Such an interesting discussion.
I lurk on LW, don’t really post because to be honest, there’s not much I have to contribute that isn’t already said by others.
But I just wanted to say how interesting it is to compare how this community discusses the subject is in such contrast to almost every other forum, despite the variety of opinions on the matter.
As for the issue, I remember when I was young (really young) I saw a doco on a third world country, where the mothers would kill their babies if they were female, as they weren’t considered an asset in the way that males were, (post birth abortion??)
and in my very young mind, it just made striaght forward sense, that a family that can barely survive shouldn’t burden themselves further unnecessarily. which probably means when I was young I didn’t value human life that much.
Now I’m really not sure what to think. I see babies as almost pure potential, so there is that element of wastefulness, but then again, most of the time that potential is just wasted.
Makes discussions on a place like this all the more interesting though.
I also think it depends a lot on what you think of identity. I view myself more as a malleable collection of memes and ideas as opposed to a physical set of atoms, does that mean me as a baby I don’t really identify with as ….me? Are babies anyone yet? (these are non-rhetorical questions btw)
Such an interesting discussion. I lurk on LW, don’t really post because to be honest, there’s not much I have to contribute that isn’t already said by others.
But I just wanted to say how interesting it is to compare how this community discusses the subject is in such contrast to almost every other forum, despite the variety of opinions on the matter.
As for the issue, I remember when I was young (really young) I saw a doco on a third world country, where the mothers would kill their babies if they were female, as they weren’t considered an asset in the way that males were, (post birth abortion??) and in my very young mind, it just made striaght forward sense, that a family that can barely survive shouldn’t burden themselves further unnecessarily. which probably means when I was young I didn’t value human life that much. Now I’m really not sure what to think. I see babies as almost pure potential, so there is that element of wastefulness, but then again, most of the time that potential is just wasted. Makes discussions on a place like this all the more interesting though. I also think it depends a lot on what you think of identity. I view myself more as a malleable collection of memes and ideas as opposed to a physical set of atoms, does that mean me as a baby I don’t really identify with as ….me? Are babies anyone yet? (these are non-rhetorical questions btw)
But good show everyone