I don't know about that. There is something to be said for keeping the galloping stallion of passion placated long enough to find the "right" person as opposed to the first one that spreads her legs for you.
A quick example: If concious thought is a requirement to be human. Actually most of that could be answered by a rewording of the requirement to "The capacity of conciousness." Note capacity and not possibility. A sleeping person qualifies. A brain-stem only vegitable does not. A 28 week fetus that goes through awake and asleep cycles qualifies. A blastula would not.
Of course I'm answering a question with another question: What is conciousness? Nobody has a decent answer. We can measure its effects, but not the phenominon itself. Conciousness is one of life's many mysteries.
Although IMHO, there is a reasonable defining point for the beginning of human life, conception.
Well what part of conception? Some (in fact in a good many sexual encounters) eggs are fertilized, but never attach properly to the Uterine wall. Are those lost lives, or just a fact of life?
Conception, again, requires drawing a line in the sand that is strictly a human construction. If we involve the planting of the zygote onto the uterine wall as a part of conception, then most activities that take place in a petri dish are OK. The cells would not develop past a certain stage because they would run out of fuel.
However, when making a complete clone another person enters into the equation.
I have to agree with you. It is wreckless to create a whole other person just to hack it apart to supply peices for another. For the parts to be of any usable size, the clone would have to develop pretty far. We really ought to study how to start the process and run it in such a way that only an organ develops.
I personally would choose to call in quits before breeding a new one of me for spare parts.
Here's an ethical dilema for you, though. If you could grow another body for yourself, would it be ethical to imprint your thoughts, feelings, and memories on him or her? Think about it, it is another person, who is every bit as capable as you to grow in its own way.
Now there, the selfish part of me views downloading myself to a new "body" to be giving the new me a head start on learning. I can see how it could be viewed differently.
Voter apathy only lasts as long as prosperity does.
The effects of Dominonist policy on the economy is just starting to hit people in the pocket books. When the current slate of bozos are sent packing in the next term election, just look surprised.
I actually go into Networking through programming. Get involved in a place with a discheveled IT department and stage a Coup.
Long story, but involves midnight raids to the fiber closet, insurgent email servers, and black-ops internet access drops. Once you have achieved a level of service that exceeds the incumbant infrastructure, the hearts and minds of the people will...
Man, earlier today I spouted out an economic argument that communism was the superior model for the future. Now I'm sounding like the Che Guevara of Network Engineering. I think I've had too much coffee.
In any case, there is a bit of crossover between programming and networking that can be exploited in the right environment. Look for a position that requires both. It requires a little reading between the lines of job descriptions.
I don't understand how someone can reproduce AND be a couch potatoe. Whenever I try to watch one of my programs, the little one goes into a tantrum unless I switch to a canned episode of Sesame Street on the DVR, or drop one of her DVD's into the play station.
At which point I get bored and go do something productive like wash the dishes, or fix up the house.
The problem I see is we have too many specialists - who can only grasp a narrow part of the project, and not enough folks who have knowledge to understand the big picture.
You must be in management. And not very good at it. Large IT projects require a whole lot of cranking repetitive things out. Folks who are generalists get VERY bored very quickly, and will jump ship if they aren't feeling creative enough.
That's like saying we could replace our armed forces with about 10% as many "Special Forces." Well you mind explaining to a Green Beret why he went through combat training, bungied from helicopters, and learned hostage extraction techniques to drive a water truck?
Before you go spouting out about good IT people versus mediocre IT people, pick up a copy of Fredrick Brook's The Mythical Man Month.
It turns out that for an IT project you need to split the job into tasks that can be solved by a surgical team of 10 people. 2 of those people are programmers. The rest are the secretaries, managers, accountants, testers, and tool smiths to support them.
This idea is 30 years old. Where it is tried success follows.
Workman's comp is an issue because when someone is injured on the job, they are shit out of luck. They can't work, they can't find health care, and they often have a family to feed.
