I was planning on doing this extra credit assignment on “The Trolley Problem” episode of The Good Place (this clip is an excellent preview of the episode) but then I watched the first episode of the new Chernobyl miniseries on HBO and knew I had to write about that. I do support nuclear energy in general as air pollution kills many more people, but they filmed this like it’s a horror movie and the ethical decisions are incredible. I watched the episode as it aired and then consulted my notes from the class to see what stood out. I’m watching it again as I write this and expand on my outline.
Cultural relativism was one of the first theories we went over in class. As this show takes place in the Soviet Union, there are several examples of cultural relativism. The most predominant is a speech about Lenin that a ranking member of the Party gives, suggesting that it is in the people’s best interest to cut off traffic and phone lines from Pripyat (the city next to Chernobyl).
This whole episode is a case study in both ethical egoism and disciplinary decadence. Most of the people in charge refuse to accept that the core exploded (and not just a hydrogen tank) and keep sending in their subordinates to die. Despite workers vomiting and being covered in radiation burns they keep insisting that it isn’t that bad. They insist the radiation is only 3.6 roentgens, which happens to be the number the dosimeters max out at. Think of someone going 150 mph in a car that only registers up to 100 mph and insisting they are only going 100 mph.
The employees who know the radiation will kill them but who still go to help their co-workers are a striking example of Deontology. The firefighters who suspect something is amiss but put out the fire raging at the core and roof are also motivated by duty. I assume in future episodes they will show the liquidators who went in knowing the risks. The liquidators also saved much of that area of Europe from becoming a wasteland, increasing overall happiness which could be construed as Utilitarianism.
Environmental justice is a major aspect of the Chernobyl disaster, although this episode doesn’t yet cover it. I assume future episodes will address both the literal and ethical fallout of the disaster. From what I know from reading about Chernobyl in the past, distributive justice is withheld from those in Pripyat and really all of the Ukraine (conquered by Soviet Union), and Belarus who suffered the most from radioactive fallout. Political recognition is presented in the show as people not knowing the risks of radiation and of not having any say in living next to a nuclear power plant.
Hans Jonas theories are implicit in the episode; non-humans not considered, dead birds and other animals are shown in the preview for the next episode. Effects of time (uninhabitable for years), accumulating effects of tech, impact on future generations (cancer, deformities) and global conditions are also all relevant to the Chernobyl disaster.
Individual helplessness and individual ignorance will probably be shown in future episodes of the series as the full impact is understood. Right now most of the people in charge are portrayed as being in serious denial.
