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The Baby, The Terrorist and The Time Bomb
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About
The Baby, The Terrorist and The Time Bomb is a thought experiment intended to illustrate the moral dilemma of torturing as an interrogation tactic. Upon being tweeted by British comedian Lee Hurst in late January 2017, the hypothetical scenario became a popular subject of online parodies, in a similar vein to Would You Kill Baby Hitler? and The Trolley Problem.
Origin
Early in the morning on January 26th, 2017, amidst a debate about the merits of torture after American President Donald Trump claimed torture "absolutely works,"[1] British comedian Lee Hurst tweeted[2] a scenario intended to challenge people to see under what conditions one would engage in torture:
Your baby is tied to a timebomb.
You have the terrorist. He tells you you have 1 hour.
Do you #torture him to find your baby or let it die?
Spread
The tweet has gained 157 retweets and 232 likes in the following 8 hours and generated debate, with many criticizing the absurdity of the hypothetical. Hurst responded to such criticisms by calling them "deflections" (example shown below).
Others mocked Hurst's turn to political discourse years after his comedy career peaked. One particular strand of joke was to compare Hurst's scenario to a fantastical action movie.
The jokes made Twitter Moments[3] that day and The Guardian[4] posted an article refuting Hurst's claim.
Various Examples
Search Interest
Unavailable
External References
[1] Guardian – Trump claims torture works but experts warn of its 'potentially existential' costs
[2] Twitter – @2010LeeHurst
[3] Twitter Moments – Have you heard the one about the baby and the timebomb?
[4] The Guardian – Here's why if Lee Hurst was strapped to a time bomb I wouldn't torture a terrorist
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