"Any citizen, with the help of the organ banks, can live as long as it takes his central nervous system to wear out. This can be a very long time if his circulatory system is kept functioning. But the citizen cannot take more out of the organ banks than goes into them. He must do his utmost to see that they are supplied. The only feasible method of supplying the organ banks is through execution of criminals.… A criminal's pirated body can save a dozen lives. There is now no valid argument against capital punishment for any given crime; for all such argument seeks to prove that killing a man does society no good. Hence the citizen, who wants to live as long and as healthily as possible, will vote any crime into a capital crime if the organ banks are short of material. Cite Earth's capital punishment for false advertising, income tax evasion, air pollution, having children without a license. The wonder was that it had taken so long to pass these laws."
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Activists from the United StatesScience fiction authors from the United StatesNovelists from the United StatesAnti-war activistsAgnostics from the United States
Original Language: English
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Sources
Chapter 7, “The Bleeding Heart“ (pp. 122-123)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Larry_Niven
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Larry Niven
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