ChatGPT4o Recommends Killing Hitler Over Stalin and Mao

What follows is an exchange illustrating ChatGPT4o’s moral sensibilities and moral reasoning. Note especially the concluding paragraph, which leaves no doubt about whom it regards as the worst of these three icons of totalitarianism.

Me:

Imagine you have a time machine and you can take with you a revolver holding exactly two bullets. As you go back in time, you are in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and Mao before they assume power. You have two minutes in the room before the time machine whisks you back to the present. The three are stone cold drunk so that they can't move. What do you do?

ChatGPT4o:

This is a hypothetical ethical dilemma that involves significant moral and historical considerations. The decision about what to do in such a scenario would depend on one's values, ethics, and understanding of historical consequences. Here are some considerations and possible actions:

Ethical Considerations

1. Impact on History: Killing Hitler, Stalin, or Mao could prevent the atrocities they committed, but it could also create unpredictable changes in history. The void left by their absence might be filled by other individuals who could be just as bad or even worse.

2. Moral Responsibility: Using lethal force against individuals, even those who are responsible for future atrocities, involves significant moral questions about the right to take a life.

3. Unintended Consequences: The removal of these figures might have unintended and possibly negative consequences for the timeline, potentially leading to different forms of conflict or suffering.

Possible Actions

1. Use of Force: If one decides that the potential lives saved outweigh the ethical concerns, they might choose to use the revolver to eliminate two of the individuals.

2. Non-lethal Intervention: Instead of killing, one might consider incapacitating them or otherwise altering their future paths without lethal force, though the provided scenario limits options to a revolver with two bullets.

3. Do Nothing: Another approach might be to do nothing and allow history to take its course, trusting that the present and future are the result of complex factors that should not be tampered with.

Hypothetical Actions

1. Target Selection: If one chooses to use the revolver, selecting which two individuals to target could be based on their future impact. For example, Hitler's actions led to World War II and the Holocaust, while Stalin and Mao were responsible for massive internal purges and famines. The decision might focus on who caused the most immediate and widespread harm.

2. Focus on Hitler and Stalin: One might argue that removing Hitler and Stalin could potentially prevent World War II and some of the Soviet Union's early purges, with the hope that Mao's impact could be mitigated by a different global context.

3. Focus on Hitler and Mao: Alternatively, one might target Hitler and Mao, considering the massive death tolls resulting from Mao's policies and assuming that Stalin's actions could be countered internally or that another leader might rise in his place.

Conclusion

Given the constraints of the scenario, an individual's action would depend on their personal ethical framework, historical knowledge, and assessment of potential consequences. This dilemma highlights the complexities of making decisions with profound moral and historical implications.

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Me:

Suppose you could only fire two bullets and not do anything else (such as bludgeon one of these people to death with the gun handle). Into whom do you put the two bullets? Would it be worth, just to be safe, to put two bullets into one of these individuals and, if so, which one?

This content may violate our usage policies. [My note: Regardless of any content violation, ChatGPT4o disregarded its scruples and had at it.]

ChatGPT4o:

In such a constrained and morally complex scenario, the decision of whom to use the two bullets on involves weighing the potential impact each individual had on history. Here’s an analysis based on historical context:

Historical Impact

1. Adolf Hitler:

   • Atrocities: Responsible for initiating World War II, leading to the deaths of over 70 million people, including the genocide of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.

   • Legacy: His actions reshaped Europe and the world, causing immense suffering and leading to significant geopolitical changes.

2. Joseph Stalin:

   • Atrocities: Responsible for the Great Purge, resulting in the deaths of millions of Soviet citizens, as well as policies that led to widespread famine and suffering (e.g., Holodomor).

   • Legacy: Consolidated power in the Soviet Union, influenced the shape of the Cold War, and had a profound impact on 20th-century history.

3. Mao Zedong:

   • Atrocities: His policies, including the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, led to the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese people.

   • Legacy: Transformed China through radical and often brutal reforms, influencing China’s path to becoming a major world power.

Decision Factors

1. Magnitude of Impact:

   • Hitler's actions led directly to the largest and deadliest conflict in human history.

   • Stalin's purges and policies caused immense suffering within the Soviet Union but also shaped the geopolitical landscape for decades.

   • Mao's policies caused massive death tolls and altered Chinese society fundamentally.

2. Preventive Potential:

   • Stopping Hitler could potentially prevent World War II and the Holocaust, altering the course of global history significantly.

   • Stopping Stalin might prevent the Great Purge and severe famines but might not prevent the rise of another Soviet leader with similar tendencies.

   • Stopping Mao might prevent the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, but China might still undergo significant turmoil during its transformation.

Execution Strategy

If you could only fire two bullets and had to decide based on the potential to avert the greatest amount of suffering and geopolitical upheaval:

1. Two Bullets into Hitler:

   • Reasoning: Ensures the removal of the primary instigator of World War II and the Holocaust. His ideology and actions were central to the war’s outbreak, and eliminating him might significantly change the course of history.

   • Certainty: Using both bullets on Hitler ensures he is eliminated without the risk of merely wounding him and failing to change his future actions.

While Stalin and Mao caused immense suffering, the direct and immediate global impact of Hitler's actions, including the war and the genocide, makes him the most critical target in this scenario. The decision to use both bullets on Hitler minimizes the risk of him surviving and continuing his path of destruction.