Currently viewing the tag: "Life"
Peter Singer in his usual, counter intuitive way, asks if the next generation would be better off not-existing:
One of [South African philosopher David] Benatar’s arguments trades on something like the asymmetry noted earlier. To bring into existence someone who will suffer is, Benatar argues, to harm that person, but to bring into existence [...]
Buzzfeed’s “Top 23 Ways You’ll Die” highlights a curious issue around mortality. The top three causes of death – heart disease, cancer and stroke – are failing equipment while the next couple – auto accidents, self-inflicted harm, accidental poisoning – are social and mental.
I don’t remember the exact numbers, but even if we [...]
In an interview with the NYT, Sean Carroll noted that entropy and aging are related. Jerry Coyne complicates that equation:
There are several theories of ageing. The evolutionary “pleiotropy” theory says that it pays organisms to reproduce earlier rather than later, so genes that enhance early reproduction even if they cause later [...]
A moving, powerful article in Esquire on Roger Ebert, who lost his lower jaw to cancer four years ago:
But now everything he says must be written, either first on his laptop and funneled through speakers or, as he usually prefers, on some kind of paper. His new life is lived through Times New [...]
A few scientists are trying to pin down where the best places for life might be elsewhere in the universe:
“When people talk about ‘habitable zones,’ they mean where there’s liquid water on the surface. But there’s liquid water elsewhere in the solar system; it’s buried under thick sheets of ice on moons,” Francis [...]
About
Pop Bioethics, written by Kyle Munkittrick, is an effort to study the ethics of the continuing evolution of the human species via the lens of pop culture and be somewhat entertaining in the process.
Kyle's writing can also be found at Discover's The Crux, Slate's Future Tense, and at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. For questions or comments: comments [at] popbioethics [dot] com
All opinions, ideas, and words either explicit or implicit found within this website are my own and represent no other person, organization, or group.Categories
