Wesley J. Smith

Stanford University’s William Hurlbut and I are great friends.  Bill is best known for his service on the President’s Council on Bioethics, and his proposal to circumvent the ethics/science discord over human cloning and ESCR with “altered nuclear transfer,” which I . . . . Continue Reading »

We’ve all heard of the placebo effect, that is some people will seem to experience benefit from a “drug” they think they are taking, even when they are not.  But a new study on pain found that even when pain controlling drugs are being administered, if the subject believes . . . . Continue Reading »

I was asked several months ago by Human Life Review to react to Peter Singer’s presentation at Princeton University’s conference on abortion, in which pro life and pro choice advocates exchanged views and respectfully debated. I wrote about that here at SHS (also here), but the HLR . . . . Continue Reading »

Policy advocates hurt their own cause when they easily pull out the Nazi analogy.  Unless it is actually apt, calling your opponents “like the Nazis” is rightly seen by readers or listeners as a lazy slur.  Alas, that’s what James Delingpole, the Telegraph’s warming . . . . Continue Reading »

The Leftist bias in major universities can’t be denied.  With regard to issues dealt with here, can you imagine a pro lifer with the credentials of Peter Singer—who doesn’t even have a Ph.D—given one of the most prestigious chairs in bioethics in the world, as Singer was . . . . Continue Reading »

The NHS is a single payer system, albeit unlike in the USA and many other nations, fully socialized. To put it mildly: It. Is. A. Mess.When economics strain single payer systems, the marginalized and most expensive for which to care are the ones who usually suffer the most. We see that paradigm . . . . Continue Reading »

The Economist has a column about why we Americans haven’t jumped with both feet onto the global warming panic.  The writer, E.G. (no bylines in TE, which I like), lists some items.  His list leaves out some crucial points, such as the unattractiveness of the hysteria angle, the dire . . . . Continue Reading »

A child born without a cerebellum is learning to walk. From the story: A three-year-old boy has baffled doctors after he has started learning to walk, despite missing a key part of his brain. Chase Britton was born prematurely and an MRI scan at the age of one revealed he was completely missing his . . . . Continue Reading »

Biological colonialism—the named I coined for rich (usually) Westerners traveling to destitute countries to buy kidneys, rent uteri from “gestational carriers,” conduct unethical medical experimentation, etc.—has led some nations to outlaw non nationals from obtaining organ . . . . Continue Reading »

Transhumanists have a deep antipathy for human exceptionalism.  Indeed, in many ways, that loathing is the core of the movement. Which, when you think about it, isn’t surprising—given its philosophy that humans are not good enough, smart enough, strong enough, beautiful enough, or . . . . Continue Reading »