From: Lizard <lizard@dnai.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 06:04:19 +0800
To: "William H. Geiger III" <holovacs@idt.net>
Subject: Re: Censorial leftists (Was: Interesting article)
In-Reply-To: <1.5.4.32.19971204114530.006ef8dc@idt.net>
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19971204132216.03486294@dnai.com>
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At 06:38 AM 12/4/97 -0600, William H. Geiger III wrote:
>An intriguing selection of NewSpeak being used here. The forcible 
ending
>of another humans life is wrong (add in the standard caveats for
>self-defence).

A fetus is not a human being. End of logic chain.

Proof:The defining characteristic of humanity is our recursive self-
awareness -- our ability to think and know we think. Consciousness, 
in other words. Consciousness exists as an emergent property of our 
immensely complex neural network. No neural network, no 
consciousness. No consciousness, no humanity.

A single cell is not conscious. It cannot be. It has no senses to 
receive information, no mind to process the information received. It 
cannot be considered human.

A newborn baby *is* conscious. Brainwaves from all parts of the brain 
register. It is human.

Therefore:At some point between conception and birth, the developing 
fetus crosses a line fron non-human (and thus, removable without any 
ethical worries whatsoever) to human (and thus, only removable under 
the normal conditions when it is proper to kill, such as a threat to 
the life of the host). This line can be defined by the beginning of 
detectable brain waves from the higher parts of the brain, which 
usually occur around the sixth month or so. At this point, 
consciousness -- and thus humanity -- has begun. It is only at this 
point that the fetus has become a rights-possessing organism.


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