Haven't read the story in a while -- will hope to read it again soon -- but I was thinking about the premise, and a thought came to mind.
In the story, if I recall, some criminals used the technology to get rid of someone by putting him into the transportation device and then not bringing him back. It's bad enough to go through it fully conscious, but to stay in the vortex (or whatever) forever...can't even think about that. The criminals who did this I believe were executed.
However, because of the dark side of human nature, I was wondering how people might view the technology. Could it be used as a device of punishment? What if those fictional criminals were given an eye-for-eye sentence and placed in the jaunt forever as well? If the story were real, do you think some of the worst examples of humanity would deserve to be placed in it? I don't think I could ever do that, no matter who we are talking about. But I can imagine some might feel differently.
In the story, if I recall, some criminals used the technology to get rid of someone by putting him into the transportation device and then not bringing him back. It's bad enough to go through it fully conscious, but to stay in the vortex (or whatever) forever...can't even think about that. The criminals who did this I believe were executed.
However, because of the dark side of human nature, I was wondering how people might view the technology. Could it be used as a device of punishment? What if those fictional criminals were given an eye-for-eye sentence and placed in the jaunt forever as well? If the story were real, do you think some of the worst examples of humanity would deserve to be placed in it? I don't think I could ever do that, no matter who we are talking about. But I can imagine some might feel differently.