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carolineg

Listed below are comments made by carolineg between Wednesday, 4th February 2009 and Thursday, 30th July 2009.

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Caption Competition 1:20pm on 30 Jul 2009 "Crazy" by Seal.
David Bain's Brain Strain 11:46am on 09 Jun 2009 I think it is about the *likelihood* of reaching a potential (to be self aware, etc).

A human newborn, given basic nutrition, warmth, etc, is highly likely to be self aware within a few years.

A human foetus under 25 weeks, except in the case that one particular person (its mother) continues to gestate it, is unlikely to become self aware (to even survive).

A human gamete faces a one-in-millions chance that it will meet a gamete from the opposite sex, successfully implant in a womb and survive gestation and infancy to become a self-aware creature.

A pig, no matter what, will never reach what we deem to be a sufficient level of self-awareness.

Thus it is unacceptable to kill a newborn, but it is acceptable to kill pigs.

The two inbetween stages are tougher. This, of course, is why we have debates on abortion and whether or not "every sperm is sacred".

In the case of newborns who "sadly lack" potential, well, if they are actually brain dead, their life-support machines do tend to get switched off. (Whether or not it's then okay to eat them, is perhaps a different matter.)

In the cases of infants with lowered brain function or capability, there can be difficulties in detecting just what potential they might have. So we err on the side of caution, precisely because they are human beings and human beings are creatures that are *likely* to be, or become self-aware.
Caption Competition 3:47pm on 28 May 2009 A new Italian trainer has the footballers practicing their "diving" technique during a quiet moment in the airport.
Caption Competition 2:28pm on 19 Mar 2009 Peter Pan regretted his rude remarks when he saw Tinkerbell's new friend.
Caption Competition 07:58am on 13 Feb 2009 A growing body of evidence continues to support the new theory that tigers built Stonehenge.
Caption Competition 1:41pm on 12 Feb 2009 Unable to utilise their stripes in the snow, tigers experiment with alternative camouflage techniques.
Caption Competition 2:53pm on 05 Feb 2009 And now we go to the bulls' bubble-blowing event, where last year's silver medallist is preparing for his first attempt.
Caption Competition 2:45pm on 05 Feb 2009 A struggling retailer in Birmingham provides evidence of bovine protection racket scaring off customers.
'I've never joined Facebook because...' 11:25am on 04 Feb 2009 Oh, and I have enough procrastination activities in my life already.
'I've never joined Facebook because...' 11:24am on 04 Feb 2009 I've never joined Facebook because I have no desire to be contacted by old acquaintances who suddenly, ten years on, want to be my friend. If we didn't like each other then, why are we going to like each other now? I'm already in contact with the people I wanted to remain in touch with.

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carolineg