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miriam_eMargaret Somerville gave a talk on ethics that was aired tonight. What a load of crap it was. She was saying that redesigning human nature is intrinsically wrong, being human is special, that "unnatural" creations of human-animal or human electronic hybrids are not to be accorded the same privileges, that lengthening your lifespan is wrong, and we should not help to repair disabled people.
Why is it that "learned" people who are well versed in history are the first to forget it. I recall the first railway vehicles and cars were condemned as unnatural -- that humans should not travel at such terrifying speeds as 25mph! Heart transpants were warned against as immoral and unnatural, as were in-vitro conceived children. Predictably, such people also condemn Dolly the cloned sheep as unnatural and abhorrent, forgetting that every twin is a clone, every navel orange, several species of whiptail lizard, most of the aphids in the world, and almost all bacteria and protozoans are clones.
What such people are really saying is "I'm not familiar with it so it scares me." It is not surprising that they always end up saying "I am more moral than you. I can tell you what you are allowed to do to your private self." This is why slavery flourished for centuries, and why gays are condemned, why Jews have been hated, and anybody who looks different is considered less than familiar people.
Goddamn morons.
We need ethics, but we don't need short-sighted fools spouting this kind of xenophobic crap.
Why is it that "learned" people who are well versed in history are the first to forget it. I recall the first railway vehicles and cars were condemned as unnatural -- that humans should not travel at such terrifying speeds as 25mph! Heart transpants were warned against as immoral and unnatural, as were in-vitro conceived children. Predictably, such people also condemn Dolly the cloned sheep as unnatural and abhorrent, forgetting that every twin is a clone, every navel orange, several species of whiptail lizard, most of the aphids in the world, and almost all bacteria and protozoans are clones.
What such people are really saying is "I'm not familiar with it so it scares me." It is not surprising that they always end up saying "I am more moral than you. I can tell you what you are allowed to do to your private self." This is why slavery flourished for centuries, and why gays are condemned, why Jews have been hated, and anybody who looks different is considered less than familiar people.
Goddamn morons.
We need ethics, but we don't need short-sighted fools spouting this kind of xenophobic crap.
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Ethics
Date: 2007-04-22 11:49 pm (UTC)Margaret Somerville may be well-versed in history, but has obviously not read anywhere near enough science-fiction or speculative science!
If she had - she'd be comfortable with "freaky" concepts like human cloning, cyborgs, human genetic engineering, and indefinite human lifespans.
She is showing symptoms of future shock. (A tragic condition since most of us will be spending the rest of our lives in the future!)
Cheers, MFG.
Re: Ethics
Date: 2007-05-07 11:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 09:41 am (UTC)I struggle sooo much with people who are so short sighted!! What are they afraid of exactly> Change.
It's not a matter of ethics so much as a matter of bigoted stupidity.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-07 12:16 pm (UTC)The funny thing is, I have to wonder whether Margaret Somerville and her ilk wear glasses or augment their hearing with hearing aids, or wear clothes to keep warm in winter, or shoes to protect their feet. Clearly she has no problem electronically augmenting her voice to transmit it superhumanly worldwide through radio. I bet she likewise has no problem with moving at superhuman speeds across the land in a car or flying through the air faster than a speeding bullet in a jet aircraft. Did she cybernetically enhance her memory by using a computer to write her speech condemning cybernetic enhancement? Probably.
Such bigotted people don't ever seem to notice their spectacular hypocrisy.