Re:Bills seek end to farm animal abuse videos
by brownbat on Monday March 18, 2013 @10:59AM
(#5394555)
> a zygote is genetically unique
I don't see that as morally relevant, despite your consequences.
Cancerous cells in my body are genetically unique human tissue. I fully support their eradication.
But maybe they're not human enough. If I use genetic engineering to combine my thumb with a tiny snippet of DNA from Joseph Stalin, so I could show off my eclectic "Stalin Thumb," it would be genetically unique human tissue. My fancy thumb has no rights equivalent to those of other humans.
Say I'm in a lab that catches fire. Because of the massive imminent backdraft, I have time only to save either the old lab tech, Fred, or a shelf of petri dishes containing 10 million blastocysts. According to the unique genetic material hypothesis, if I don't watch Fred writhe in flaming horror, then I'm a monster, committing one of the worst genocides in the history of the planet. (Note that a blastocyst has fewer cells than the brain of a fly.) I would contend that there is no amount of blastocysts you could save to justify letting Fred die in a fire.
I can't accept "genetically unique human material" as the sole determinant of moral responsibility, it just causes too many problems.
I don't see that as morally relevant, despite your consequences.
Cancerous cells in my body are genetically unique human tissue. I fully support their eradication.
But maybe they're not human enough. If I use genetic engineering to combine my thumb with a tiny snippet of DNA from Joseph Stalin, so I could show off my eclectic "Stalin Thumb," it would be genetically unique human tissue. My fancy thumb has no rights equivalent to those of other humans.
Say I'm in a lab that catches fire. Because of the massive imminent backdraft, I have time only to save either the old lab tech, Fred, or a shelf of petri dishes containing 10 million blastocysts. According to the unique genetic material hypothesis, if I don't watch Fred writhe in flaming horror, then I'm a monster, committing one of the worst genocides in the history of the planet. (Note that a blastocyst has fewer cells than the brain of a fly.) I would contend that there is no amount of blastocysts you could save to justify letting Fred die in a fire.
I can't accept "genetically unique human material" as the sole determinant of moral responsibility, it just causes too many problems.