The Fear of Suffering Is Driving Us Crazy

abortion, American Pediatric Association, animal rights, animal welfare, Belgium, bioethics, birth, California, Canada, Culture & Ethics, doctors, ethics, Finland, France, Gender Dysphoria, gender-affirming care, geographical features, glaciers, Holocaust, human exceptionalism, human life, insects, Jews, Journal of Medical Ethics, Life Sciences, mastectomies, Netherlands, Ontario, Oregon, organ donation, peas, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, plants, rivers, Sweden, unborn children, United Kingdom, Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
Our suffering phobia has triggered a harmful societal neurosis that has both subverted human exceptionalism and undermined societal common sense. Source
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MicroRNAs: A New Clue About Octopus Intelligence?

apes, biology, brain, central brain, cognitive abilities, Cris Niell, crows, cuttlefish, Dogs, dolphins, elephants, Grygoriy Zolotarov, intelligence, MicroRNAs, miRNAs, nervous system, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, neurotransmitters, Nikolaus Rajewsky, octopus, Oregon, RNA, science, squid, vertebrates, whales, William Rainey Harper
While octopus brains are very different from vertebrate brains, they share with vertebrates, a huge number of microRNAs. Source
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Scientific Racism and the Confederate Flag

A New Birth of Freedom, Adam Smith, Africans, Alexander H. Stephens, alt-right, Charles Darwin, Civil War, Confederacy, Confederate flag, Cornerstone Speech, Culture & Ethics, Darwinian evolution, dreamscape, eugenics, Evolution, Galileo, genocide, Harry Jaffa, Human Zoos, John West, March for Science, NASCAR, Nextdoor, Oregon, Portland, Psalms, Racism, religion, Seattle, Southerners, The Biology of the Second Reich, The Descent of Man, vacation homes, William Harvey
Alexander H. Stephens was Vice President of the Confederacy. In 1861 he delivered an oration justifying slavery and rebellion on scientific grounds. Source
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Why Intelligent Design Had to Be the First to Face the Guillotine

academic freedom, American Revolution, arson, consensus, conservatives, Darwinism, David Coppedge, Douglas Axe, free speech, French Revolution, God and Man at Yale, Günter Bechly, Intelligent Design, John Adams, looting, Marxism, Oregon, Portland, Richard Sternberg, rioting, Roger Kimball, Scott Minnich, Stephen Meyer, The New Criterion, The Origins of Totalitarianism, Thomas Jefferson, Tony Woodlief, University of Portland, Wall Street Journal, Wesley Smith, William F. Buckley Jr., Willmoore Kendall, Yale University
In Wesley J. Smith’s phrase, in the present cultural moment, we have witnessed “the French Revolution attacking the American Revolution.” Source
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Elk Goes Down; Darwin Breathes a Sigh of Relief

abolitionist movement, Afghan Hound, Black Lives Matter, Border Collie, Bronx Zoo, Charles Darwin, Christians, civil rights, Creativity, Darwinists, dominance, elk, Evolution, Human Zoos, John West, Judeo-Christian tradition, New York Times, Oregon, Ota Benga, pastors, Portland, priests, protesters, pseudoscience, racial hierarchy, Racism, scientific racism, scripture, statues, Wesley Smith
What is the evolutionary argument against unapologetic racism and the supremacy of whatever race can climb to the top? Source
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Suicide by Zoom — Technology and Dehumanization

abortion, assisted suicide, California, coronavirus, Culture & Ethics, dehumanization, Humanize, Medicine, Meera Shah, New York State, oncologists, Oregon, oxymoron, pandemic, patients, Philadelphia Inquirer, Planned Parenthood, silver lining, suicide, Technology, telehealth, telemedicine, Wesley Smith, Zoom
Some have seen a silver lining in the pandemic and welcomed its encouragement of medicine practiced online, potentially freeing doctors to work across state borders, and widening access to care (or virtual care) generally. I’m not sure that’s to be celebrated in its entirety. The trend toward “telehealth” undercuts the crucial personal relationship between doctor and patient, which had already been in retreat before the virus came along. There are other downsides, too, including lethal ones. As the Philadelphia Inquirer reports, “The pandemic is helping U.S. abortion-rights advocates achieve a long-standing goal: Make it easier for women to use pills to end pregnancies up to 10 weeks.” Get your abortion pills online — what could be more convenient? NPR approves, quoting New York physician Meera Shah with Planned Parenthood: “I…
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