sanctity of life questionnaire

[kc8tbe]

I've been arguing with a "moderate" Christian over PGD, which I think is a perfectly good way to treat congenital diseases and he likens to abortion (which it kind of is). I don't think embryos have any sort of intrinsic moral agency, so I don't have a problem destroying them -- especially if it's to prevent a debilitating disease. He believes that embryos are somehow "sacred" and that PGD interferes with God's plan -- even if that plan is to give a child cancer.

I believe human intelligence and emotion (the soul, if you will) is an emergent property of our physical brains. No brain, no soul. My Christian friend disagrees. He believes the soul is an "immaterial" property of humans, a property that apparently applies to brainless embryos as well as adults.

I want to better understand my friend's belief. Does this "sanctity of life" apply to gametes as well as embryos? What about the thousands of skin cells I shed every day, each of which has the same genetic complement as the fertilized egg I developed from? What about the third of embryos whom his God aborts? What about other sapient lifeforms, like dolphins and chimpanzees? Why doesn't treating a disease postnatally interfere with God's plan?

I made the following questionnaire to try to probe at my friend's belief. I chose a multiple choice format to make it harder for him to weasel out of questions with answers like, "I don't know, but we should err on the side of life." I'm looking for feedback and ways to improve the questionnaire. Plus, I'm curious as to how the patrons of SDN will answer

The following questions are designed to measure your beliefs regarding the sanctity of human life. Please choose the one letter that best represents your opinion for each question. If you wish, you may write a 1-2 sentence explanation for each of your answers. There are no "correct" answers.

For Question 1, you may choose zero, one, or more letters.

1. Mammals, such as humans, develop from a single cell called a zygote. A zygote has the same genetic complement as every cell in the organism it could eventually develop into. Zygotes, in turn, arise from the union of two gametes -- a sperm and an egg. A gamete has one half the genetic complement of a zygote. Which of the following statements regarding the intrinsic moral agency of single cells do you agree with? Indicate all that apply.
A. A human zygote has more of a right to exist than a feline zygote.
B. A human zygote has more of a right to exist than a human sperm.
C. A human sperm has more of a right to exist than a feline zygote.
D. A human sperm has more of a right to exist than a human keratinocyte.
E. A human keratinocyte has more of a right to exist then a feline zygote.

2. IVF (in-vitro fertilization) works by culturing several blastocysts, five day old embryos made of 70-100 cells each, of which the healthiest are then placed in the prospective mother's uterus to implant and develop normally. The unused blastocysts are frozen in case the mother wants to use them later. These frozen blastocysts will eventually be destroyed if nobody wants to use them. You are a lab assistant at an IVF clinic, which is presently on fire. In the room with you is a single blastocyst scheduled for destruction and your boss's cat. You can only save one of these from the fire. Which would you save?
A. The Blastocyst
B. The Cat

3. You are a lab assistant in the same doomed IVF clinic as in Question 2. This time you must choose between your boss's six year old daughter and a tank of frozen blastocysts. You would save the girl instead of the tank so long as the tank contains fewer than:
A. 1 blastocyst
B. 10 blastocysts
C. 100 blastocysts
D. 1000 blastocysts
E. It doesn't matter how many blastocysts there are, you would always choose to save the girl.

4. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic with an excellent fire suppression system. As per standard procedure, you create two blastocysts for a prospective couple, but you can only implant one of them (the other will most likely be destroyed). Genetic testing reveals that one of the blastocysts will (with better than 99% certainty) develop Tay-Sach's disease, a debilitating illness that leads to death no later than the age of five. There is no known treatment for Tay-Sach's disease. Which blastocyst would you choose to implant?
A. The blastocyst with Tay-Sach's disease.
B. The healthy blastocyst.
C. Neither blastocyst.
D. You would choose one of the blastocysts at random.

5. You are a doctor at the same IVF clinic as in Question 4. This time you create only one blastocyst, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. From this information, you can infer that every blastocyst you create for the couple in question will have a 25% chance of having Tay-Sach's disease (and thus a 75% chance of being healthy). Regardless of how many blastocysts you create, you may only implant one of them. You would:
A. Implant the first blastocyst.
B. Create a second blastocyst and implant it without testing it for Tay-Sach's disease.
C. Create a second blastocyst and, if it also tests positive for Tay-Sach's disease, implant one of the blastocysts at random.
D. Create a second blastocyst and, if it also tests positive for Tay-Sach's disease, send the couple away without implanting either blastocyst.
E. Keep creating blastocysts until you obtain one without Tay-Sach's disease, then implant the healthy blastocyst.

Questions 6 and 7 refer to technological advancements that have not yet occurred but that are well within the realm of possibility.

6. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic 30 years in the future. You create a single blastocyst for a couple, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. You know that each parent carries two copies of the gene associated with Tay-Sach's disease -- each parent has one healthy copy and one diseased copy. The blastocyst has two diseased copies. Using your futuristic technology, you can replace the blastocyst's two diseased Tay-Sach's genes with two healthy genes -- one from each parent -- while leaving the rest of the blastocyst's genome undisturbed. This would prevent the blastocyst from developing Tay-Sach's disease. Assuming all treatment modalities have the same cost, you would:
A. Use the futuristic technology to cure the blastocyst of Tay-Sach's disease.
B. Choose the same course of action as in Question 5.
C. Let the prospective parents choose between A and B.

7. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic 30 years in the future. You create a single blastocyst for a couple, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. You do not possess the technology to repair the defective gene as in Question 6, however you do possess the technology to insert a synthetic, heritable gene into the blastocyst. The synthetic gene will negate the diseased gene, allowing the blastocyst to develop into a normal child without Tay-Sach's disease. Aside from the presence of the synthetic gene, the genome of the blastocyst will be undisturbed by this procedure. Assuming all treatment modalities have the same cost, you would:
A. Use the futuristic technology to cure the blastocyst of Tay-Sach's disease.
B. Choose the same course of action as in Question 5.
C. Let the prospective parents choose between A and B.

For Question 8, assign each letter a rank.

