On fair dueling standards

The main idea: proposing a duel of Russian Roulette as an improvement over the historical version that presents more balanced trade-offs to the participants.  

0. Posts on this blog are ranked in decreasing order of likeability to myself. This entry was originally posted on 20.09.2022, and the current version may have been updated several times from its original form.

 

1.1 I am among those who look forward to the day in which the practice of the honorable duel will return, but the next time around we’d better have a new and improved version that suffers from fewer of the issues of the original.

1.2 It was easy to attack the practice as a mindless squander of youthful talent, a mere codification of the practice of vendetta from a time when the state did not rule over the aristocracy.

1.3 To this I’ll add that the practice as carried out amounted to a license of those quick of hand to libel as much as they liked. They could win every duel, and had de facto freedom to cheat in an age when honor was everything. In short, they could have their cake and eat it too, even though martial strength or hand-eye coordination may not corelate to virtue.

1.4 So, a fair duel puts no weight on talents not linked to virtue, and requires participants to think long and hard before throwing a glove at someone.

1.5 Obviously then, the fair duel is a duel of Russian Roulette, when the challenger goes first. One go for each participant, at the end of which honor is satisfied, regardless of how many of the duelists remain standing.

1.6 Now the retired Special Operations dude will think twice before making a pass at you wife, and serial offenders will face the punishment of the Law of Large Numbers. At the same time, a Hamilton need not die every time.

1.7 On the other hand, the very same Law of Large Numbers makes it imperative to have solid social rules on who is able to challenge whom, else you’d have the dregs of society challenging targets for a few bucks.

1.8 If this sound like the lament of the limp-wristed, well maybe it is, but more importantly, what if it is? What matters among men of honor is honor, i.e. willingness to risk one’s life for no material gain, with as few confounders as possible.

1.9 We can ride this train for a few more stops, and will do so in another instalment.