@angusm@cstross@JamesGleick But traditionally the court of public opinion responded along the lines of "I've got a pike. But it's missing your head".
The French obviously took that a step further, mechanising the process in the name of efficiency and human rights ("you have the right to be killed quickly and with minimum pain") and that was quite a radical innovation.
OTOH all of this wittering is irrelevant to the far right, whose philosophy makes Ayn Rand seem intellectually rigorous.
cstross