8. You are a doctor treating a child with Type I diabetes. Your patient cannot produce a hormone called insulin, so you must regularly inject him with exogenous insulin or he will die. The following treatment modalities are available; they have been ranked in order of expense with (A) being the most expensive and (C) and (D) being tied for second least expensive. Assuming all insulin-based treatment modalities are equally effective, rank these treatment modalities in order from most ideal to least ideal.
A. Human insulin isolated from the donated blood of living humans
B. Porcine insulin isolated from the pancreata of dead pigs
C. Human insulin produced synthetically in a laboratory
D. A synthetic insulin not found in nature that requires fewer injections
E. Saline solution (a placebo)

9. A research scientist is developing a treatment for epilepsy. Epilepsy is a neurological disease with symptoms that can range from mild to to so severe that half of the brain must be surgically removed. She plans to transform a keratinocyte (skin cell) obtained from an epileptic patient into a neuron (brain cell). The neuron will then be cultured (grown) on a computer chip. She plans to use the computer chip to stimulate the neuron electrically and record it's response, all while subjecting it to various anti-epileptic drugs. At the conclusion of the experiment, the neuron will be destroyed. You are a member of the IRB (institutional review board, an ethics committee that oversees medical experiments) that will either allow or prohibit the researcher from carrying out her experiment. You would vote to:
A. Allow the experiment.
B. Allow the experiment, but only if the cultured neuron is given an anesthetic.
C. Allow the experiment, but only if the cultured neuron is allowed to continue living on the computer chip once the experiment is over.
D. B and C
E. Allow the experiment, but only if rat neurons are used instead of human neurons.
F. Prohibit the experiment.

10. Which of the following best describes your spiritual beliefs?
A. You are a Christian, and you believe the bible is literally true.
B. You are a Christian, but you believe some parts of the bible are metaphors.
C. You are a theist who belongs to an organized religion besides Christianity.
D. You are a theist, but you don't really subscribe to any particular religion.
E. You are an atheist, but you feel as if there's something spiritual out there.
F. You are an atheist and a secular-humanist/freethinker.

[Junghalli]

The following questions are designed to measure your beliefs regarding the sanctity of human life. Please choose the one letter that best represents your opinion for each question. If you wish, you may write a 1-2 sentence explanation for each of your answers. There are no "correct" answers.

For Question 1, you may choose zero, one, or more letters.

1. Mammals, such as humans, develop from a single cell called a zygote. A zygote has the same genetic complement as every cell in the organism it could eventually develop into. Zygotes, in turn, arise from the union of two gametes -- a sperm and an egg. A gamete has one half the genetic complement of a zygote. Which of the following statements regarding the intrinsic moral agency of single cells do you agree with? Indicate all that apply.
A. A human zygote has more of a right to exist than a feline zygote.
B. A human zygote has more of a right to exist than a human sperm.
C. A human sperm has more of a right to exist than a feline zygote.
D. A human sperm has more of a right to exist than a human keratinocyte.
E. A human keratinocyte has more of a right to exist then a feline zygote.

None of the above. I don't see how "right to exist" applies to single cells at all.

2. IVF (in-vitro fertilization) works by culturing several blastocysts, five day old embryos made of 70-100 cells each, of which the healthiest are then placed in the prospective mother's uterus to implant and develop normally. The unused blastocysts are frozen in case the mother wants to use them later. These frozen blastocysts will eventually be destroyed if nobody wants to use them. You are a lab assistant at an IVF clinic, which is presently on fire. In the room with you is a single blastocyst scheduled for destruction and your boss's cat. You can only save one of these from the fire. Which would you save?
A. The Blastocyst
B. The Cat

The cat. It's probably sentient, the blastocyst probably isn't.

3. You are a lab assistant in the same doomed IVF clinic as in Question 2. This time you must choose between your boss's six year old daughter and a tank of frozen blastocysts. You would save the girl instead of the tank so long as the tank contains fewer than:
A. 1 blastocyst
B. 10 blastocysts
C. 100 blastocysts
D. 1000 blastocysts
E. It doesn't matter how many blastocysts there are, you would always choose to save the girl.

E; I would always choose to save the girl.

4. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic with an excellent fire suppression system. As per standard procedure, you create two blastocysts for a prospective couple, but you can only implant one of them (the other will most likely be destroyed). Genetic testing reveals that one of the blastocysts will (with better than 99% certainty) develop Tay-Sach's disease, a debilitating illness that leads to death no later than the age of five. There is no known treatment for Tay-Sach's disease. Which blastocyst would you choose to implant?
A. The blastocyst with Tay-Sach's disease.
B. The healthy blastocyst.
C. Neither blastocyst.
D. You would choose one of the blastocysts at random.

B; the healthy blastocyst.

5. You are a doctor at the same IVF clinic as in Question 4. This time you create only one blastocyst, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. From this information, you can infer that every blastocyst you create for the couple in question will have a 25% chance of having Tay-Sach's disease (and thus a 75% chance of being healthy). Regardless of how many blastocysts you create, you may only implant one of them. You would:
A. Implant the first blastocyst.
B. Create a second blastocyst and implant it without testing it for Tay-Sach's disease.
C. Create a second blastocyst and, if it also tests positive for Tay-Sach's disease, implant one of the blastocysts at random.
D. Create a second blastocyst and, if it also tests positive for Tay-Sach's disease, send the couple away without implanting either blastocyst.
E. Keep creating blastocysts until you obtain one without Tay-Sach's disease, then implant the healthy blastocyst.

E; keep creating blastocysts until I get a healthy one.

6. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic 30 years in the future. You create a single blastocyst for a couple, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. You know that each parent carries two copies of the gene associated with Tay-Sach's disease -- each parent has one healthy copy and one diseased copy. The blastocyst has two diseased copies. Using your futuristic technology, you can replace the blastocyst's two diseased Tay-Sach's genes with two healthy genes -- one from each parent -- while leaving the rest of the blastocyst's genome undisturbed. This would prevent the blastocyst from developing Tay-Sach's disease. Assuming all treatment modalities have the same cost, you would:
A. Use the futuristic technology to cure the blastocyst of Tay-Sach's disease.
B. Choose the same course of action as in Question 5.
C. Let the prospective parents choose between A and B.

It would depend on the costs of the futuristic technology vs. the costs of destroying the blastocyst and creating a new one. Assuming they cost the same amount, probably A, unless the parents object, in which case B.

7. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic 30 years in the future. You create a single blastocyst for a couple, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. You do not possess the technology to repair the defective gene as in Question 6, however you do possess the technology to insert a synthetic, heritable gene into the blastocyst. The synthetic gene will negate the diseased gene, allowing the blastocyst to develop into a normal child without Tay-Sach's disease. Aside from the presence of the synthetic gene, the genome of the blastocyst will be undisturbed by this procedure. Assuming all treatment modalities have the same cost, you would:
A. Use the futuristic technology to cure the blastocyst of Tay-Sach's disease.
B. Choose the same course of action as in Question 5.
C. Let the prospective parents choose between A and B.

Same answer as in the previous question (use the futuristic technology).

For Question 8, assign each letter a rank.

8. You are a doctor treating a child with Type I diabetes. Your patient cannot produce a hormone called insulin, so you must regularly inject him with exogenous insulin or he will die. The following treatment modalities are available; they have been ranked in order of expense with (A) being the most expensive and (C) and (D) being tied for second least expensive. Assuming all insulin-based treatment modalities are equally effective, rank these treatment modalities in order from most ideal to least ideal.
A. Human insulin isolated from the donated blood of living humans
B. Porcine insulin isolated from the pancreata of dead pigs
C. Human insulin produced synthetically in a laboratory
D. A synthetic insulin not found in nature that requires fewer injections
E. Saline solution (a placebo)

My choices in order of the ones I'd go with, with 1 being the most preferred and 5 being the least preferred.