Workman's comp was jammed down the throats of industry because they were happy to work people ragged, then hire a replacement after they wore out.
Read some Dickens if you want to get a sense of happens to people who fall ill or get hurt on the job without a safety net underneath them. When is the last time you have heard of someone starving to death in this country, or having to sell his or her children out to prostitution?
It doesn't happen because we DO have that safety net.
Before you can answer that question, you have to answer a few more basic questions.
First: At what point does a jumble of cells become life?
At this point, the defiinition in the U.S. legal system is at 27 weeks. When all the major organs have formed, and life and growth are possible outside the womb.
Second: Does stopping a potential life mean the same thing as killing?
You have to watch that one, because contreceptives are suddenly a no-no. As is taking a vow of celebacy.
Third: How is growing a cloned fetus of yourself any different than growing a culture of any other cells?
If there was an easy answer, we would have found it.
The research is too new. The areas it covers are too broad. The interest in compiling the data into a book is negated by the fact the work would be out of date soon after printing.
The best way to study Stem Cells would be to subscribe to a medical research journal, or become affiliated with a library or medical center that does.
Well I personally lost my job to a guy in Singapore, as did my Father and about 5,000 other technicians and Engineers when Kulicke and Soffa moved most of it's R&D to Singapore.
Let me know how it goes after you get out of the Industrial Revolution ditch.
You know what the middle path is? It's communism. Real communism. When we stop figuring out what costs and finally make connecting need with supply a priority.
When we stop making everything a number, those in control of the numbers can stop playing games with them. Who needs wages if you get food, housing, education, and your kids have a safe place to play?
That's when I long for a truthometer. A device you can clamp on someone's head to cut through the B.S. and read what they are really saying.
In this case it would be: Hi, I have the
mentality of a toddler.
I want everything, I want it now, and I don't want
it to be an exertion for me. When I see something,
I want it, I have to have it.
If I have to give something up to get it, I lose
interest, or I just take it anyway. Sometimes I get
caught and I have to sit in the corner. Most times
I get away with it though.
Slashdot Mirror
The Germans will tell you, superior tactics and superior weapons are meaningless without parts, ammunition, and fuel.
Hey, I was just getting mine broken in when I get a set of replacements. SWEEET.
Desperation breeds ugly, stupid people.
Of course I'm answering a question with another question: What is conciousness? Nobody has a decent answer. We can measure its effects, but not the phenominon itself. Conciousness is one of life's many mysteries.
Although IMHO, there is a reasonable defining point for the beginning of human life, conception.
Well what part of conception? Some (in fact in a good many sexual encounters) eggs are fertilized, but never attach properly to the Uterine wall. Are those lost lives, or just a fact of life?
Conception, again, requires drawing a line in the sand that is strictly a human construction. If we involve the planting of the zygote onto the uterine wall as a part of conception, then most activities that take place in a petri dish are OK. The cells would not develop past a certain stage because they would run out of fuel.
However, when making a complete clone another person enters into the equation.
I have to agree with you. It is wreckless to create a whole other person just to hack it apart to supply peices for another. For the parts to be of any usable size, the clone would have to develop pretty far. We really ought to study how to start the process and run it in such a way that only an organ develops.
I personally would choose to call in quits before breeding a new one of me for spare parts.
Here's an ethical dilema for you, though. If you could grow another body for yourself, would it be ethical to imprint your thoughts, feelings, and memories on him or her? Think about it, it is another person, who is every bit as capable as you to grow in its own way.
Now there, the selfish part of me views downloading myself to a new "body" to be giving the new me a head start on learning. I can see how it could be viewed differently.
The effects of Dominonist policy on the economy is just starting to hit people in the pocket books. When the current slate of bozos are sent packing in the next term election, just look surprised.
Long story, but involves midnight raids to the fiber closet, insurgent email servers, and black-ops internet access drops. Once you have achieved a level of service that exceeds the incumbant infrastructure, the hearts and minds of the people will...
