Human exceptionalism seems so self evident to me that I am somewhat nonplussed that it is even considered debatable. Yet, a growing chorus adamantly deny that humans are entitled to a special status. But many would-be exceptionalism debunkers seem to be skeptical as a means of achieving a particular . . . . Continue Reading »
A reader of my recent article in National Review Online about Peter Singer’s approval of research conducted on monkeys, misunderstood me as perhaps not caring about cruelty to animals. I care very much about such matters, of course, and mentioned in my reply that treating animals humanely is a . . . . Continue Reading »
I would normally post a video as effective as this one is at deconstructing PETA directly from YouTube onto Secondhand Smoke. But the title contains an epithet, and I couldn’t sanitize it here on the site no matter how hard I tried. Penn also has several foul mouthed moments, of which I . . . . Continue Reading »
This really illustrates how bad some of the animal rights/environmental crazies have become. This list of “eco prisoners” and animal rights prisoners is published by something called the Earth Liberation Prisoner Support Network (ELP).Among the prisoners the group wants to support is Ted . . . . Continue Reading »
And those advances keep coming in from all directions: The BBC is reporting that within three years or so, a patient’s own adult stem cells may be able to relieve back pain caused by damage to intervertebral discs (IVDs, a common cause of debilitating low back pain. Bone marrow, don’t . . . . Continue Reading »
Animal rights law professor and vegan activist Gary Francione has now weighed in at some length in his Blog about Peter Singer and his support for invasive brain research using monkeys. It is very hard hitting, and, it seems to me, hits a home run regarding amoral Singer-style . . . . Continue Reading »
I thought it was pretty significant that Peter Singer endorsed research on monkeys, and very invasive research at that—brain experiments. But the American media ignored the story, so I decided to kick up a little dust.I was quite impressed with Gary Francione, who I interviewed by e-mail. He . . . . Continue Reading »
Oxford professor Nick Bostrom, one of the leading lights of the transhumanist movement, has a new paper out (“In Defense of Post Human Dignity”) in which he argues that there is no need to fear the post human future if we all agree that all forms of post humanity have equal dignity. Here . . . . Continue Reading »
With little fanfare, President Bush signed into law the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, making it easier to punish animal liberation thugs who engage in “tertiary targeting.” Still, as I said in this recent blog entry, the real contest will be in the ideological sphere, particularly . . . . Continue Reading »
This is wonderful news and demonstrates the great potential for morally uncontentious stem cell research. But don’t expect the media or politicians to notice. There is campaign money in them thar embryonic stem cell hills. Big Biotech has spent many tens of millions in propagandizing the . . . . Continue Reading »