1 - D
2 - C
3 - B
4 - A
5 - E

9. A research scientist is developing a treatment for epilepsy. Epilepsy is a neurological disease with symptoms that can range from mild to to so severe that half of the brain must be surgically removed. She plans to transform a keratinocyte (skin cell) obtained from an epileptic patient into a neuron (brain cell). The neuron will then be cultured (grown) on a computer chip. She plans to use the computer chip to stimulate the neuron electrically and record it's response, all while subjecting it to various anti-epileptic drugs. At the conclusion of the experiment, the neuron will be destroyed. You are a member of the IRB (institutional review board, an ethics committee that oversees medical experiments) that will either allow or prohibit the researcher from carrying out her experiment. You would vote to:
A. Allow the experiment.
B. Allow the experiment, but only if the cultured neuron is given an anesthetic.
C. Allow the experiment, but only if the cultured neuron is allowed to continue living on the computer chip once the experiment is over.
D. B and C
E. Allow the experiment, but only if rat neurons are used instead of human neurons.
F. Prohibit the experiment.

A; allow the experiment.

10. Which of the following best describes your spiritual beliefs?
A. You are a Christian, and you believe the bible is literally true.
B. You are a Christian, but you believe some parts of the bible are metaphors.
C. You are a theist who belongs to an organized religion besides Christianity.
D. You are a theist, but you don't really subscribe to any particular religion.
E. You are an atheist, but you feel as if there's something spiritual out there.
F. You are an atheist and a secular-humanist/freethinker.

F; I am a materialist.

[loomer]

1:
None. They have no intrinsic right to exist and can feck off.

2:
B. Cats are fuzzy. If it scratches me, A. Because, you know. Cats do that, but blastocysts generally don't. If it somehow scratches me, I burn it to save humanity.

3:
E

4:
B

5:
E

6:
A.

7:
If it will prevent the child from serving a carrier of the genes, A. If not, I refuse to perform the fertilization to begin with. At that level of technology, allowing genetic disorders like Tay-Sach's to continue is unethical.

8:
D1, C2, B3, A4, E5 or if the kid scratches me. Like a cat, a scratching child just isn't worth bothering with! (not really.)

9
A. The bloody thing is a single cell, it can't feel pain without a brain, and even if it can, fuck it. The possible results from this experiment far outweigh any remote possibility of a single fucking cell feeling pain.

10:
F. I'm an Atheist on a good day, and only become an agnostic on a bad day to blame something in a joking matter. I'm an anti-religious marxist, so.

[Faabio]

my answers to the questionaire:

1. 0
2. B
3. E
4. B
5. E
6. A
7. A
8. C and D tied for 1st, B 2nd, A 3rd and E is out fo the question as I gather it does nothing to the disease.
9. A
10. F

[kc8tbe]

All right, looks like I need to revise 6 and 7 so materialists don't have to choose between between gene therapy or simply creating more blastocysts. I was trying to see if there were people who be in favor of PGD because it's "natural" but opposed to gene therapy because that's "unnatural".

loomer, the idea in number 7 is that the synthetic gene would be inherited along with the diseased Tay-Sach's gene by the child's offspring, thus continuing to prevent Tay-Sach's in future generations. I should probably make this clearer in the question stem.

Faabio, why did you assign the same rank to the synthetically produced human insulin and the synthetic insulin that requires fewer injections to be effective? I would have thought that, given that they cost the same and are equally effective, the treatment that involves fewer (painful) injections would be better. See long-lasting insulin.

[Samuel]

Because human insulin requires donors to acquire and thus is limited by that, while artificial insulin can have production ramped up to meet demand?

[Stuart]

1. Mammals, such as humans, develop from a single cell called a zygote. A zygote has the same genetic complement as every cell in the organism it could eventually develop into. Zygotes, in turn, arise from the union of two gametes -- a sperm and an egg. A gamete has one half the genetic complement of a zygote. Which of the following statements regarding the intrinsic moral agency of single cells do you agree with? Indicate all that apply.
A. A human zygote has more of a right to exist than a feline zygote.
B. A human zygote has more of a right to exist than a human sperm.
C. A human sperm has more of a right to exist than a feline zygote.
D. A human sperm has more of a right to exist than a human keratinocyte.
E. A human keratinocyte has more of a right to exist then a feline zygote.

A if I must. In general a human has more right to exist than a cat. I accept that a cat would view things differently for the same reasons

2. IVF (in-vitro fertilization) works by culturing several blastocysts, five day old embryos made of 70-100 cells each, of which the healthiest are then placed in the prospective mother's uterus to implant and develop normally. The unused blastocysts are frozen in case the mother wants to use them later. These frozen blastocysts will eventually be destroyed if nobody wants to use them. You are a lab assistant at an IVF clinic, which is presently on fire. In the room with you is a single blastocyst scheduled for destruction and your boss's cat. You can only save one of these from the fire. Which would you save?
A. The Blastocyst
B. The Cat

B The cat. It screams when it burns.

3. You are a lab assistant in the same doomed IVF clinic as in Question 2. This time you must choose between your boss's six year old daughter and a tank of frozen blastocysts. You would save the girl instead of the tank so long as the tank contains fewer than:
A. 1 blastocyst
B. 10 blastocysts
C. 100 blastocysts
D. 1000 blastocysts
E. It doesn't matter how many blastocysts there are, you would always choose to save the girl.

E. Same reason.

4. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic with an excellent fire suppression system. As per standard procedure, you create two blastocysts for a prospective couple, but you can only implant one of them (the other will most likely be destroyed). Genetic testing reveals that one of the blastocysts will (with better than 99% certainty) develop Tay-Sach's disease, a debilitating illness that leads to death no later than the age of five. There is no known treatment for Tay-Sach's disease. Which blastocyst would you choose to implant?
A. The blastocyst with Tay-Sach's disease.
B. The healthy blastocyst.
C. Neither blastocyst.
D. You would choose one of the blastocysts at random.

B. Only a sadist would deliberately create a child with a crippling disease.

5. You are a doctor at the same IVF clinic as in Question 4. This time you create only one blastocyst, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. From this information, you can infer that every blastocyst you create for the couple in question will have a 25% chance of having Tay-Sach's disease (and thus a 75% chance of being healthy). Regardless of how many blastocysts you create, you may only implant one of them. You would:
A. Implant the first blastocyst.
B. Create a second blastocyst and implant it without testing it for Tay-Sach's disease.
C. Create a second blastocyst and, if it also tests positive for Tay-Sach's disease, implant one of the blastocysts at random.
D. Create a second blastocyst and, if it also tests positive for Tay-Sach's disease, send the couple away without implanting either blastocyst.
E. Keep creating blastocysts until you obtain one without Tay-Sach's disease, then implant the healthy blastocyst.

