In this excellent column published in the Washington Post, disability rights activists Andrew J. Imparato and Anne C. Sommers warn of the emerging new eugenics. Some key quotes:Though society may be inclined to regard [Oliver Wendel] Holmes’s detestable opinion in Buck v. Bell [“Three . . . . Continue Reading »
While I was in Europe, Baby Emilio Gonzales died. The case stimulated much discussion of Futile Care Theory, in which Texas law allows ethics committees to refuse wanted life-sustaining treatment—not because the treatment won’t extend life but because it will. The Texas Legislature is in . . . . Continue Reading »
Whilst in Poland, Debra and I felt duty bound to bear witness to the suffering of the victims of Auschwitz/Birkenau. These are a few of the photos I took.These were not “just” death and slave labor camps: They were designed for the systemic torture of helpless people. Utter insanity. I . . . . Continue Reading »
I have a speaking gig in Warsaw on Saturday, so Secondhand Smokette and I are taking the opportunity to see some of Eastern Europe. I have decided not to lug the old laptop around, and so chances are I will not post anything until around the 21st. However, one never knows. The last time I left the . . . . Continue Reading »
Ashley is the little profoundly disabled girl who was subjected to non therapeutic interventions, including a hysterectomy and a mastectomy, in addition to hormone therapies to keep her “small.” At the time, I wrote here at SHS that, at the very least, matters such as this should be . . . . Continue Reading »
SHS just had one of its all time best weeks. More than 5000 people from all around the world came by to “set a spell.” I am very gratified and will continue to strive to make the sight interesting and find stories for us to ponder that affect the human future. Thanks to . . . . Continue Reading »
Well, we have fallen along way off the moral cliff in a very short time; from tossing away embryos with genetic defects for serious illness in infancy, to tossing them away because they are the wrong sex, to destroying those with a genetic propensity to adult onset cancer. And now, with the . . . . Continue Reading »
“Embryonic Stem Cells Can Repair Eyes,” is the headline. But the Reuters story, byline Maggie Fox, about an experiment announced by Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), doesn’t actually demonstrate this. From the story:Writing in the journal Nature Methods, [Robert]Lanza’s team . . . . Continue Reading »
As readers of SHS know, I believe that human exceptionalism is under profound assault from many different directions, including utilitarian bioethics, animal liberation, and philosophical materialism. But also, some in the environmental movement have turned the conservation ideal on its head, . . . . Continue Reading »
The American Physiological Society, founded in 1887, which describes itself as “a nonprofit devoted to fostering education, scientific research, and dissemination of information in the physiological sciences,” has awarded my friend David Prentice its 2007 Walter C. Randall Award in . . . . Continue Reading »
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