Michael Egnor
Can a Computer Think?
Jerry Coyne’s Blacklist of ID Scientists
Jerry Coyne: “…adherence to ID… should be absolute grounds for not hiring a science professor.”
Does Watson Have a Mind?
There has been much discussion about the recent appearance on Jeopardy of a computer named Watson. Watson has played against human contestants, and has provided uncannily accurate answers to some questions. Can Watson actually think? Does Watson have a mind?
Read More ›Pro-Abortion Scientists, Tucson, and the Philadelphia Abattoir
“But Tantalus, are you saying there are individuals who have more humanity than others?!”
Tantalus Prime and I have had a discussion about the moral status of abortion and the scientific status of the human embryo (shorthand for human zygote/embryo/fetus).
Read More ›What is a Human Embryo?
Tantalus Prime and I have been discussing abortion. Tantalus takes exception to my observation that human life begins at conception. He believes that the humanity of a human zygote/embryo/fetus isn’t a scientific fact, but merely a matter of linguistics:
The exact moment at which a fertilizing egg becomes human… is a horrible scientific question! Is asking the exact size beyond which a stream becomes a river a good scientific question? Of course not, because this is not an empirical problem but one of definition. Define the term human however you want, but don’t pretend it is an empirical question to be solved. Scientists can’t even agree on what constitutes a living organism, so what makes you think pinpointing the demarcation between human being and not human being is easily solved in a testable and falsifiable manner….
Tantalus doesn’t like to mix definitions with his science. Especially definitions that aren’t congenial to his ideology.
Yet a human embryo is surely something. But I’m not going to ask Tantalus that nasty beginning of life question. I’ll ask Tantalus a different question, hopefully one that he finds less irritating:
What is a human embryo?
There would seem to be 5 different things that a human embryo in the womb could be:
- The human embryo is part of the mother.
- The human embryo is not part of the mother, and is of a non-human species (i.e. not Homo sapiens).
- The human embryo is some hitherto unclassified thing, neither of any species nor a part of the mother.
- The human embryo is a proto-human being.
- The human embryo is a human being.
Let’s explore Tantalus’ dilemma:
Read More ›NCSE’s Joshua Rosenau on Abortion and Murder
In Which I Answer Tantalus Prime’s Queries About Abortion
Tantalus Prime is a graduate student in neuroscience. He’s been following my debate about abortion with Joshua Rosenau of the NCSE. He asks some questions about my views on the right to life that are worth answering. Tantulus: Egnor asserts that humanity is a discrete, not a continuous variable. If so, then would he kindly point to the exact point at which the human begins? After all, fertilization itself is a multi-step process. So, where is it? When the sperm breaches the oocyte membrane? Formation of the pro-nuclei? Initial DNA replication? Degeneration of the pro-nuclei membrane? Formation of the mitotic spindle? Fusion of the chromosomes? Division of the chromosomes and formation of the first daughter cells? This really should be Read More ›