Man, earlier today I spouted out an economic argument that communism was the superior model for the future. Now I'm sounding like the Che Guevara of Network Engineering. I think I've had too much coffee.
In any case, there is a bit of crossover between programming and networking that can be exploited in the right environment. Look for a position that requires both. It requires a little reading between the lines of job descriptions.
At which point I get bored and go do something productive like wash the dishes, or fix up the house.
You must be in management. And not very good at it. Large IT projects require a whole lot of cranking repetitive things out. Folks who are generalists get VERY bored very quickly, and will jump ship if they aren't feeling creative enough.
That's like saying we could replace our armed forces with about 10% as many "Special Forces." Well you mind explaining to a Green Beret why he went through combat training, bungied from helicopters, and learned hostage extraction techniques to drive a water truck?
Before you go spouting out about good IT people versus mediocre IT people, pick up a copy of Fredrick Brook's The Mythical Man Month.
It turns out that for an IT project you need to split the job into tasks that can be solved by a surgical team of 10 people. 2 of those people are programmers. The rest are the secretaries, managers, accountants, testers, and tool smiths to support them.
This idea is 30 years old. Where it is tried success follows.
Here is another hint: Unless you are a pure blood Native American, you ARE an immigrant or are decended from an immigrant.
Workman's comp is an issue because when someone is injured on the job, they are shit out of luck. They can't work, they can't find health care, and they often have a family to feed.
Workman's comp was jammed down the throats of industry because they were happy to work people ragged, then hire a replacement after they wore out.
Read some Dickens if you want to get a sense of happens to people who fall ill or get hurt on the job without a safety net underneath them. When is the last time you have heard of someone starving to death in this country, or having to sell his or her children out to prostitution?
It doesn't happen because we DO have that safety net.
When I stop getting turned down for jobs because I'm "Over Qualified" I will start to take the whinings of industry seriously.
Of course, he's getting his from the Pennsylvania State Universtity, and it is more or less "I couldn't get a job..."
First: At what point does a jumble of cells become life?
At this point, the defiinition in the U.S. legal system is at 27 weeks. When all the major organs have formed, and life and growth are possible outside the womb.
Second: Does stopping a potential life mean the same thing as killing?
You have to watch that one, because contreceptives are suddenly a no-no. As is taking a vow of celebacy.
Third: How is growing a cloned fetus of yourself any different than growing a culture of any other cells?
If there was an easy answer, we would have found it.
The best way to study Stem Cells would be to subscribe to a medical research journal, or become affiliated with a library or medical center that does.
Amen. One should call neocons by their right name, Fascists.
You can prevent most repetitive stress injuries with a slight alteration to your routine.
Then again, I'm amibidextrous.
When they get quickclones perfected and the Neural transfer software debugged, then I'll be interested.
When my little one grows up, the best thing she could tell me is "Dad I want to be a carpenter."
Remember kids, Networking is shit work with very little respect. But its vitally important to communications and commerce, and it pays accordingly.
The good news is that he managed to save up enough to get himself back to school. He's getting his MBA.
Wait a minute, he still doesn't have a job...
You insensitive clod.
You know what the middle path is? It's communism. Real communism. When we stop figuring out what costs and finally make connecting need with supply a priority.
When we stop making everything a number, those in control of the numbers can stop playing games with them. Who needs wages if you get food, housing, education, and your kids have a safe place to play?
Must have in I2 link. Most of my I1 downloads max out at 60Kb/s, regardless of where I pull from.
Star Wars Sold Out... I thought there was a shameless followup product line in the works.
Which is why I was puzzled about why it ended in a week. That's when the shameless stuff starts.
In this case it would be: Hi, I have the mentality of a toddler. I want everything, I want it now, and I don't want it to be an exertion for me. When I see something, I want it, I have to have it.
If I have to give something up to get it, I lose interest, or I just take it anyway. Sometimes I get caught and I have to sit in the corner. Most times I get away with it though.