Source Code

What does this 2011 Science Fiction film, premised on the technological possibility of reliving the last few minutes of a person’s life by soul-jumping into their bodies in parallel universes, tell us about ethical issues that would arise in using such technology? Does the program director, Dr. Rutledge, believe that Source Code is merely a simulation, or does he think Colter Stevens is actually sent into alternate universes, occupying each universe’s Sean Fentress? How does Capt. Goodwin’s choice to honor Stevens’ request to take him off life support jeopardize the Source Code program? If Stevens is the only person capable of being used in Source Code, should she have acquiesced in Rutledge’s order to conduct the ‘mind wipe’ of Stevens? At first, Stevens is not aware that he was terminally injured, and is being held on life-support and a part of the Source Code program. Is the wrong inflicted upon him in this lack of fully informed consent offset by the millions of lives he saves? Would there be a way to more ethically conduct this program using mortally wounded soldiers like Stevens? Is it ethically similar to real world programs such the MK Ultra and Edgewood Arsenal studies? What happens to Sean Fentress at the end of the film? Is he killed, as Stevens’ soul takes up residence in his body? Should Stevens (now in Fentress’s body) tell Christina, Fentress’s girlfriend? Should he tell the Fentress family? He calls ‘his’ father, posing as an army friend, relaying Stevens’ dying words. Should he reconsider, and seek out ‘his’ father in that universe? Would that be morally and emotionally traumatic for the father, given there will now be two Colters in that universe?