[extropy-chat] # What the #$?! are rights anyway?

[Lee Corbin]

Robert gives energetic arguments to suggest that

> So until one has eliminated deaths from causes like hunger
> and other 3rd world preventable diseases (what the Gates
> Foundation is presumably devoting significant attention
> to) expending time and energy on preserving unborn fetuses
> would seem to be misdirected. 

Yes, to save the maximum number of lives possible, each of
us should send all his extra money to the Gates foundation
or its equivalent. Then, too, we probably should shut down
all the elderly care providers, because the money would go
further in making sure that all the children born overseas
get past the age of two.

This helps the division of labor, too: one group of people
specializes in having lots of children, and the other group
specializes in paying for it.


But (satire aside), the Hayekian/Sowell observation that
knowledge is *localized* suggests that a pregnant woman 
strongly concern herself with her own unborn child, even
if it is to the detriment of people far away. While I
defend the legal right of this woman to do as she wishes,
I strongly urge her to help *that* particular potential
person inside her to stay alive. But remember---I'm over
here and she's some distance from me, and what do I know
of her *local* circumstances?

Lee