Many years ago, Alan Stevens asked actor Michael Wisher why, in Genesis of the Daleks, he had based Davros' voice on Bertrand Russell?
Michael Wisher revealed that he had always found the intellectual to be a deeply troubling figure. Behind the façade of a renowned philosopher and champion of peace, Russell had endorsed a "moral" duty to launch a first-strike nuclear attack on the USSR, condemning millions to a horrific death. This staggering hypocrisy was compounded when Russell abruptly shifted his stance to advocate for nuclear disarmament once the Soviets acquired the bomb.
Wisher drew a parallel between Russell's ideology and that of Davros. In Genesis of the Daleks, Davros advocates for the first-strike principle, providing the Thals with the means to nuclear bomb the Kaleds, thereby ending a thousand-year conflict. Davros' ultimate goal is to create the Daleks, a cyborg species designed to exterminate aggressors and maintain peace through fear.
The disturbing similarity between Russell's and Davros' ideologies exposes the dark underbelly of utilitarianism, where the ends justify the means and morality is sacrificed at the altar of cold logic. Wisher's insight strips away the philosopher’s veneer of pacifism, revealing a legacy defined by the same contradictions that birthed the Daleks.
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