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Write until you pass out!?

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TaoPhoenix:
One of the areas of judicial theory that has amused me from time to time is the "no cruel and unusual punishment" sections of rights. However, in this initial case specifically for ironclad Murder One with no weasel doubts, what if that requirement were lifted? Criminal "gets to do" all kinds of cruel and unusual things to his victim, and then we need to "see to his rights" afterward? One really fun case consists of "unusual punishments less cruel than the original crime". And since the original crime was something like chopping their legs off and painting diagrams with knives on the victim's chests, it's hard to get much more C&U than that.

So for the "softie" DC version of an experiment, what if the criminal were sentenced to write valid sentences until he simply passes out from fatigue? (Spelling mistakes punished on a sliding scale, no asdf asdf etc allowed, etc.)

In what is commonly called "first world problem", we get to say "nah, I'm tired, I don't want to do that". But what if you simply had to? Has anyone here ever written until they simply passed out near the keyboard?

Edit: Writing code (even with minor syntax errors, if it's still recognizable code) counts!

fenixproductions:
@TaoPhoenix
You can count me in.

As I mostly have the best ideas late at night, I sometimes go to sleep with my keyboard. Heck, it even happened with BBCeditor when I was writing second parsing engine for it: coding until you don't even know what you are typing in… But the best moments were not coding-related.

As soon as I get known about Allen Ginsberg works I became a fan of "stream of consciousness" term. Getting yourself into the specific way of thinking, specific rhythm of thoughts and writing while on it. In case of Beat Generation in was often induced through drugs but I didn't want to go this way so… knowing about Saint Vitus Dance I used to get into similar states when being tired. And it was great for creativity.

Except strange poetry, the first thing I wrote was a short story - typing machine FTW - about something similar to concentration camps. Writing process was amazing, so much stuff coming to mind, but some of the results were "little bit of" so I had to skip them for the sake of staying sake. Result: best thing I ever wrote.

Second amazing story - same whole day writing until unconscious scenario - was more Lynch-like. Again, it gave very nice output but whole procedure was more scary than ever. I had to stop few times because I was scared what my mind is capable of. Sleep-like state was indeed helpful for Lynchizm but… scary the demons are. Weird thing is: I have a novel which can be started at any page, read till whole circle is set and it will still be consistent within itself.

Those were scary, tiresome but not punishment in any way. Or you may call it masochism if you like.

In terms of law, we may wonder how would it work. I am not sure forcing people to do things could bring suffering but not allowing them do do some - definitely (as one of interrogation methods is preventing sleep).

MilesAhead:
Hmm, speaking of prisoner punishment, I hear prisoners are forced to perform labor previously reserved to the private sector such as working phone banks for customer service outfits. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich may seem tame compared to taking customer complaints from mothers with squalling infants on their laps. Unless the criminal committed crimes in the heinous top ten I'd say give the dude 10 hours off good behavior for every hour working that gig.  I bet most prisoners would prefer to pick cotton. :)

Its seems the 8th Amendment does not proscribe cruel punishments as long as they are not also unusual. I think when translated to everyday language it means that the authority has been getting away with the particular cruelty in question for many years. So, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

wraith808:
If the legal system was infallible, and the amount of money didn't factor into the level of law and punishment (notice I didn't say anything about justice.. there's none of that in the legal system), then... I'd still be against it.

I think Nietzsche said it best: "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

TaoPhoenix:
The Abyss and I have been ...uh... (colleagues?) for a long time now. He's fun to talk to, and gives you nice creepy story ideas if you want them, or he'll augment your calculations in whichever esoteric system you are studying at the time - for a price. The price is that once the Abyss gazes into you, you can never go back to being a simple normal guy.

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