ESCR Arguments in the UK: "Beware False Promises"
by Wesley J. SmithThe UK is debating a new embryo bill that would, among other things, explicitly permit the creation of human/animal cloned hybrid embryos for use in research. And even though there is no attempt in the UK to outlaw human ESCR or human cloning using human eggs, Prime Minister Gordon Brown appears on . . . . Continue Reading »
Re: “The Rare Achievement of Disagreement”
by Robert T. MillerLast week Ryan Anderson wrote about a symposium at Princeton devoted to the question of whether ending early human life is wrong. He rightly called attention to the position of Princeton’s Elizabeth Harman, who argued that, “Things have moral status throughout their existence, just in . . . . Continue Reading »
CPR Usually Not Futile—Even in Terminal Illnesses
by Wesley J. SmithThis is interesting, considering the drive to refuse wanted CPR as “futile” when people are terminally ill. From a study published in the Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing—Vol. 10, No. 3, May/June 2008 (no link available):There is little evidence CPR is not effective . . . . Continue Reading »
Re: Agenbites and Anti-Agenbites
by Robert T. MillerRe your blogs on agenbites and anti-agenbites, Jody, I appreciate all the fun that can be had with such words, and I have much enjoyed many of the examples, but there’s another aspect to such words that—to me, at least—is even more fascinating. If we get strict with agenbites and . . . . Continue Reading »
Patti Berg: Calling It as it Isn’t
by Wesley J. SmithFor years, California Assemblywoman Patti Berg (D- Mill Valley) has resorted to every conceivable maneuver she could think of to pass an assisted suicide bill through the California Legislature. She failed. So now, she is trying a different approach: Under the guise of requiring doctors to disclose . . . . Continue Reading »
More Commentary on Swiss Nonsense
by Wesley J. SmithI did a lot of media on my “Silent Scream of the Asparagus” piece in the Weekly Standard. But I am certainly not alone in noticing the extremes to which the Swiss are now going, not only with plant “dignity,” but also with certain “rights” for social . . . . Continue Reading »
Utilitarian Bioethics: Anything Goes on One End, Instrumentalization of the Weak on the Other
by Wesley J. SmithJohn Harris is an influential UK bioethicist whose hard core utilitarianism makes his ideas dangerous and potentially as tyrannical as those of Peter Singer—perhaps more. I first became aware of Harris when researching Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America, when I read an . . . . Continue Reading »
Anti Transhumanist Wisdom on Battlestar Gallactica
by Wesley J. SmithIn Marshall McLuhan’s vast television wasteland that is getting vaster and more wasted with each passing year, there are a few shining examples of true excellence. Perhaps the best show on television today—and one of the best ever—is Battlestar Gallactica, a program that like the . . . . Continue Reading »
More Agenbites
by Joseph BottumI’ve gotten some early responses to my attempt to describe words that sound true of themselves , and I thought I’d pass them along. A linguistics professor at Swarthmore points out that Russian linguists have a term for these words, obrazopodrazhatel’no , which means, literally, . . . . Continue Reading »
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