[extropy-chat] Denying nature

[Giu1i0 Pri5c0]

Another attack on transhumanism from
SFGate.com<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2005/06/08/cstillwell.DTL>-
The
debate over embryonic stem cell research in the United States rages on. Also 
known as therapeutic cloning<http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4667>, 
the process entails extracting stem cells from human embryos typically left 
over from in-vitro fertilization procedures at fertility clinics. Embryonic 
stem cells <http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics3.asp> have the 
ability to duplicate cells found throughout the human body, thereby leading 
researchers to believe that treatments for diseases and spinal cord injuries 
can be found through such research. Seeing as the destruction of human 
embryos is involved, the issue is attracting a fair amount of controversy, 
at both statewide and national
levels<http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/genetics/embfet.htm>
...
Disease and illness will always beset humans because we are mortal beings. 
At the end of our lives lies the inevitability of death. To try to avoid 
this fate is to deny the cycle of life, to deny nature itself. In fact, 
there are those who actively seek such a state. They subscribe to a 
philosophy called
transhumanism<http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/index>,
or "the doctrine that we can and should become more than
human<http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Intro/definitions.html>"
through the use of science. But should we really be so eager to shed our 
humanity? Rather than "more than human," we could very well end up less so.
Of course the author does not provide any explanation of what she means by 
the last sentence quoted, nor of why "deny nature itself" is something bad. 
The development of our civilization has been based on refusing to meekly 
accept natural limits. This attitude led to medicine, hygiene, transport, 
education, and communications. Let's not go back to the stone age as Ms. 
Stillwell wishes.
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