The Jigsaw Man Comes to America? |
Posted: 8th March 2007 The Jigsaw Man is a 1967 science-fiction short story by Larry Niven (you can read it in the collection: Tales of Known Space). In the story, criminals convicted of capital crimes are forced to donate all their organs to be used as spare body parts, thus saving the lives of others and repaying their debt to society. However, although the law was initially enacted with the good intention of making the death penalty less of a waste, the demand for organs subsequently caused legislators to repeatedly lower the bar for execution. In short, it's a story of good intentions leading down a bad path. If you read the story, I promise that you will never forget it. In the news today is that South Carolina is considering giving prisoners time off their sentences if they voluntarily donate organs or bone marrow. When one thinks of people suffering and dying because of lack of available organs, it's hard not to be in favor of any initiative that will help. Additionally, participation is supposed to be voluntary (as voluntary as anything can be in prison), and I don't imagine that there is going to be a lot of sympathy for the prisoners in the media in any case. However, when I read the news story, I couldn't help but think of The Jigsaw Man... Your Comments Please share your comments on this page: |
Random Crud
RSS Feed Fun Links Brain Games Dinosaurs Hangman Jokes Sudoku Education Downloads Math Reading Science Teaching More Downloads Fashion Gardening Genealogy Health Puzzles Pets Recipes Scrapbooking Sports Other Links Cycling Genealogy Jobs Magazines Pets Recipes Software Travel Video Games Weight Loss |
|
Copyright © 2006-2024, Answers 2000 Limited CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE,COMES FROM AMAZON EU S.à r.l. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. Disclosure: Our company's websites' content (including this website's content) includes advertisements for our own company's websites, products, and services, and for other organization's websites, products, and services. In the case of links to other organization's websites, our company may receive a payment, (1) if you purchase products or services, or (2) if you sign-up for third party offers, after following links from this website. Unless specifically otherwise stated, information about other organization's products and services, is based on information provided by that organization, the product/service vendor, and/or publicly available information - and should not be taken to mean that we have used the product/service in question. Additionally, our company's websites contain some adverts which we are paid to display, but whose content is not selected by us, such as Google AdSense ads. For more detailed information, please see Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures Our sites use cookies, some of which may already be set on your computer. Use of our site constitutes consent for this. For details, please see Privacy. Click privacy for information about our company's privacy, data collection and data retention policies, and your rights. Contact Us Privacy Terms of Use Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures In Association With Amazon.com Answers 2000 Limited is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. In Association With Amazon.co.uk Answers 2000 Limited is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk. As an Amazon Associate, our company earns from qualifying purchases. Amazon, the Amazon logo, Endless, and the Endless logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All trademarks are property of their respective owners. All third party content and adverts are copyright of their respective owners. |