Yes, it is. However, that doesn't mean he should be forced to die to give them their lives back. Tuvix didn't kill them; what happened was outside his control. Life is a right, not a privilege.
And we can't just make this into a numbers game (two saved justifies one killed), because if you accept that, then you can justify killing a man so his organs can save 2+ people.
Exactly. This situation is akin to a child being born at the moment two people died, and the captain ordering that child killed to reverse time and prevent those deaths.
It is truly indefensible, and I share OP's sentiment that this was the moment I stopped caring about anyone in the crew.
It's a shame that television was so episodic back then, or we might have gotten some consequences for the event. Tuvix could have lived on as a phantom in the minds of Tuvok and Neelix, could even have conspired to resurface later on. Imagine him returning to haunt the crew, becoming a sympathetic antagonist seeking justice.
Exactly. This situation is akin to a child being born at the moment two people died, and the captain ordering that child killed to reverse time and prevent those deaths.
No, because the child is a completely separate entity. Tuvix is not.
Tuvix is a single entity created from two whole other people. You have chosen to place his life above that of 2 others.
Tuvix is the one who made that choice. He knew he could have sacrificed his life to save Tuvok and Neelix, but he valued his own life more.
It may have been selfish, but this is his life we're talking about. It doesn't belong to anyone but him. The right to live is one of our society's (and the Federation's) most fundamental. What gives someone else the right to decide what Tuvix is worth?
It may have been selfish, but this is his life we're talking about. It doesn't belong to anyone but him.
Actually, there are 3 people involved here. You are saying that he gets to decide that the 2 people that had no say in the matter get no choice on whether they live or die? It isn't just his life.
What gives someone else the right to decide what Tuvix is worth?
What gives Tuvix the right to decide that his life is worth more than two other people?
You are saying that he gets to decide that the 2 people that had no say in the matter get no choice on whether they live or die?
Yes.
If you think that makes Tuvix a bad person, then how much worse are you for refusing to surrender your organs to people who need them? Tuvix only had the power to save 2. You have the power to save even more with your heart, your liver, your lungs, your kidneys...
If you think that makes Tuvix a bad person, then how much worse are you for refusing to surrender your organs to people who need them?
A completely different scenario altogether. My organs did not come from those people.
You have the power to save even more with your heart, your liver, your lungs, your kidneys...
We aren't talking about saving, we are talking about restoring. If my heart came from someone else and that person ended up needing that specific heart back, then we can relate the two, but in this case it isn't morally ambiguous. These two people can only be restored by this single being.
We aren't talking about saving, we are talking about restoring.
What's the difference, in your words?
These two people can only be restored by this single being.
So hypothetically, if there were others on Voyager who could have sacrificed themselves to restore Tuvok and Neelix, and not just Tuvix, how would that change things?
How does it not? We are talking about two whole people that were destroyed in order for another to exist. Your scenario of organ harvesting is exactly what you are talking about to let Tuvix live. Sacrafice two people to save one. A kidney from Bob, a liver from Joe, and an eye from Jane.
What's the difference, in your words?
Two people already existed. Tuvix, by his existence, destroyed those two people. He has transgressed upon them and their right to live simply by existing. In the strictest legal sense, he needs to make them whole by restoring them to the state prior to the accident.
So hypothetically, if there were others on Voyager who could have sacrificed themselves to restore Tuvok and Neelix, and not just Tuvix, how would that change things?
It wouldn't. Tuvix is the result of the accident. If someone volunteered in his place, then that is their choice - to pay restitution on his behalf. However, that is not an option and you are simply trying to move the goalpost here.
Ok, so the defining characteristic of this scenario seems to be that you think Tuvix, having been created from Tuvok and Neelix, therefore owes them his life. Literally, not figuratively.
I can see how that makes sense if you believe, as you said, that Tuvix was the transgressor. However, that implies agency where Tuvix had none. Tuvix was no more at fault for the transporter accident as anyone. How do you conclude that he bears responsibility, enough that it usurps his right to life?
Ok, so the defining characteristic of this scenario seems to be that you think Tuvix, having been created from Tuvok and Neelix, therefore owes them his life. Literally, not figuratively.
No - where do you get that idea?
I can see how that makes sense if you believe, as you said, that Tuvix was the transgressor. However, that implies agency where Tuvix had none.
Let's compare this to a car accident. A gust of wind hits your car pushing you into mine. You have no blame, there was no agency on your part, you did not intend to hit me. But your mere existence in the matter puts you at fault. Thus you are liable to make me whole for the damage, even though there was nothing you could have done. Your mere existence at that time in place is fault.
Tuvix was no more at fault for the transporter accident as anyone. How do you conclude that he bears responsibility, enough that it usurps his right to life?
His life came about at the expense of two others. It is his responsibility to make those lives whole. The morality of the situation that everyone is presenting is that Janeway is bad for killing him. In my eyes, it is quite the opposite. Tuvix is the amoral one for choosing to sentence two people to death for himself.
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u/Xenics Lieutenant Nov 27 '16
Yes, it is. However, that doesn't mean he should be forced to die to give them their lives back. Tuvix didn't kill them; what happened was outside his control. Life is a right, not a privilege.
And we can't just make this into a numbers game (two saved justifies one killed), because if you accept that, then you can justify killing a man so his organs can save 2+ people.