Here’s my take on the right-to-lifers and, somewhat by extension, folks who rally against selecting egg/sperm pairs based on (a) genetic compatibility, (b) physical characteristics, and (c) penchant for disease.
The whole argument is that you’re denying life. Right-to-lifers say that life starts at conception. Anti-genetic filtering-ers essentially say that life starts before conception.
Ok, taking those two pieces of information and assuming them as truth for purposes of a thought experiment, riddle me this [batman]. How many counts of murder should we charge an assailant with who kills a person (man or woman)? If the victim is a man, how many sperm could be created by that man that, by Anti-genetic-filtering-ers standards, is already life? And if the victim is a woman, the same question for her eggs. Now, extend that one step further. If even a single sperm or egg matures and becomes a living, breathing, walking human, how many sperm/eggs will that human create? And so on. We quickly see that the assailant should be charged with essentially infinite counts of murder. (For those who are confused and believe that there is a finite number, look up the mathematical term “limit” in your nearest pre-calculus book.)
This is wholly ungainly. Sure, the assailant has committed murder either way, and will face the stiffest penalty of the jurisdiction.
I do agree that the view held by some segments of our population that looks at abortions like going to the dentist is horrifying, but I also see that, in certain cases (rape, terminal illness, etc.) the parent(s) should be allowed a choice – assuming they pass a proper psychological screening and such.
As for genetic filtering, I think that selecting out certain genes – cancer (if a gene can be found), crohns, huntingtons, etc. – would be beneficial not only to the child, but to the populace at large. Going so far as to selecting hair color, eye color, height, scholastic aptitude, …that’s a bit too Hitlerish for me.
———–
I got a fountain pen. A Pilot Plumix. It’s plastic and has a 1mm wide calligraphy-style nib. I’ve been looking for a cheap one since I got down here, and I finally found this one at Target for $6. I find that I like using it, so I may pony up for a more expensive (and less plastic) model soon. Mainly, I just want to use up the rest of this damned blue ink. I HATE blue ink. No idea why.
———–
Ran my first Tech Talk here at work. Thanks to Shompy-Joe (or 3-way-Joe…or has he graduated to 4- or even 5-way?) for holding Tech Talks while I was employed at Trisept. It went as well as I would have expected.
———–
In home theater news, my former 12-foot screen has (by space constraints) been replaced with a 20-inch screen. Dammit. The room we’re living in is only 13′x17′, and the 20″ is on my Dell computer monitor. Hate to say it, but I’d kill for a 32″ or 37″ lcd. I at least have surround sound – I bitched my analog-only Klipsch 5.1 computer speakers into being driven by my HT receiver. Man, I need a house. Man, I need to sell my house. Any takers?
———–
Pre-ordered the iPhone 3GS. Gonna give Melinda my 1st gen iPhone.
———–
I’ve switched to Safari 4 as my main Windows browser. Lightyears quicker than Firefox 3.whatever. Still using Firefox on my Mac tho – for some reason, the Google Reader keyboard shortcuts don’t work in Safari on the Mac, but they do in Windows. The only thing I wish I could find for Safari/Win is a proper ad blocking plugin. Ah well.
ross mindless prattling Apple, google, home theater, iPhone, osx, plugin, videogame