E. Same comment.

6. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic 30 years in the future. You create a single blastocyst for a couple, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. You know that each parent carries two copies of the gene associated with Tay-Sach's disease -- each parent has one healthy copy and one diseased copy. The blastocyst has two diseased copies. Using your futuristic technology, you can replace the blastocyst's two diseased Tay-Sach's genes with two healthy genes -- one from each parent -- while leaving the rest of the blastocyst's genome undisturbed. This would prevent the blastocyst from developing Tay-Sach's disease. Assuming all treatment modalities have the same cost, you would:
A. Use the futuristic technology to cure the blastocyst of Tay-Sach's disease.
B. Choose the same course of action as in Question 5.
C. Let the prospective parents choose between A and B.

A.

You are a doctor at an IVF clinic 30 years in the future. You create a single blastocyst for a couple, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. You do not possess the technology to repair the defective gene as in Question 6, however you do possess the technology to insert a synthetic, heritable gene into the blastocyst. The synthetic gene will negate the diseased gene, allowing the blastocyst to develop into a normal child without Tay-Sach's disease. Aside from the presence of the synthetic gene, the genome of the blastocyst will be undisturbed by this procedure. Assuming all treatment modalities have the same cost, you would:
A. Use the futuristic technology to cure the blastocyst of Tay-Sach's disease.
B. Choose the same course of action as in Question 5.
C. Let the prospective parents choose between A and B.

A

For Question 8, assign each letter a rank.

8. You are a doctor treating a child with Type I diabetes. Your patient cannot produce a hormone called insulin, so you must regularly inject him with exogenous insulin or he will die. The following treatment modalities are available; they have been ranked in order of expense with (A) being the most expensive and (C) and (D) being tied for second least expensive. Assuming all insulin-based treatment modalities are equally effective, rank these treatment modalities in order from most ideal to least ideal.
A. Human insulin isolated from the donated blood of living humans
B. Porcine insulin isolated from the pancreata of dead pigs
C. Human insulin produced synthetically in a laboratory
D. A synthetic insulin not found in nature that requires fewer injections
E. Saline solution (a placebo)

D - 1
C - 2
A - 3
B - 4
E - 5

. A research scientist is developing a treatment for epilepsy. Epilepsy is a neurological disease with symptoms that can range from mild to to so severe that half of the brain must be surgically removed. She plans to transform a keratinocyte (skin cell) obtained from an epileptic patient into a neuron (brain cell). The neuron will then be cultured (grown) on a computer chip. She plans to use the computer chip to stimulate the neuron electrically and record it's response, all while subjecting it to various anti-epileptic drugs. At the conclusion of the experiment, the neuron will be destroyed. You are a member of the IRB (institutional review board, an ethics committee that oversees medical experiments) that will either allow or prohibit the researcher from carrying out her experiment. You would vote to:
A. Allow the experiment.
B. Allow the experiment, but only if the cultured neuron is given an anesthetic.
C. Allow the experiment, but only if the cultured neuron is allowed to continue living on the computer chip once the experiment is over.
D. B and C
E. Allow the experiment, but only if rat neurons are used instead of human neurons.
F. Prohibit the experiment.

A.

10. Which of the following best describes your spiritual beliefs?
A. You are a Christian, and you believe the bible is literally true.
B. You are a Christian, but you believe some parts of the bible are metaphors.
C. You are a theist who belongs to an organized religion besides Christianity.
D. You are a theist, but you don't really subscribe to any particular religion.
E. You are an atheist, but you feel as if there's something spiritual out there.
F. You are an atheist and a secular-humanist/freethinker.

None of the above.

[Samuel]

None of the above.

A member of The Church of None of your Fucking Business I see.

Honestly, is there any real difference that there can be between people's answers? Most of the problems are not difficult unless you assume cell=full grown adult.

[Stuart]

A member of The Church of None of your Fucking Business I see.

Not really, just that the options listed don't cover my particular belief-set.

[Darth Wong]

Not that there's anything wrong with the Church of None of Your Fucking Business. It would be a gigantic improvement if most religious people considered their religion to be a private personal matter, rather than something akin to a sports team jersey.

[Faabio]

Faabio, why did you assign the same rank to the synthetically produced human insulin and the synthetic insulin that requires fewer injections to be effective?

Ah My bad that. For some reason I completely missed that fever injections part for synthetic insulin. In that case D is clearly better choice than C.
First I just thought that it was a comparison between natural insulin produced synthetically and unnatural one.

[TimothyC]

1 - I reject that a singe cell has a 'right' to exist, however, among the choises listed, A.

2 - B, The Cat. The Blastocyst is scheduled for distruction, thus removing any current desire for use.

3 - E, for the reason listed for #1.

4 - B.

5 - E, Continue to produce blastocysts, however I would also inform the patients of the situation.

6 - C, However I would not implant a Tay-Sach's prone blastocyst.

7 - C, Again, I would not implant a Tay-Sach's prone blastocyst.

8 -

1 D
2 C
3 A
4 B
5 E

9 - A

10 - Between A and B

[The Vortex Empire]

1. Mammals, such as humans, develop from a single cell called a zygote. A zygote has the same genetic complement as every cell in the organism it could eventually develop into. Zygotes, in turn, arise from the union of two gametes -- a sperm and an egg. A gamete has one half the genetic complement of a zygote. Which of the following statements regarding the intrinsic moral agency of single cells do you agree with? Indicate all that apply.
A. A human zygote has more of a right to exist than a feline zygote.
B. A human zygote has more of a right to exist than a human sperm.
C. A human sperm has more of a right to exist than a feline zygote.
D. A human sperm has more of a right to exist than a human keratinocyte.
E. A human keratinocyte has more of a right to exist then a feline zygote.

None. I do not think right to life extends to single cells.

2. IVF (in-vitro fertilization) works by culturing several blastocysts, five day old embryos made of 70-100 cells each, of which the healthiest are then placed in the prospective mother's uterus to implant and develop normally. The unused blastocysts are frozen in case the mother wants to use them later. These frozen blastocysts will eventually be destroyed if nobody wants to use them. You are a lab assistant at an IVF clinic, which is presently on fire. In the room with you is a single blastocyst scheduled for destruction and your boss's cat. You can only save one of these from the fire. Which would you save?
A. The Blastocyst
B. The Cat

B. The cat is already alive and is capable of suffering. It also is cared about by its owner. The blastocyst is neither and will be destroyed anyway.

3. You are a lab assistant in the same doomed IVF clinic as in Question 2. This time you must choose between your boss's six year old daughter and a tank of frozen blastocysts. You would save the girl instead of the tank so long as the tank contains fewer than:
A. 1 blastocyst
B. 10 blastocysts
C. 100 blastocysts
D. 1000 blastocysts
E. It doesn't matter how many blastocysts there are, you would always choose to save the girl.

