW1 - Hitler had no guard then.

Wow, that's a lot of what-if's. Don't you know I a...

2008-04-30T20:34:00.000Z

Wow, that's a lot of what-if's. Don't you know I ain't be smart enuff to think like dat?

You changed your site. Mine's still better.

"If you could go back in time and had the opportun...

2008-04-30T19:29:00.000Z

"If you could go back in time and had the opportunity to finish him off before he did any real damage, could you pull the trigger with total certainty that the future you returned to would be a nicer place to live?"

That would be very hard to do considering he had a giant army protecting him at all times. Assuming you did assassinate Hitler, the probability of getting out of there alive would be nil. Even then, Wherner Van Braun may have had a chance of joining up with the Soviets instead of the Americans, and that may have allowed them to win the space race. That would mean the USA would be the "USSR of A" and Mars might have been colonized by the Soviets way back in the 1980's. That's 1 possibility at least.