The ethical dilemmas in Superhighway

Discuss the June 2017 Book of the Month, Superhighway by Alex Fayman. Superhighway is the first book in the Superhighway Trilogy, so feel free to use this forum to discuss not only the first book but also the other books in the series.

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mamalui
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Re: The ethical dilemmas in Superhighway

Post by mamalui »

Spirit Wandering wrote: 19 Mar 2018, 15:32
mamalui wrote: 19 Mar 2018, 07:21 Every action has a reaction. Even if no one holds him accountable for his actions somehow somewhere things are going to catch up to him one way or another no matter how careful he may think himself to be.
Yes, I think the principles of physics would apply. I would think that Alex losing his girlfriend and being caught in the net of the CIA would certainly qualify as a reaction. Thanks for reading the post and replying.
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Post by VictoriaMcMillen »

Your post definitely raises some serious thoughts. I agree the author did not go into much detail about the ripple effects, the actions the character was taking, was having on the rest of the world. Aside from the economic discussions, there was not much told on how the money affected the lives of who it was meant to help. It seemed the character easily fell into the "wealthy mindset" of throwing money at problems and not quite knowing how to follow through. I didn't see the book as just about the "digital Robin Hood" storyline, but the epic underlying story of how he became this way. I believe this was more the author's story than the actual moving of wealth... although we shall see in the next books.

Ethics, however, I do not feel matter when it is serious gangsters and terrorists he is stealing from. The collateral damage there would most likely be another person of equal stature. Except as you said, in the instance where an innocent life was taken. Then again, it was the choice of antagonist to commit this crime, sure the victim was put in danger by the actions of the theft. She most certainly should have never been hurt, had Alex been less childish with his gift.
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Post by Spirit Wandering »

VictoriaMcMillen wrote: 21 Mar 2018, 14:48 Your post definitely raises some serious thoughts. I agree the author did not go into much detail about the ripple effects, the actions the character was taking, was having on the rest of the world. Aside from the economic discussions, there was not much told on how the money affected the lives of who it was meant to help. It seemed the character easily fell into the "wealthy mindset" of throwing money at problems and not quite knowing how to follow through. I didn't see the book as just about the "digital Robin Hood" storyline, but the epic underlying story of how he became this way. I believe this was more the author's story than the actual moving of wealth... although we shall see in the next books.

Ethics, however, I do not feel matter when it is serious gangsters and terrorists he is stealing from. The collateral damage there would most likely be another person of equal stature. Except as you said, in the instance where an innocent life was taken. Then again, it was the choice of antagonist to commit this crime, sure the victim was put in danger by the actions of the theft. She most certainly should have never been hurt, had Alex been less childish with his gift.
Good points-thanks for reading the post and replying.
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Post by desantismt_17 »

I didn't agree with Alex taking the money, even if it was from crime lords. If he's stealing it, he's the same as the thieves he took it from, especially since he puts a decent amount of the money toward himself. I do agree that large numbers of individuals doing what Alex does would result in chaos, but there is a good point to helping those in need. When Alex forms his charity organization, I think his heart is in the right place, but his method to fund the organization wasn't the right one.
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
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Post by Spirit Wandering »

desantismt_17 wrote: 06 Apr 2018, 08:34 I didn't agree with Alex taking the money, even if it was from crime lords. If he's stealing it, he's the same as the thieves he took it from, especially since he puts a decent amount of the money toward himself. I do agree that large numbers of individuals doing what Alex does would result in chaos, but there is a good point to helping those in need. When Alex forms his charity organization, I think his heart is in the right place, but his method to fund the organization wasn't the right one.
Thanks for reading the post and adding your perspective.
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Post by crediblereading2 »

The Bible states that 'thou shalt not steal' and it also says, if someone is hungry, he should go to a field, find food and eat on the Sabbath day. I guess it all depends on the situation. It is all about balance. There are instances where his actions may be justified but there are other times when it may not be.
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Post by Spirit Wandering »

Good point. I wrote the post because Alex's situation has a lot of ambiguity. Thanks for replying.
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Post by charmaineperit »

Bad actions shouldn't be justified by good consequences. But it's a really difficult topic of ethics, sometimes, the good outways the bad that we still find it "heroic".
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Post by Spirit Wandering »

charmaineperit wrote: 27 Apr 2018, 12:03 Bad actions shouldn't be justified by good consequences. But it's a really difficult topic of ethics, sometimes, the good outways the bad that we still find it "heroic".
Yes, it is a difficult topic of ethics. Thanks for replying.
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Post by KRay93 »

Books like these are the ones that remind us why we will never have that kind of powers. We are simply not prepared to consider all the possible ramifications of using that kind of power.

As for his actions, it is all a question of perspective. He steals from who he and the society as a whole call "criminals". In other words, he imposes his own judgment on said persons, considering that their wealth is unjustified. On the other hand, under his own judgment, he decides to give part of that money to a man in a street situation that seems to have ended up there because of what that same criminal did. Like every other human being, his judgment is not perfect, and it's only a matter of time before he ends up robbing someone that may not deserve to be robbed...
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Post by Spirit Wandering »

KRay93 wrote: 02 May 2018, 09:53 Books like these are the ones that remind us why we will never have that kind of powers. We are simply not prepared to consider all the possible ramifications of using that kind of power.

As for his actions, it is all a question of perspective. He steals from who he and the society as a whole call "criminals". In other words, he imposes his own judgment on said persons, considering that their wealth is unjustified. On the other hand, under his own judgment, he decides to give part of that money to a man in a street situation that seems to have ended up there because of what that same criminal did. Like every other human being, his judgment is not perfect, and it's only a matter of time before he ends up robbing someone that may not deserve to be robbed...
Your comments are well thought out and insightful. Thanks for replying.
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Post by Helpme71 »

I think that Alex should be held accountable for his actions, regardless of the fact that he was "stealing from the rich to give to the poor". While it seems right to him, there are better ways to do these things. As you mentioned, sometimes his actions led to the worst possible outcome (such as death). However, I also believe that these negative outcomes are a sort of consequence for Alex's actions.
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Post by Spirit Wandering »

Helpme71 wrote: 06 May 2018, 20:08 I think that Alex should be held accountable for his actions, regardless of the fact that he was "stealing from the rich to give to the poor". While it seems right to him, there are better ways to do these things. As you mentioned, sometimes his actions led to the worst possible outcome (such as death). However, I also believe that these negative outcomes are a sort of consequence for Alex's actions.
Thanks for reading the post and replying.
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Post by dbulkley »

I agree he should’ve gone about getting money a different way, his actions were bound to catch up with him! This was very predictable! But I suppose he thought he was doing a good thing.
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Post by Spirit Wandering »

dbulkley wrote: 01 Aug 2018, 12:16 I agree he should’ve gone about getting money a different way, his actions were bound to catch up with him! This was very predictable! But I suppose he thought he was doing a good thing.
Yes, until his girl friend was killed, he saw himself as a kind of Robin Hood, as he set up a foundation and gave away a lot of money. Thanks for reading the review and replying
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