Comic #5015: fuzzy-borders

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Description

Sure! Here’s the transcription of the comic:

Panel 1: Person 1: Would it be ethical to go back in time to kill baby Hitler?

Person 2: Hmmm… it seems like it would, but then you get a fuzzy border problem.

Panel 2: Person 1: If you take all human beings who ever lived and order them by okay-to-murder-ness, is there a cutoff point for time-traveling murder? Can you kill the median baby? The average baby?

Panel 3: Person 2: That's easy. You just scale the punishment to the position in the list. It's okay to murder baby Hitler. The median baby deserves a spanking. Baby Helen Kellers get a piece of candy and a friendly pat on the head.

Panel 4: Person 1: So… if time travel were possible… you'd expect that sometimes babies just start crying for no reason while you're out of the room.

Panel 5: Person 2: But then… that means…

Panel 6: Person 1: Time-traveling baby-spankers.

Panel 7: Person 2: The most parsimonious explanation.

Let me know if you need anything else!