8ball
Decolonise colons!
What do you mean incidental in terms of morality? It’s a moral question surely.
I don't attach any particular value to biological uniqueness or species.
Ymmv etc.
What do you mean incidental in terms of morality? It’s a moral question surely.
You don’t think human life is sacred?!I don't attach any particular value to biological uniqueness or species.
Ymmv etc.
You don’t think human life is sacred?!
So you’d kill a human with as much impunity as a plant or other animal? Or are you taking sacred in it’s religious sense (which isn’t actually what I meant, but can see that might have been misleading).Fuck no.
You don’t think human life is sacred?!
Fuck no.
I’m struggling to understand youNo, I don't really frame things that way.
Generally speaking, no.So you’d kill a human with as much impunity as a plant or other animal?
Jfc. For want of a better exclamation.Generally speaking, no.
Though there are a few humans I'd kill in preference to many animals.
Jfc. For want of a better exclamation.
But that isn’t the same as saying you “don't attach any particular value to biological uniqueness or species.”I think a bullet in the back of Putin's head would lead to a multiverse local probability configuration with more positive than negative outcomes.
Well I’d agree with you.Sorry, just to finish on the 'where does pregnancy start' thing, following from what frogwoman said, I think taking the point at which the blastocyst embeds itself in the womb as a starting point, and not before, is entirely reasonable. Is it possible for the woman to have a miscarriage? If no, then no pregnancy has yet occurred.
imho that brings the definitions and understanding back to being centred on the woman and her body and what it has or has not accepted into it, rather than focussing on the moment the man's sperm does its thing.
At any point up until birth? Or do you accept that to some extent arbitrary limitations must be place?Women who decide to terminate a pregnancy should be able to do so legally and safely.
Sorry, just to finish on the 'where does pregnancy start' thing, I think taking the point at which the blastocyst embeds itself in the womb as a starting point, and not before, is entirely reasonable. Is it possible for the woman to have a miscarriage? If no, then no pregnancy has yet occurred.
imho that brings the definitions and understanding back to being centred on the woman and her body rather than the moment the man's sperm does its thing.
I don't see the conception element as male-centred. I'm saying that others, who are male-centred in their thinking, fixate on it for male-centred reasons - the religious nuts who primarily care about this.In terms of when does pregnancy start, then I agree.
I don't see that as the same as the point where an organism's life begins.
Also re: conception, it is not just the sperm doing it's thing - the egg is really doing to bulk of the work there. All the protein building machinery, the mitochondrial DNA, everything except that extra nucleus - it's all the egg's business. I think this is why I'm not seeing the conception element as male-centred in the way you do.
But that isn’t the same as saying you “don't attach any particular value to biological uniqueness or species.”
That implies you don’t generally value human life above other species. Which is frankly at best a niche quirky view, and at worst a terrifying statement which could justify murder, eugenics, starvation, etc. This cannot be what you mean?
I don't see the conception element as male-centred. I'm saying that others, who are male-centred in their thinking, fixate on it for male-centred reasons - the religious nuts who primarily care about this.
But again, it's problematic to say 'organism' here. At this particular point, how is it more an organism than a cancer cell?
Re: the first. Maybe. I guess. I'm not sold on the idea, though.
Re: the second. Assuming you are talking about from initial cell formation to the 16 cell stage - the difference is basically down to the cell control systems still being functional.
Another important difference, some would say, is that it leads to a baby.
cancel cells can still be functional one line from HelA is about 100 year old
Henrietta Lacks: science must right a historical wrong
But that isn’t the same as saying you “don't attach any particular value to biological uniqueness or species.”
That implies you don’t generally value human life above other species. Which is frankly at best a niche quirky view, and at worst a terrifying statement which could justify murder, eugenics, starvation, etc. This cannot be what you mean?
But that's the key point. You're talking about potential - something that hasn't happened yet. And it doesn't lead to a baby unless it implants and the mother's womb accepts it. It is necessary to involve the woman's body here when discussing potential - without it, there is fuck all potential for anything.Re: the first. Maybe. I guess. I'm not sold on the idea, though.
Re: the second. Assuming you are talking about from initial cell formation to the 16 cell stage - the difference is basically down to the cell control systems still being functional.
Another important difference, some would say, is that it leads to a baby.
But that's the key point. You're talking about potential - something that hasn't happened yet. And it doesn't lead to a baby unless it implants and the mother's womb accepts it. It is necessary to involve the woman's body here when discussing potential - without it, there is fuck all potential for anything.
Yes. It isn't.Your thinking has led to a frankly stupid place where IUDs preventing the implantation of a blastocyst are not contraception.
Although it may look like liberal/US-left frothing, the current text of the Roe V Wade overturn is very originalist with regard to non-recognition of abortion rights as applicable the time period of the drafting of the US constitution*. Several other rights that were hard fought for and won over the years were also not enshrined in the original text of the constitution (abolition of slavery, women's right to vote, gay marriage to name but a few) and the concern is that they will come for these next.This is the same old shit that gets trotted out when any political group loses a battle - they're always coming for the kids next.
Usually there is some nutty fringe group that can be pointed to that supports whatever paranoid fantasy is being pushed.
Considering how Republicans are actively trying to bake-in minority rule in the US (and are in some cases succeeding!), I wouldn't be too dismissive of hardcore minority views overturning the will of the majority...Well, sizeable minority. About 23%. There are about twice as many Protestants.
Outlawing contraception isn't going to be easy with those numbers.
There are some other very small anti-contraception Christian (and Christian-ish) groups but they don't add up to much.
Although it may look like liberal/US-left frothing, the current text of the Roe V Wade overturn is very originalist with regard to non-recognition of abortion rights as applicable the time period of the drafting of the US constitution*. Several other rights that were hard fought for and won over the years were also not enshrined in the original text of the constitution (abolition of slavery, women's right to vote, gay marriage to name but a few) and the concern is that they will come for these next.
... If they lied about that, what else will they have lied about to get on the bench? Whether their protestations about not going after any other rights are genuine, belief in the court's impartiality will collapse -and this won't be some nutty fringe that believes the court lacks credibility, it will be a sizeable chunk of the population.
Additionally, faith in the veracity of candidate responses to questioning under oath for future appointments will be continually thrown into doubt by either side of the divide.
This has the capacity to spectacularly backfire and sow further chaos and division. It will also be the thin end of the wedge with regard to precedent for future ideologically committed judges to overthrow and overturn past precedent and enshrined rights under law. This is not going to end well.
Considering how Republicans are actively trying to bake-in minority rule in the US (and are in some cases succeeding!), I wouldn't be too dismissive of hardcore minority views overturning the will of the majority...
*FFS, part of Alito's legal argument rests on the writings of a 17th century English jurist with some eyebrow-raising views on women and their place in society.