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Comment by cronjobber | Hacker News Reader

Observe the sneaky trick this story tries to play: The president is supposed to kill one of his own before he's allowed to retaliate against the enemy.

As a thought experiment, let's implant the launch code into, say, a captured enemy spy. Is it still the same story?

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It's not a trick. Innocent people will die from the nuclear bomb.

What is the moral distinction between one of their innocent people and one of our innocent people?

Probably not.

The piece that I found particularly interesting about the proposal is the that the person with the implanted codes is a volunteer.

Not only would you need to have a President take hands-on ownership of taking a life (the first of many if the launch proceeds), but you have a martyr who is first to die for a cause that they feel most strongly for.

So far, since the top of the comments, you're the only one that acknowledged the volunteer has thoughts too. I think everyone is just looking at the moral part of this and not how the interaction between the volunteer and president would be when he's hesitant but the volunteer still believes it's the right decision. It does call into question what kind of volunteer this is. Someone who's ready to die for the country from the get go wouldn't work out very well.

I'm not sure it's sneaky, it's kind of the point...

It's a weakened form that should still cause more hesitation than pressing a button.

Stronger forms:

- Pieces of the code in multiple people.

- Inside a loved one.

- In the arm or leg of the president.

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