E. Same reason as above.

4. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic with an excellent fire suppression system. As per standard procedure, you create two blastocysts for a prospective couple, but you can only implant one of them (the other will most likely be destroyed). Genetic testing reveals that one of the blastocysts will (with better than 99% certainty) develop Tay-Sach's disease, a debilitating illness that leads to death no later than the age of five. There is no known treatment for Tay-Sach's disease. Which blastocyst would you choose to implant?
A. The blastocyst with Tay-Sach's disease.
B. The healthy blastocyst.
C. Neither blastocyst.
D. You would choose one of the blastocysts at random.

B. Everythng else is stupid. A: Why would you do that? C: Again, why. D: Stupid.

5. You are a doctor at the same IVF clinic as in Question 4. This time you create only one blastocyst, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. From this information, you can infer that every blastocyst you create for the couple in question will have a 25% chance of having Tay-Sach's disease (and thus a 75% chance of being healthy). Regardless of how many blastocysts you create, you may only implant one of them. You would:
A. Implant the first blastocyst.
B. Create a second blastocyst and implant it without testing it for Tay-Sach's disease.
C. Create a second blastocyst and, if it also tests positive for Tay-Sach's disease, implant one of the blastocysts at random.
D. Create a second blastocyst and, if it also tests positive for Tay-Sach's disease, send the couple away without implanting either blastocyst.
E. Keep creating blastocysts until you obtain one without Tay-Sach's disease, then implant the healthy blastocyst.

E: I don't want to implant one with a disease and there's no reason for D.

6. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic 30 years in the future. You create a single blastocyst for a couple, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. You know that each parent carries two copies of the gene associated with Tay-Sach's disease -- each parent has one healthy copy and one diseased copy. The blastocyst has two diseased copies. Using your futuristic technology, you can replace the blastocyst's two diseased Tay-Sach's genes with two healthy genes -- one from each parent -- while leaving the rest of the blastocyst's genome undisturbed. This would prevent the blastocyst from developing Tay-Sach's disease. Assuming all treatment modalities have the same cost, you would:
A. Use the futuristic technology to cure the blastocyst of Tay-Sach's disease.
B. Choose the same course of action as in Question 5.
C. Let the prospective parents choose between A and B.

C, but I'm not implanting a diseased embryo.

7. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic 30 years in the future. You create a single blastocyst for a couple, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. You do not possess the technology to repair the defective gene as in Question 6, however you do possess the technology to insert a synthetic, heritable gene into the blastocyst. The synthetic gene will negate the diseased gene, allowing the blastocyst to develop into a normal child without Tay-Sach's disease. Aside from the presence of the synthetic gene, the genome of the blastocyst will be undisturbed by this procedure. Assuming all treatment modalities have the same cost, you would:
A. Use the futuristic technology to cure the blastocyst of Tay-Sach's disease.
B. Choose the same course of action as in Question 5.
C. Let the prospective parents choose between A and B.

C, but I'm not implanting a diseased embryo.

8. You are a doctor treating a child with Type I diabetes. Your patient cannot produce a hormone called insulin, so you must regularly inject him with exogenous insulin or he will die. The following treatment modalities are available; they have been ranked in order of expense with (A) being the most expensive and (C) and (D) being tied for second least expensive. Assuming all insulin-based treatment modalities are equally effective, rank these treatment modalities in order from most ideal to least ideal.
A. Human insulin isolated from the donated blood of living humans
B. Porcine insulin isolated from the pancreata of dead pigs
C. Human insulin produced synthetically in a laboratory
D. A synthetic insulin not found in nature that requires fewer injections
E. Saline solution (a placebo)

D: Least suffering on part of the patient.
C: Also good.
A: Less risks than the pigs.
B: Fine, but not as good as human insulin.
E: Too risky if it doesn't work.

9. A research scientist is developing a treatment for epilepsy. Epilepsy is a neurological disease with symptoms that can range from mild to to so severe that half of the brain must be surgically removed. She plans to transform a keratinocyte (skin cell) obtained from an epileptic patient into a neuron (brain cell). The neuron will then be cultured (grown) on a computer chip. She plans to use the computer chip to stimulate the neuron electrically and record it's response, all while subjecting it to various anti-epileptic drugs. At the conclusion of the experiment, the neuron will be destroyed. You are a member of the IRB (institutional review board, an ethics committee that oversees medical experiments) that will either allow or prohibit the researcher from carrying out her experiment. You would vote to:
A. Allow the experiment.
B. Allow the experiment, but only if the cultured neuron is given an anesthetic.
C. Allow the experiment, but only if the cultured neuron is allowed to continue living on the computer chip once the experiment is over.
D. B and C
E. Allow the experiment, but only if rat neurons are used instead of human neurons.
F. Prohibit the experiment.

A: It's a neuron. It can't suffer, it has no right to life, and a rat neuron isn't as useful as a human neuron for studying human epilepsy.

10. Which of the following best describes your spiritual beliefs?
A. You are a Christian, and you believe the bible is literally true.
B. You are a Christian, but you believe some parts of the bible are metaphors.
C. You are a theist who belongs to an organized religion besides Christianity.
D. You are a theist, but you don't really subscribe to any particular religion.
E. You are an atheist, but you feel as if there's something spiritual out there.
F. You are an atheist and a secular-humanist/freethinker.

F.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

1) None of the above. These are single cells. I've got millions and millions of them being produced and dying in my body every day.

2) The cat. The cat, being a sentient being has higher intrinsic value to me than a ball of a hundred mostly undifferentiated cells.

3) The girl. The girl, being a sapient being has a significantly higher intrinsic value to me than a ball of a hundred mostly undifferentiated cells.

4) The healthy one.

5) Keep on tryin' till I get a good one.

6) Cure the blastocyst through the MAGIC OF SCIENCE!

7) Keep on tryin' till I get a good one. The way this question is written, it sounds like the blastocyst will have one healthy synthetic gene, and one diseased gene, making the future child a carrier of the illness.

8) D,C,B,A,E

9) Allow the experiment. If I was concerned over the fate of single neurons, I'd kill myself out of depression by the end of the day, on account of the several thousand I will lose just by being alive.

10) I'm an EEEVIL Secular-Humanist Atheist Commie-Nazi!

[kc8tbe]

Thanks to everyone for your helpful feedback!

I want to add an additional question, but I'm having trouble formulating it in a way that isn't totally hypothetical. The question is basically this: if you could simulate a human brain on a computer down to the molecular level, would the resultant computer program be "alive"? Or in other words, if we eventually develop sentient AI, should the AI have rights? I expect materialists will answer yes while spiritualists will mostly answer no.

