Wesley J. Smith is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism, and consults for the Patients Rights Council.
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Wesley J. Smith
Transhumanists and immortalists hope to find a magic bullet—pardon the metaphor—that will let them live for hundreds of years. One potential hope, not eating much, seems to have been dashed in monkey research. From the LA Times story:For 75 years, scientists have documented a curious . . . . Continue Reading »
They must be so proud—the ghouls who give people moral permission to kill themselves and then teach them how to do it with helium. Now, enough people are doing themselves in with this method that the increase is reflected in UK death statistics. From the Guardian story:Inert gas . . . . Continue Reading »
The European Court of Human Rights has a point about Italy’s policy that outlaws only implanting healthy embryos. From the Yahoo story:The European rights court Tuesday condemned Italy for its ban on screening embryos for genetic conditions, saying its laws leave couples wanting to . . . . Continue Reading »
No surprise to this Baby Boomer: Marijuana lowers IQ in teenage users. From the Telegraph story:Teenagers who regularly smoke cannabis are putting themselves at risk of permanently damaging their intelligence, according to a landmark study. Medical marijuana, as I have written, . . . . Continue Reading »
In the wake of the Akin debacle, there has been some focus on the Republican position(s) on abortion. But Jeff Jacoby, writing in the Boston Globe, notes that the Democrats are way ouf of the mainstream. From, “Both Parties are Too Extreme on Abortion:”Though one-third of . . . . Continue Reading »
Sigh. The NYT lets its op/ed pages often be used to promote radical social agendas and celebrations. This time, the unimportance of men. But really, can’t they at least get the biology right?. From “Men, Who Needs Them?” by biology professor Greg . . . . Continue Reading »
Enough of the nonsense about “mutilation.” The American Academy of Pediatrics will issue a positive endorsement of infant circumcision on Monday as having sufficient health benefits to justify the procedure. From the AAP statement:Evaluation of current evidence indicates that the . . . . Continue Reading »
I have been in this work since 1993, and during that time I often asked myself the “why now” question, e.g., why now euthanasia? I decided to tackle that question in my biweekly On the Square column. From, “Our Neurotic Fear of Suffering:” Never in human history . . . . Continue Reading »
It is too little known that young women who allow themselves to be egg harvested risk very serious complications (as exposed in the CBC’s Eggsploitation). For women to give actual informed consent, this information should be disclosed. But apparently, many IVF recruiters . . . . Continue Reading »
Never in human history has suffering been more readily relieved than today. And yet, paradoxically, we have never been more afraid of suffering. Our forebears would find this very odd. For them, horrendous suffering was ubiquitous, the bane of rich and poor alike. For example, before anesthesia, the agony of surgery may have killed more patients than surgical procedures helped… . Continue Reading »
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