A possible solution to our torture problems.

[leftysergeant]

Every time this topic comes up, I ask what sets interrogation apart from every other case of making judgment calls in matters of life and death and human suffering. And every time, all I get in return are appeals to incredulity and emotion.

Torture provides, for all practical purposes, no actionable intel worth having and allows some of the most disgusting excuses for human beings to have fun inventing new ways to be worthless schmucks.

 

[Dave Rogers]

Finally, please help me be clear on where you stand. Some people take the position that torture is unacceptable, regardless of whether or not it is proven to produce life-saving intelligence. Is that your position? Or is your position that if it could be proven that torture, properly implemented, can produce life-saving intelligence, then it would be ethically acceptable to permit it within certain boundaries?

At the moment, I'm happy not to have to answer that question. As far as I'm aware, there is at present no moral dilemma to address; there is not, and has never been, any evidence of benefit to anyone deriving from torture, so until some is produced it seems clear to me that there's only one possible moral stance to take. If the situation were to change, then it would require re-examination, but at present there is no more lack of clarity on where I stand than where I stand on the torture of heretics; there is no evidence of any specific benefit, so no cost/benefit analysis is worth even attempting.

Dave