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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Greg or e who wrote (5299)	2/9/2001 3:21:51 PM
From: Solon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Pandoras genetic box has been flung open and I am uneasy about what that means for our future. Old people are potential corpses; But they don't have the status of corpses, right?? What do you think? Is an old person the same as a corpse? Can I experiment on them? My sperm is a potential old person and a potential corpse (actualy many o ftem). Are my sperm living humans? Do they get to wear a graduation hat or to join the military? Can we treat what is on the basis of ther infinite possibilities that might be?? Abortion is a somber decision. It is a decision to end a potential human person. It should not be trivialized by dogmatic aBSOLUTES. If you bury me here instaed of there you snuff out existence. Life is a wheel not a coin toss.

To: Greg or e who wrote (5299)	2/9/2001 5:15:27 PM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 82486

I'm sorry, I think I miss-spelt your name in my former post. No problema. Human life has been cheapened by all of this. I think we all need to be cognizant about how our beliefs and actions affect society's value of life--human life and all life. IMO, too many people are too cavalier about it whether it's trampling a path through the grass or casual murder by street punks. I wonder, though, whether our norm for regard of human life is misdirected. I don't subscribe to the notion of life at all costs. There are things about being human that, IMO, override the simple fact of life or death. There are things we do to humans that are dehumanizing, like forcing them to live and suffer long past the time when they still want to be alive. I very much hope that by the time my time comes, I will be assured that I can effectively make the choice to die rather than be dehumanized. Just because something can be done does not mean it "should" be done. Cloning is just so cool. The fact that we've figured out how to do it, that is. In practice, however, it definitely presents some ethical dilemmas that we need to work through before jumping in. I don't see a need for a big rush. I'm more concerned about those luddites who would dismiss it out of hand, though, than those who might get too far ahead of the ethics consensus. Karen