Summations Only

Rahvin writes: Your belief is inconsistent, else you would be screaming about the moral imperative to find ways to save the 60% of pregnancies that fail prior to even being detected.Ef every zygote is a human being with this "soul" thing you imagine might exist, then every human zygote carries equal moral weight to a fully grown human being.If every zygote carries equal moral weight to a fully grown human being, then the same moral imperative to save the life of an adult (curing diseases, performing heart surgery, performing CPR, etc) applies to those zygotes who fail to implant on the uterine wall or otherwise fail to develop further.If the same moral imperative to save life exists, then you should be advocating for new laws and medical technologies to help those poor human zygotes implant and develop properly, to the same degree that you advocate cancer research; more so, because the number of "children" who die because zygotes fail to implant in a given year would dwarf most other causes of death.

Rahvin writes: If the same moral imperative exists, then just as a drunk driver is held morally accountable for anyone he kills while driving, so too would a mother be morally accountable for miscarrying due to alcohol or tobacco use.

Rahvin writes: If the same moral imperative exists, then every woman who aborts a child and every doctor who performs an abortion is a murderer, and the rest of us are all accessories. You should think that everyone who supports a woman's right to choose is a supporter of baby murder.

Rahvin writes: And I certainly don't buy into the "soul" bullshit. There is no such thing as a soul. Nobody has one

Perdition writes: A stem cell in your bone marrow will make only stem cells for your marrow.Um, not really. For one thing, the genetic information in my stem cells are exactly the same as the genetic information in every other cell in my body.Secondly, the stem cells in your bone marrow make blood cells and lymphocytes. They have also been used, occassionally, to grow other organs, like the liver and muscles

JonF writes: And you have not responded to the criticisms of that paper.

JonF writes: Fact is, several people have pointed out exactly how her conclusions are not supported by her facts. I"m not going to bother to dig up the messages, because you obviously aren't interested in or capable of discussing trhe paper.

Rahvin writes: If personality resides in a nonphysical "soul," then brain damage and chemistry cannot possibly affect personality. Yet we know from consistent, repeated observation that brain damage and alterations in brain chemistry via psychiatric medication do affect personality. Antidepressants lessen or remove depression. Anti-anxiety medications reduce or remove anxiety. Mood stabilizers stop bipolar sifts between manic and depressive episodes. Anti-psychotics stop paranoid delusions and hallucinations. A blow to the head can alter a person's likes and dislikes and general personality. Electroshock therapy can cure severe depression. Alcohol, marijuana, LSD, and other substances can cause temporary extreme changes in personality.