[extropy-chat] ?Embryos? created without paternal chromosomes

[Kevin Freels]

Of course, you have hit upon the major problem with this issue. When is a
baby a baby?
I think we should be able to draw a few lines and prove them. If so, we
could put the stem cell resistance to rest. I have proposed two different
dividing lines between a human and a mass of tissue. One is on thebaby's
first smile. That tells me that the baby is now emotionally aware and is no
longer a simple animal.
The other is when the brain starts to have electrical activity. This one
would probably be more acceptable to the average person.

.  There is no sharp
> dividing line between a just-about-to-be-born fetus and one just a few
> days old.  Given this gray area some people are uncomfortable drawing
> a line and saying that it is OK to destroy the fetus before this point
> but not after.  Maybe you could look at survival outside the womb in a
> natural state (without modern technology) as a dividing line, but that
> would seem to allow killing babies who would survive if born today.
>
> The very words we use, "fetus" vs "unborn baby", tend to influence
> our thoughts.  If you think of this "ball of cells" as an unborn baby
> then you are more likely to want it to be protected.
>
> Hal
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