Abortion?

[Pint0 Xtreme]

Mike, considering that many people, including me, gauge human worth by their intelligence, what are your thoughts for the mentally retarded?

[18-Till-I-Die]

I would say yes...but i doubt that's any kind of scientific answer as it's based largely on my subjective opinion.

[18-Till-I-Die]

I would say yes...but i doubt that's any kind of scientific answer as it's based largely on my subjective opinion.

Err, add i was repsonding to DrkHelmet.

[Rye]

Mike, considering that many people, including me, gauge human worth by their intelligence, what are your thoughts for the mentally retarded?

Another thing vaguely related to this, on the PETA episode of Bullshit!, Penn said that he and Teller would beat every single chimp in the world to death with their fists if it would save the life of one human junie. Now personally, I wouldn't, I just can't put one [fairly crappy] member of our species against an entire species of similar primates. Hell, I don't think I could do it for many things bigger than maybe a mouse.

I'm not too sure why though.

[Boyish-Tigerlilly]

I think Mr. Wong's opinion on the mentally retarded was, if I am not mistaken, that they have the basic intelligence necessities. They have already gone through the threshhold which allows for basic cognizance.

[Broomstick]

When does a human gain the right to live?

When capable of living outside his/her/its mother.

Which means that threshold is being pushed back due to technology. An infant born after five months gestation can be saved by modern medicine, but would certainly die without it.

What is your qualifier for human worth?

Intelligence and emotional capacity. But, as others have pointed out, we really should err on the side of caution with this one - there is still much we don't know about the brain or how it functions. You can lose substantial portions of the brain and still retain thought, feeling, and cognition. As an example, children with Rasmussen's encephalitis are sometimes treated with hemispherectomy, that is, removal of up to half their brains. Even with such drastic tissue loss, these days most such children retain speech, mobility (although they walk with a limp), and ability to go to school and live independently. In other cases, the brain seems perfectly formed but just doesn't work and we don't know why.

What's the difference between killing your 2 year old son for personal greed, and killing your unborn son for personal greed?

Not a hell of a lot.

However, the unborn is not your "son" until it qualifies as human - see definition above. Prior to that point, I wouldn't be thrilled with pregnancy termination, would probably strongly disapprove, but I don't feel I'd have a moral basis for intervening in the decision of another automomous human being in that circumstance.

What are your feelings on late-term abortion?

If it's to save the life of the mother, or prevent severe, long-term damage to the mother, I find is regretable but acceptable. I do not find it OK for reasons outside that. Also, in cases of multiple babies, if sacrificing one (or more) significantly increases the survival odds of others in the womb that might, also, be acceptable.

I wish to emphasize, however, that what qualifies as "late term" depends greatly the viablity issue. Pre-outside viability abortion for personal convenience is a choice open to adults, past that point I feel you're committed to finishing the job, if possible. As so often happens with biological systems this does not involve hard, fast line and that's part of what makes this such a thorny question.

[Darth Wong]

Little off topic but someone brought up animals here and so...i heard somewhere a Chimp has the intelligence of a 5-year-old. That struck me as like, wow thats pretty smart considering.

And also a pretty good reason to treat chimps more humanely than, say, chickens.

[Darth Wong]

Mike, considering that many people, including me, gauge human worth by their intelligence, what are your thoughts for the mentally retarded?

Ever worked with mentally retarded people? They can still speak, operate simple devices, etc. They are certainly far more intelligent than livestock animals.