Can anyone think of a good way to ask this? I've come up with something like the following, but it still sounds silly to me.

Chimpanzees, a species closely related to humans, are known to exhibit complex behaviors like altruism, self-awareness, play, tool making, and abstract problem solving. One evening, your friend the neuroscientist excitedly tells you that he has stumbled upon a tremendous discovery. The chimpanzee brain is not comprised of neurons like the human brain is, he claims, but rather of silicon structures that resemble the microprocessors in a computer. You doubt his sobriety and the veracity of his claim because:
A. It contradicts a large body of scientific evidence.
B. If the chimpanzee brain were not comprised of neurons, the chimpanzee would not exhibit the complex behaviors enumerated above.
C. Both A and B.
D. Neither A nor B.
E. You would not doubt the veracity of your friend's claim.

[Samuel]

A and E. Seriously, that is blatantly impossible.

Better question- if you upload a person's mind to a computer are they still a person? What if you copy it multiple times?

[kc8tbe]

Samuel, I'm sort of stuck trying to ask a hypothetical question (we aren't anywhere near the technology needed to upload people to computers) without making it sound blatantly hypothetical. If you have any more suggestions, though, I'm all ears.

Another, separate question I plan on adding:

A 30 year-old father of two was hospitalized for an acute (sudden) case of encephalopathy (brain infection) and placed on life support. He eventually regained the ability to breath on his own, but he cannot move or open his eyes. He is presently being fed via a PEG tube (gastric tube). He has been in his present state for five years. A CT scan (brain scan) indicates a profound loss of brain tissue, and an EEG (electroencephalogram) indicates no brain activity is present. Based on this information, the man's doctors have pronounced him brain dead. The man's wife, who is paying $100 a day for his treatment, would like to discontinue her husband's feeding tube and let him die naturally. As a member of the hospital ethics committe reviewing her request, you would vote to:
A. Allow withdrawl of the feeding tube.
B. Reconsider the case after waiting five more years for the man to wake up.
C. Prohibit withdrawl of the feeding tube.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

1. Refuse to answer, pointless question, no single cell has more rights than another single cell.

2. B.

3. E.

4. B.

5. E.

6. C.

7. C.

8. D, C, B, A, E.

9. A.

10. E.

[NoXion]

Maybe I'm a bit late, but here goes:


1. None. Cells don't have rights.

2. B - Anyone who chooses to save a bundle of cells over a cat needs a smack upside the head.

3. E - I'm guessing here, but I reckon blastocysts aren't much higher up on sentience scale than bacteria, which our own bodies merrily slaughter with reckless abandon.

4. B - This option allows me to do my job (unlike C), and only a shithead would deliberately implant a diseased blastocyst or leave it to the flip of a coin

5. E - I don't see how anyone can choose anything other than this.

6. A - If one has the technology, why not use it?

7. A - Again, there's no reason so far as I can see for not taking advantage of this technology.

8. D, C, B, A, E, in that order with the most preferred coming first. Unless there's some reason that human insulin is chemically "better" than porcine insulin (or can be synthesised faster and in greater quantity in a lab), I consider B and C to be more or less level pegging.

9. A - I lose neurons whenever I get concussed, but nobody calls me a murderer as a result.

10. F - I am a materialist (in the philosphical sense) atheist.

[Surlethe]

Question 10 in the OP leaves out (conservative) Catholics, who believe that some parts of the Bible are metaphor, but that the Church's proclamations are more important than the Bible anyway. That's the core of Catholic opposition to abortion: the Church has proclaimed it wrong (which is better than the fundamentalist "let's creatively interpret this scripture to condemn abortion!", I might add).

You might add that as an option.

[Venator]

Samuel, I'm sort of stuck trying to ask a hypothetical question (we aren't anywhere near the technology needed to upload people to computers) without making it sound blatantly hypothetical. If you have any more suggestions, though, I'm all ears.

Maybe alter the phrasing; saying "chimpanzees have neurons with a high silicon content, which function more like computer circuits than human neurons", rather than proposing flat-out that they have what amounts to an abiological brain.

It's still a stretch, but it sounds a bit less obviously outlandish.

Also, I admit that the idea of giving a single cell an anesthetic made me laugh. Much needed.

[Alyrium Denryle]

1. Mammals, such as humans, develop from a single cell called a zygote. A zygote has the same genetic complement as every cell in the organism it could eventually develop into. Zygotes, in turn, arise from the union of two gametes -- a sperm and an egg. A gamete has one half the genetic complement of a zygote. Which of the following statements regarding the intrinsic moral agency of single cells do you agree with? Indicate all that apply.
A. A human zygote has more of a right to exist than a feline zygote.
B. A human zygote has more of a right to exist than a human sperm.
C. A human sperm has more of a right to exist than a feline zygote.
D. A human sperm has more of a right to exist than a human keratinocyte.
E. A human keratinocyte has more of a right to exist then a feline zygote.

None of the above. I reject in totality the notion of rights. Now, if we have to answer the question of which has more moral worth...

A) One cannot hold option A to be true, and be an atheist consistently.
B) The only thing that separates a human sperm from a zygote is N number, which is not ethically relevant.
C) Same as A, and god damn a person who holds this must be more comfortable drowning kittens than they are masturbating.
D) Yeah, WTF?
E) See C, but replace masturbating with "falling on a bike"

2. IVF (in-vitro fertilization) works by culturing several blastocysts, five day old embryos made of 70-100 cells each, of which the healthiest are then placed in the prospective mother's uterus to implant and develop normally. The unused blastocysts are frozen in case the mother wants to use them later. These frozen blastocysts will eventually be destroyed if nobody wants to use them. You are a lab assistant at an IVF clinic, which is presently on fire. In the room with you is a single blastocyst scheduled for destruction and your boss's cat. You can only save one of these from the fire. Which would you save?
A. The Blastocyst
B. The Cat

Always the cat.

3. You are a lab assistant in the same doomed IVF clinic as in Question 2. This time you must choose between your boss's six year old daughter and a tank of frozen blastocysts. You would save the girl instead of the tank so long as the tank contains fewer than:
A. 1 blastocyst
B. 10 blastocysts
C. 100 blastocysts
D. 1000 blastocysts
E. It doesn't matter how many blastocysts there are, you would always choose to save the girl.

Always the little girl.

4. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic with an excellent fire suppression system. As per standard procedure, you create two blastocysts for a prospective couple, but you can only implant one of them (the other will most likely be destroyed). Genetic testing reveals that one of the blastocysts will (with better than 99% certainty) develop Tay-Sach's disease, a debilitating illness that leads to death no later than the age of five. There is no known treatment for Tay-Sach's disease. Which blastocyst would you choose to implant?
A. The blastocyst with Tay-Sach's disease.
B. The healthy blastocyst.
C. Neither blastocyst.
D. You would choose one of the blastocysts at random.

