gam@amdahl.UUCP (Gordon A. Moffett) (12/01/84)
> References: <290@pecosdg.UUCP> <5579@brl-tgr.ARPA> <420@utcsrgv.UUCP> > > >But now that medical science has crossed this barrier, where > >will it stop? Where should it stop? > > >Consider: X is severely injured in a car accident, and is completely > >paralysed from the neck down. He is offered the choice of life in > >a wheelchair, with only his facial muscles to control things, or > >the transplant of a baboon's body. He chooses the baboon, and we > >have a human head on a baboon's body. Is it human? Does the brain > >alone make it human? Should a doctor perform this kind of operation, > >if it's what X wants? > > >utcsrgv!dave It is pretty clear that That Which Makes Us Human is the human brain. So our baboon man would still be considered human. Even so, at some point we might have to make changes to our social ethics regarding What Is Human and What is (non-human) Animal. In particular the arrival of extraterrestrial ``intellegent'' (what does that mean?) life with throw our definition of humanness into question. -- Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,amd,sun}!amdahl!gam 37 22'50" N / 122 59'12" W [ This is just me talking. ]