TOW #22: "How will life extension transform punishment?"

What is worse– death, or an eternity in jail? Ross Anderson says the latter.

http://aeon.co/magazine/living-together/should-biotech-make-life-hellish-for-criminals/?src=longreads

For quite a while now, capital punishment has been controversial. But what about a new type of punishment that might exist sometime in the future involving living in prison for quite a while, even more than a lifetime? Philosopher and editor Ross Anderson sets out to investigate this very question. Anderson interviews philosopher Rebecca Roache about the ethics of never-ending punishment for "super-criminals" such as Adolf Hitler. The purpose of this article is to make the reader consider the ethics of punishment in the future. The audience includes anyone who knows anyone who might be facing federal punishment any time in the future or anyone who is interested in justice and morality. To achieve his purpose, Anderson uses historical examples, employs a chronological format, and writes in first-person. Anderson poses a hypothetical situation that fits perfectly with his topic: If Adolf Hitler hadn't committed suicide, how would he have been punished? This allows Anderson to transition into the idea of an "endless" prison experience. Perhaps Hitler would receive a life sentence for every one of the millions of people he killed, meaning he would serve as long as possible. Anderson argues that given the lifespan-extending techniques that wait sometime in the future, a Hitler-level punishment might be possible. By posing this hypothetical historical example, Anderson is able to transition into his interview with Roache. He uses a question-answer format to understand Roache's perspective on the endless sentence that Anderson has proposed might exist in the future. This format allows Anderson to maintain a clear, straight-forward approach to answering such a broad, difficult-to-approach topic. Also, Anderson chose to move through his essay chronologically. First, he talks about Hitler, then current punishment standards, and finally the potential future of punishment. The last device Anderson uses has more to do with how he presents his essay. He uses a first-person perspective to make the essay flow more easily. This format makes the essay feel a little more casual, which is very important considering how "out-there" this topic is. Overall, Anderson effectively presented the idea of extended punishments.