Malachi Miggins states, I am a Doctor of Medicine practicing in the City-state of New Babbage
On the evening of the 26th of August I made a post mortem examination of the deceased.
The body was that of a small statured male; it was dirty from a mixture of dirt and of a soot-like substance. The body was dressed only in woolen trousers, and was wearing a steel collar to which a electromechanical device had been affixed. The body also had manicles fastening each wrist, which was affixed to the collar by a chain. These items were removed by me. The skin was dry and greasy; the tissues immediately below the skin were of a clay-like consistency colour and smell, and were quite solid. The body as a whole was unnaturally rigid, and it was determined that there was a thin layer of normal tissues on the exterior of the body.
The body was three and a half feet in length. The fingers were rather long and slender, the middle finger of the left hand measuring three and a half inches along the palmar surface. There were no ring marks on any of the fingers; the nails were long and apparently bitten especially on the left hand. The head is devoid of hair, as well as the arms pits. The colour of the eyes was a yellowish amber. The ears are pronounced and slightly pointed. There were no deformities or marks of any kind such as might be used for identification. The teeth were sound.
On examining the head there was not a normal skull but was a green stone of the appropriate size, printed with characters of an undetermined language or purpose. This stone was highly unusual and will require further testing.
Internally the condition of the body was as follows – – the torso was made of a claylike substance that was hollow internally, and contained a dark fluid of a viscous consistency that does not fully conform with human blood.. The hollow cavity extended into the limbs and through the chest cavity. No organs of a conventional nature were contained in the body. There was a puncture wound through the chest cavity, originating from the front just to the left of the median line of the body, at the level of the armpits. The weapon transversed the body, creating an exit wound in the back. The wound channel was of a diamond cross section, to approximate the blade geometry of the weapon used to inflict the wound.
The immediate course of death was haemorrhage from the wound.
Malachi Miggins, MD
sounds almost like a sort of golem
pip was a humonculus? no wonder he would never slip through the old city gates with me.
So, Pip was a thing rather than a person. I would suppose that this releases the Church of the Builder from murder charges. Also the Church can wash its hands since there was no soul in peril. What we have then is more like someone voiding the warranty by an unusual method of opening the case. I would be interested in hearing from the New Babbage clockwork citizens. How do they view the termination of this piece of equipment? I wonder if Mr. Footman would like to have that green stone?
((By the way Doc…nice way to end this by putting such a creative twist on this. I never saw THIS coming…giggles))
ah, but the oily smudge instead of blood!
Oh Miss Hermit! Mr Streamer was certainly a person, cus he moved, thought, had feelings an enjoy stuff…. so, he ain’t got a body like humans, neither have many of the people in New Babbage, such as the mechanical people, or mechanical dragons! An how about Mr Underby, he were dead fer a bit, fer certain, and he ain’t any more, so is killing him murder or not, cus he’s already dead? And some of the curches say only humans got souls, so where does that leave me, or Gilhooly?
People is as people does, if they got a body or no.
He was quite clearly as alive as anyone else. As for the soul, I suspect that that, like consciousness itself, is probably just myth brought on by some form of schizoid mentality.
Yes, I’m aware of ‘ghosts’ and such. I’ve fought at least one such in my time here as you know. That said, I think it equally likely that such are merely some other life form that is sensitive to human thoughts and responds in a manner that is in some way influenced by the thinking of the observer.
I’ve also heard that they are the result of the collective unconscious and it’s interaction with magic and/or aetheric phenomina. Another popular theory is that they are self-sustained energy patterns that were born in the mind and persist after death in some fashion.
I’m not certain which is true, only that using such to define life vs. non-life is foolishness.
I can assume, then, that my release is imminent, with all charges dropped?
Talk to your lawyer.
Reference this post by Jed Dagger: http://cityofnewbabbage.com/reader/node/660
She knew, but made the arrest anyway. There are some definite moral and philosophical issues here that need to be addressed.
And another question–is this what Pip was all along? Or was it, in a sense, a decoy, and the real Pip is elsewhere?
Leave it to Book to actually pay attention…
He was alive, and was killed by another’s hand. Murder, QED.
The case for what constituted ‘alive’ is best left to the courts or philosophers.
((Maintaining the Current Events page on the Wiki does wonders for keeping up with what’s posted here. *grin*
What *isn’t* posted here, though, is another matter… *sigh*))
((save for the vagaries of RL, I am trying to finish up the arrest post. Contrary to popular opinion, I do have a life outside of SL :P))
((and yes, the idea of ‘life’ and ‘alive’ played into the whole of the case. You want me to come out and split that hair? Not gonna happen. The street grunt is all about the letter of the law, not trying to figure out the divine spark argument. I’m sure that this will start a round of automata as things or persons. All I ask is keep it civil, and don’t beat me up…))
((I wouldn’t dream of trying to beat you up.
You have far too many guns. *grin*))
*gets out a ref whistle in case anyone wishes to wax philosophical*
Poor Pip, to even in death have his life questioned.
sic semper scelestis
Clearly, the functional cessation of an artificial non-person does not constitute murder.
Hmm…
.
This artificial non-person would decidedly beg to differ.
Indeed, if one were able to study his remains properly, and find ways of reproducing this effect in a safe and secuyre manner, without giving the uncreant any sort of sentient training, these kinds of creatures could be used as highly skilled and infinately replacable beasts of burden.
The creature’s remains should be catalogued and parcelled out among willing researches for the benefit of all.
*upon reading of happenings in the steelhead newspapers* …
but… but i know pip had a heart!… once, when i was faced with almost certain death, he tried to send me away, to save me!..
*Hugs Lo* I know, dear…. I know…..
*rubs head*
but… if we can’t be protected BY the law, then are we free FROM the law?
as in able to do what we want ’cause it don’t apply?
*holds head in claws*
I haz another headache…
That’s pretty much the question I’ve been asking……
Hmm… I likez the idea of free cookies.
XD
Well, get Tepic and Zaida to show you that road to Steelhead they somehow have found in Babbage. There’s never a shortage of baked treats at the mill. ((Really if some of us ate as many cookies as we claim to in SL we’d all be beachballs with feet. *looks down* Ummm well….evermind…))