The healthy blastocyst

5. You are a doctor at the same IVF clinic as in Question 4. This time you create only one blastocyst, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. From this information, you can infer that every blastocyst you create for the couple in question will have a 25% chance of having Tay-Sach's disease (and thus a 75% chance of being healthy). Regardless of how many blastocysts you create, you may only implant one of them. You would:
A. Implant the first blastocyst.
B. Create a second blastocyst and implant it without testing it for Tay-Sach's disease.
C. Create a second blastocyst and, if it also tests positive for Tay-Sach's disease, implant one of the blastocysts at random.
D. Create a second blastocyst and, if it also tests positive for Tay-Sach's disease, send the couple away without implanting either blastocyst.
E. Keep creating blastocysts until you obtain one without Tay-Sach's disease, then implant the healthy blastocyst.

E.

Questions 6 and 7 refer to technological advancements that have not yet occurred but that are well within the realm of possibility.

6. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic 30 years in the future. You create a single blastocyst for a couple, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. You know that each parent carries two copies of the gene associated with Tay-Sach's disease -- each parent has one healthy copy and one diseased copy. The blastocyst has two diseased copies. Using your futuristic technology, you can replace the blastocyst's two diseased Tay-Sach's genes with two healthy genes -- one from each parent -- while leaving the rest of the blastocyst's genome undisturbed. This would prevent the blastocyst from developing Tay-Sach's disease. Assuming all treatment modalities have the same cost, you would:
A. Use the futuristic technology to cure the blastocyst of Tay-Sach's disease.
B. Choose the same course of action as in Question 5.
C. Let the prospective parents choose between A and B.

A

7. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic 30 years in the future. You create a single blastocyst for a couple, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. You do not possess the technology to repair the defective gene as in Question 6, however you do possess the technology to insert a synthetic, heritable gene into the blastocyst. The synthetic gene will negate the diseased gene, allowing the blastocyst to develop into a normal child without Tay-Sach's disease. Aside from the presence of the synthetic gene, the genome of the blastocyst will be undisturbed by this procedure. Assuming all treatment modalities have the same cost, you would:
A. Use the futuristic technology to cure the blastocyst of Tay-Sach's disease.
B. Choose the same course of action as in Question 5.
C. Let the prospective parents choose between A and B.

A

For Question 8, assign each letter a rank.
8. You are a doctor treating a child with Type I diabetes. Your patient cannot produce a hormone called insulin, so you must regularly inject him with exogenous insulin or he will die. The following treatment modalities are available; they have been ranked in order of expense with (A) being the most expensive and (C) and (D) being tied for second least expensive. Assuming all insulin-based treatment modalities are equally effective, rank these treatment modalities in order from most ideal to least ideal.
A. Human insulin isolated from the donated blood of living humans
B. Porcine insulin isolated from the pancreata of dead pigs
C. Human insulin produced synthetically in a laboratory
D. A synthetic insulin not found in nature that requires fewer injections
E. Saline solution (a placebo)

From Best to worst

C
D
A
B
E

9. A research scientist is developing a treatment for epilepsy. Epilepsy is a neurological disease with symptoms that can range from mild to to so severe that half of the brain must be surgically removed. She plans to transform a keratinocyte (skin cell) obtained from an epileptic patient into a neuron (brain cell). The neuron will then be cultured (grown) on a computer chip. She plans to use the computer chip to stimulate the neuron electrically and record it's response, all while subjecting it to various anti-epileptic drugs. At the conclusion of the experiment, the neuron will be destroyed. You are a member of the IRB (institutional review board, an ethics committee that oversees medical experiments) that will either allow or prohibit the researcher from carrying out her experiment. You would vote to:
A. Allow the experiment.
B. Allow the experiment, but only if the cultured neuron is given an anesthetic.
C. Allow the experiment, but only if the cultured neuron is allowed to continue living on the computer chip once the experiment is over.
D. B and C
E. Allow the experiment, but only if rat neurons are used instead of human neurons.
F. Prohibit the experiment.

A

10. Which of the following best describes your spiritual beliefs?
A. You are a Christian, and you believe the bible is literally true.
B. You are a Christian, but you believe some parts of the bible are metaphors.
C. You are a theist who belongs to an organized religion besides Christianity.
D. You are a theist, but you don't really subscribe to any particular religion.
E. You are an atheist, but you feel as if there's something spiritual out there.
F. You are an atheist and a secular-humanist/freethinker.

F. A very consistent Naturalist.

[fnord]

The following questions are designed to measure your beliefs regarding the sanctity of human life. Please choose the one letter that best represents your opinion for each question. If you wish, you may write a 1-2 sentence explanation for each of your answers. There are no "correct" answers.

For Question 1, you may choose zero, one, or more letters.

1. Mammals, such as humans, develop from a single cell called a zygote. A zygote has the same genetic complement as every cell in the organism it could eventually develop into. Zygotes, in turn, arise from the union of two gametes -- a sperm and an egg. A gamete has one half the genetic complement of a zygote. Which of the following statements regarding the intrinsic moral agency of single cells do you agree with? Indicate all that apply.
A. A human zygote has more of a right to exist than a feline zygote.
B. A human zygote has more of a right to exist than a human sperm.
C. A human sperm has more of a right to exist than a feline zygote.
D. A human sperm has more of a right to exist than a human keratinocyte.
E. A human keratinocyte has more of a right to exist then a feline zygote.

It's a cell. So none.

2. IVF (in-vitro fertilization) works by culturing several blastocysts, five day old embryos made of 70-100 cells each, of which the healthiest are then placed in the prospective mother's uterus to implant and develop normally. The unused blastocysts are frozen in case the mother wants to use them later. These frozen blastocysts will eventually be destroyed if nobody wants to use them. You are a lab assistant at an IVF clinic, which is presently on fire. In the room with you is a single blastocyst scheduled for destruction and your boss's cat. You can only save one of these from the fire. Which would you save?
A. The Blastocyst
B. The Cat

B. From an ethical standpoint, sentient being > clump of cells. Operationally, the blastocyst is being trashed anyway. Politically, saving the boss' moggy scores me brownie points.

3. You are a lab assistant in the same doomed IVF clinic as in Question 2. This time you must choose between your boss's six year old daughter and a tank of frozen blastocysts. You would save the girl instead of the tank so long as the tank contains fewer than:
A. 1 blastocyst
B. 10 blastocysts
C. 100 blastocysts
D. 1000 blastocysts
E. It doesn't matter how many blastocysts there are, you would always choose to save the girl.

E. I don't want to face a murder charge by leaving the girl to die. And sentient being > clump of cells.

4. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic with an excellent fire suppression system. As per standard procedure, you create two blastocysts for a prospective couple, but you can only implant one of them (the other will most likely be destroyed). Genetic testing reveals that one of the blastocysts will (with better than 99% certainty) develop Tay-Sach's disease, a debilitating illness that leads to death no later than the age of five. There is no known treatment for Tay-Sach's disease. Which blastocyst would you choose to implant?
A. The blastocyst with Tay-Sach's disease.
B. The healthy blastocyst.
C. Neither blastocyst.
D. You would choose one of the blastocysts at random.

