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Author Topic:   Legal Death, Legal Life
Parasomnium
Member
Posts: 2224
Joined: 07-15-2003


Message 20 of 40 (454025)
02-05-2008 8:42 AM
Reply to: Message 11 by bluescat48
01-26-2008 8:22 PM


Problem with definition
bluescat48 writes:
RAZD
This would in effect make the point of "uniform life" to be the earliest possible point at which assisted premature birth would be medically feasible without causing significant effect on the end result.
Brilliant, best definition of life I've ever heard.
I see a problem with it, though. It's this: as medical science progresses, the point at which assisted premature birth is medically feasible will move back further and further until a point is reached where it is medically feasible to fertilize an egg outside the womb and keep it there, in an artificial incubator. It may become possible to let a fertilized egg grow into a baby without the need for it ever to be born. In that case, the fertilized egg would constitute a viable human being to which the definition applies.
Even if the scenario described above proves to be ultimately impossible after all, the fact remains that medical science is still progressing at the moment and that we have not reached its limits yet.

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.
Did you know that most of the time your computer is doing nothing? What if you could make it do something really useful? Like helping scientists understand diseases? Your computer could even be instrumental in finding a cure for HIV/AIDS. Wouldn't that be something? If you agree, then join World Community Grid now and download a simple, free tool that lets you and your computer do your share in helping humanity. After all, you are part of it, so why not take part in it?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 11 by bluescat48, posted 01-26-2008 8:22 PM bluescat48 has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 21 by bluescat48, posted 02-05-2008 2:10 PM Parasomnium has replied
 Message 27 by RAZD, posted 02-06-2008 4:47 PM Parasomnium has not replied

  
Parasomnium
Member
Posts: 2224
Joined: 07-15-2003


Message 22 of 40 (454125)
02-05-2008 5:08 PM
Reply to: Message 21 by bluescat48
02-05-2008 2:10 PM


Re: Problem with definition
Bluescat,
What I meant to say with my last paragraph was that the boundary is shifting as we speak. Tomorrow, a medical lab may announce a new breakthrough that makes it possible for a child to be born even more prematurely than is possible today.
In other words: the definition implies a sell-by date for the determined boundary. That's what makes it less valid as a definition in my view.

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.
Did you know that most of the time your computer is doing nothing? What if you could make it do something really useful? Like helping scientists understand diseases? Your computer could even be instrumental in finding a cure for HIV/AIDS. Wouldn't that be something? If you agree, then join World Community Grid now and download a simple, free tool that lets you and your computer do your share in helping humanity. After all, you are part of it, so why not take part in it?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 21 by bluescat48, posted 02-05-2008 2:10 PM bluescat48 has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 26 by RAZD, posted 02-06-2008 4:37 PM Parasomnium has not replied

  
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