What it Means to be Human
As most of you know, Bioethics International (BEI) empowers clinicians, scientists and policy makers to act responsibly by providing a bioethical framework to guide their decision-making. The framework centers on the human person, the human person as both a patient and a member of humanity. Because BEI deals with the allocations, decisions and technologies that directly affect the health and life of the individual person and humanity as a whole, it it is of importance to see what/who society considers a member of humanity and a person.
The Terasem movement hosted a ‘human rights day” to promote the inclusion into personhood those that (a) are of computerized substrate, (b) have been revived from biostasis, or (c) whose DNA varies significantly from human DNA.
Whereas the Terasem movement is advocating an expanded concept of the person to include computer hybrids, others are advocating limitations. An Alden March Bioethicist proposes excluding human embryos from personhood status because their inclusion “would cause a lot of problems.” The Institute for Science, Law and Technology agrees with limiting the scope of personhood to exclude human embryos, fearing “You could have people policing women’s behavior during pregnancy to be sure they don’t smoke or drink or do anything that could possibly harm the fetus.”
A recent article in the Medical Journal of Australia portrays the human person as a “potent source of greenhouse gas ![mother_inlaw_and_lau[1].JPG](http://www.bioethicsinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/mother_inlaw_and_lau[1].thumbnail.JPG)
emissions,” and proposes instituting a ”baby levy” or baby tax to pay for the purchase and maintenance of the trees needed to offset the child’s contributive pollution.
I have yet to see a mother or father pick up a baby and proclaim: “such a cute little polluter but we should have kicked in a few extra pennies for a computerized substrate.” Then again I am still relatively young so there is still time.
To say that there is a lack of consensus as to what constitutes a human person is an understatement. By Jennifer Miller, Bioethics International ©
Sources:
I’d understand if this was a joke, but since it’s not, it’s frightening to see how willing some people are to detach themselves from reality and experience. I once read a great statement: “Instead of learning from reality in all its aspects and building on it, human beings seek to manipulate reality according to coherent schemes fabricated by the intellect” and the passing of time is helping me to appreciate the wisdom and insight contained in that sentence. Keep up the great posts! Henry