Death Penalty Article

[rikz]

I think Mr. Sklansky's article extends the philosophy of Utilitarianism in an interesting, and provacative way by introducing the notion of probabilities and risk into to the calculation of what action creates the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Or, in this case, what action creates the least harm for the greatest number.

Utilitarianism links

I am not much of a utilitarian. I'm more of a right wing WASP who happens to like poker. But I've always found the philosophy to be compelling. Applying Bayes Theorem in the calculation of utility seems to take that philosophy to another, even more interesting, level.

I like the argument Mr. Sklansky makes because I like the notion of applying probability theory, and perhaps game theory, to the calculation of Utility quite a bit. I don't plan to write my congressman, but this is interesting stuff.

Thanks.