[extropy-chat] Bioethics Essay- Revised

[Brett Paatsch]

Mike Lorrey wrote:
 
>> The theological problem is worse than that. A
>> soulless being is an
>> empty vessel that can be filled by any demon, thus
>> to the xians who
>> subscribe to the posession/demonology stuff as real,
>> making soulless
>> clones is tantamount to building a demon army for
>> the anti-christs
>> imminent arrival (you don't have to be a Star Wars
>> fan to see this).
>> Tis better to accept that any embryo, natural or
>> engineered, gains a
>> soul through the unconditional gift of the mothers
>> love in the womb.
>> Don't give the chiliasts any purchase.
> 
> Thats just great! I spend a whole weekend wracking my
> brain to find arguments that a xian would believe to
> convince them that God doesn't mind us harvesting
> cloned embryos because they are souless only to to
> find out that I would be helping the antichrist summon
> his demon army. I need a drink. :) 
> 
> If anything Mike you have convinced me of the folley
> of engaging my opponents in that quagmire of the mind.

I got a laugh out of that anyway. :-)

Seriously though, 'Guardian what you write is a function
of who you are trying to persuade and what you are 
trying to achieve.  

Once you have your head in that space (emotionally)
and have started swimming in the topic (details etc) then
you can adapt what you have for a variety of purposes.

Personally, I like the idea of improving the political/legislative 
situation so that basic research can happen and then the applied
stuff so that the life saving and enhancing gets moving. To get
your head in that space just think how you'd feel if, looking
some arbitrary amount of time forward, a year, 5 years, 10,
someone you care a whole hell of a lot for dies or looks to
be dying just short of the treatment getting to him/her in terms
of cost, safety, quality or efficacy. 

That should help you identify who you want to persuade if
you need a hint. (Its the voters and pollies).  

I don't think it would really upset you too greatly if an increasingly
large portion of a rapidly increasing amount of global wealth was
coming from the increasing amount of work and value able to be
done with biotech would it ?
 
More jobs for biotechies and more *genuinely* good stuff for
what ales ya!     Ales? Well, you said you wanted a drink.

Brett Paatsch