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  3. Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?

Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?

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  • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

    Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?

    In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.

    R This user is from outside of this forum
    R This user is from outside of this forum
    RedMeepleRyan 🎲🦯
    wrote last edited by
    #40

    @cstross Just when you thought you were out, iteas for a Laundry Files anthology pull you back in. *chuckles darkly* 🙂

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    • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

      Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?

      In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.

      ThePdogT This user is from outside of this forum
      ThePdogT This user is from outside of this forum
      ThePdog
      wrote last edited by
      #41

      @cstross Great concept. Maybe after you finish your sequel?

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      • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

        Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?

        In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.

        Nonya Bidniss :CIAverified: 🇺🇸N This user is from outside of this forum
        Nonya Bidniss :CIAverified: 🇺🇸N This user is from outside of this forum
        Nonya Bidniss :CIAverified: 🇺🇸
        wrote last edited by
        #42

        @cstross While this idea is quite different, for some reason it reminded me of the Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. Series by Kevin J. Anderson, which I enjoyed quite a lot & wished there was more of.

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        • Fucking bitch Martin VermeerM This user is from outside of this forum
          Fucking bitch Martin VermeerM This user is from outside of this forum
          Fucking bitch Martin Vermeer
          wrote last edited by
          #43

          @xChaos @moira @cstross In Dutch even the same word: schuld.

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          • ElectropictE Electropict

            @cstross

            I think we're just about there IRL.

            Someone just needs to pitch it to the VCs and obtainable politicians:

            LLM bots that not only mimic your features, voice and writing style, but also can maintain your legal existence, rights, liabilities and specifically copyrights until the heat death of capitalism.

            There's money to be made, or rather, kept...

            Matthew KenworthyM This user is from outside of this forum
            Matthew KenworthyM This user is from outside of this forum
            Matthew Kenworthy
            wrote last edited by
            #44

            @electropict This is very close to Vernor Vinge's novella "The Cookie Monster" : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cookie_Monster_(novella)

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            • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

              Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?

              In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.

              Dean L. SurkinD This user is from outside of this forum
              Dean L. SurkinD This user is from outside of this forum
              Dean L. Surkin
              wrote last edited by
              #45

              @cstross Iain M. Banks had a novel ("Surface Detail") about a planet that enforced post-life hell by digitalizing a person's memories and personality and then installing it in a computer-generated sim of hell.

              Charlie StrossC 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • Angus McIntyreA Angus McIntyre

                @cstross "The Victorians were onto something with their debtors' prison. So I'd like to introduce you to a little concept we're working on. It's called debtors' Hell …”

                KrukuK This user is from outside of this forum
                KrukuK This user is from outside of this forum
                Kruku
                wrote last edited by
                #46

                @angusm @cstross
                Should we ever be able to map individual human consciousness, including memories, completely and accurately from human brains the notion of a "debtor's Hell" could become a reality, at least as far as using human minds as computers for unpaid labour is concerned.

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                • Dean L. SurkinD Dean L. Surkin

                  @cstross Iain M. Banks had a novel ("Surface Detail") about a planet that enforced post-life hell by digitalizing a person's memories and personality and then installing it in a computer-generated sim of hell.

                  Charlie StrossC This user is from outside of this forum
                  Charlie StrossC This user is from outside of this forum
                  Charlie Stross
                  wrote last edited by
                  #47

                  @dsurkin Yes, I have a signed first edition copy. (It also has a thinly-disguised Elon Musk style entrepreneur who buys up all the bankrupt hells and runs hells as a software service on behalf of their creators.)

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                  • ALFA ALF

                    @cstross

                    Morten Juhl-JohansenM This user is from outside of this forum
                    Morten Juhl-JohansenM This user is from outside of this forum
                    Morten Juhl-Johansen
                    wrote last edited by
                    #48

                    @Astronomy_A2Z @cstross That is basically what happens to me at work wheneverI have had a heavy lunch.
                    A resurrection effort around 1 PM.

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                    • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

                      Mad fantasy-fic idea: what if even death is no escape from the law, and contracts signed in life remain binding after shuffling off this mortal coil?

                      In this setting, all contract lawyers are necromancers. A zombie is what you get when an undischarged bankrupt dies. And so on.

                      Jürgen HubertJ This user is from outside of this forum
                      Jürgen HubertJ This user is from outside of this forum
                      Jürgen Hubert
                      wrote last edited by
                      #49

                      @cstross

                      This actually pops up in German folklore, and fits with the old Catholic notion that donations made in the name of the dead, or paid masses held in their name, would shorten their time in purgatory.

                      https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Fire_Mountain

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