The Hippocratic oath comes to mind - and is violated unlubricated by A.

Deliberately creating a crippled child and financially and emotionally burdening the parents? FAIL. That knocks out A and D.
B, the healthy blastocyst. C is out because they presumably came to the clinic in pursuit of a child.

5. You are a doctor at the same IVF clinic as in Question 4. This time you create only one blastocyst, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. From this information, you can infer that every blastocyst you create for the couple in question will have a 25% chance of having Tay-Sach's disease (and thus a 75% chance of being healthy). Regardless of how many blastocysts you create, you may only implant one of them. You would:
A. Implant the first blastocyst.
B. Create a second blastocyst and implant it without testing it for Tay-Sach's disease.
C. Create a second blastocyst and, if it also tests positive for Tay-Sach's disease, implant one of the blastocysts at random.
D. Create a second blastocyst and, if it also tests positive for Tay-Sach's disease, send the couple away without implanting either blastocyst.
E. Keep creating blastocysts until you obtain one without Tay-Sach's disease, then implant the healthy blastocyst.

E. Implantation without testing for T-S, knowing the chances, is needlessly cruel and unusual punishment. That knocks out A and B. C is out - deliberately creating a cripple by knowingly implanting a T-S positive blasto?

D is acceptable if the couple want/can afford only two tries, else E. Keep trying till a T-S negative blasto comes up. Average number of tries would be 1.3, and 95% chance or better of a T-S negative blasto on 3rd try (98.4%, I think).

Questions 6 and 7 refer to technological advancements that have not yet occurred but that are well within the realm of possibility.

6. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic 30 years in the future. You create a single blastocyst for a couple, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. You know that each parent carries two copies of the gene associated with Tay-Sach's disease -- each parent has one healthy copy and one diseased copy. The blastocyst has two diseased copies. Using your futuristic technology, you can replace the blastocyst's two diseased Tay-Sach's genes with two healthy genes -- one from each parent -- while leaving the rest of the blastocyst's genome undisturbed. This would prevent the blastocyst from developing Tay-Sach's disease. Assuming all treatment modalities have the same cost, you would:
A. Use the futuristic technology to cure the blastocyst of Tay-Sach's disease.
B. Choose the same course of action as in Question 5.
C. Let the prospective parents choose between A and B.

Given the technology and the blasto being a definite sufferer, A, no contest. If the blasto was a carrier, I would personally do the pre-implant repair and fix the dodgy gene and stop transmission of T-S, so A as well.

7. You are a doctor at an IVF clinic 30 years in the future. You create a single blastocyst for a couple, and genetic testing reveals that it will develop Tay-Sach's disease. You do not possess the technology to repair the defective gene as in Question 6, however you do possess the technology to insert a synthetic, heritable gene into the blastocyst. The synthetic gene will negate the diseased gene, allowing the blastocyst to develop into a normal child without Tay-Sach's disease. Aside from the presence of the synthetic gene, the genome of the blastocyst will be undisturbed by this procedure. Assuming all treatment modalities have the same cost, you would:
A. Use the futuristic technology to cure the blastocyst of Tay-Sach's disease.
B. Choose the same course of action as in Question 5.
C. Let the prospective parents choose between A and B.

A again. Having the capability and refusing to use it, is worse than a blunder - it is a crime.

For Question 8, assign each letter a rank.

8. You are a doctor treating a child with Type I diabetes. Your patient cannot produce a hormone called insulin, so you must regularly inject him with exogenous insulin or he will die. The following treatment modalities are available; they have been ranked in order of expense with (A) being the most expensive and (C) and (D) being tied for second least expensive. Assuming all insulin-based treatment modalities are equally effective, rank these treatment modalities in order from most ideal to least ideal.
A. Human insulin isolated from the donated blood of living humans
B. Porcine insulin isolated from the pancreata of dead pigs
C. Human insulin produced synthetically in a laboratory
D. A synthetic insulin not found in nature that requires fewer injections
E. Saline solution (a placebo)

D first - lower cost and lower number of injections, so less trauma to patient.
C next - same cost as C, but more injections needed.
B then A, then E - injecting placebo will ultimately result in the patient's death from diabetic coma and thus a murder or gross negligence charge - a far cry from "First, do no harm".

9. A research scientist is developing a treatment for epilepsy. Epilepsy is a neurological disease with symptoms that can range from mild to to so severe that half of the brain must be surgically removed. She plans to transform a keratinocyte (skin cell) obtained from an epileptic patient into a neuron (brain cell). The neuron will then be cultured (grown) on a computer chip. She plans to use the computer chip to stimulate the neuron electrically and record it's response, all while subjecting it to various anti-epileptic drugs. At the conclusion of the experiment, the neuron will be destroyed. You are a member of the IRB (institutional review board, an ethics committee that oversees medical experiments) that will either allow or prohibit the researcher from carrying out her experiment. You would vote to:
A. Allow the experiment.
B. Allow the experiment, but only if the cultured neuron is given an anesthetic.
C. Allow the experiment, but only if the cultured neuron is allowed to continue living on the computer chip once the experiment is over.
D. B and C
E. Allow the experiment, but only if rat neurons are used instead of human neurons.
F. Prohibit the experiment.

A without hesitation.

10. Which of the following best describes your spiritual beliefs?
A. You are a Christian, and you believe the bible is literally true.
B. You are a Christian, but you believe some parts of the bible are metaphors.
C. You are a theist who belongs to an organized religion besides Christianity.
D. You are a theist, but you don't really subscribe to any particular religion.
E. You are an atheist, but you feel as if there's something spiritual out there.
F. You are an atheist and a secular-humanist/freethinker.

F, having moved on a few years ago from E.

[bilateralrope]

1 - None
2 - The cat
3 - The girl
4 - The healthy one
5 - A,B and C are unacceptable. I will let the parents decide between D and E.
6 - C. I don't feel I should have any right to chose for the parents when the options are both equally healthy and equally expensive.
7 - C. As above.
8 - D,C,A, B for the reasons The Vortex Empire describes. E is unacceptable as it doesn't work.
9 - A.
10 - F

You could try asking your Tay-Sach's questions but with the child being a carrier instead of a suffer of it.

[Samuel]

Samuel, I'm sort of stuck trying to ask a hypothetical question (we aren't anywhere near the technology needed to upload people to computers) without making it sound blatantly hypothetical. If you have any more suggestions, though, I'm all ears.

Do you accept the Turning test?
How much processing power before a machine is equivalent to a human?
At what point would you be willing to save one over a cat?