What Measure Is a Non-Human?/Literature: Difference between revisions

* Used in reverse in Eric Nylund's ''A Pawn's Dream'', Near the start of the story, a Dreamer shoots a coworker of the main character in the head while making sure he is caught on camera, then hires two corrupt cops to beat up and kidnap the protagonist. He then "rescues" the protagonist by killing the cops. He justifies his actions with "they were just non-Dreamers". The only difference between humans and Dreamers is a genetic ability to switch between the two worlds when asleep, giving them magic powers. This is apparently enough difference that humans can be killed just in case your secondary plan, '''mail him a letter''', fails.

* ''Handling the Dead'' (Hanteringen av odöda in Swedish) by John Ajvide Lindqvist is an incredible example of this conflict. The dead come back to life, and depending on how long they've been buried they may even retain basic speech and go through the same routines they did in life. This leads to a social debate about the morality of killing them and if they deserve any basic human rights.

** The wizarding world has thought this out extensively, befitting a society full of [[Half-Human Hybrid|Half Human Hybrids]] and [[Talking Animal|talking animals]]. According to ''[[Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them]]'', in 1811 (after extensive debate) the Minister for Magic decreed that a "being" (as opposed to a "beast"), was:

{{quote|"[A]ny creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws."}}