tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post903169288131022511..comments2024-03-19T07:48:54.021-06:00Comments on Gus Van Horn: Quick Roundup 488Gus Van Hornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-18939996147516975772009-12-03T16:50:30.928-06:002009-12-03T16:50:30.928-06:00Mike,
I think there are two things going on. Firs...Mike,<br /><br />I think there are two things going on. First, many people ARE, basically, superstitious concerning their bodies. (And, so long as that's mainly the case, good luck legalizing the organ trade.) <br /><br />Second, it IS one's own body. It's what makes one alive and it is very much part of one's sense of self, for lack of a better word. I'd be shocked (not to mention, very inconvenienced) if, say, I donated an eye to enable a loved one to see, and found myself partially blind and scarred as a result. I'd be VERY uncomfortable about donating a kidney.<br /><br />For most people, deeply-held superstition combines with legitimate concerns for one's welfare and psychological concerns to make organ donation hard to contemplate and organ sales abhorrent to contemplate.<br /><br />That's my stab at it, anyway.<br /><br />GusGus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-64492101771315360792009-12-03T15:16:43.293-06:002009-12-03T15:16:43.293-06:00Oh, don't let me give you the wrong impression...Oh, don't let me give you the wrong impression -- what's happening to the Albinos is wholly abhorrent. My concern was with a parallel hypothesis: What if the owner of the body parts IS willing to deal?<br /><br />Your answer is along the lines of what I was thinking, but it seems almost too simple in the light of the clear societal resistance that exists to the concept. Simplicity is a virtue in science, but people don't always think objectively.Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10125745545009130612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-56876279555758534302009-12-03T11:18:42.214-06:002009-12-03T11:18:42.214-06:00"I don't think it's anyone's busi..."<i>I don't think it's anyone's business to 'approve' my documents, ...</i>"<br /><br />Well, in the sense that the storage space is Google's property, it is, of course, but I'm completely with you that, as a customer, I find that unacceptable.<br /><br />I already use Google Documents only rarely, and now, I guess I'll "not use" them even more often!Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-44985320906483177502009-12-03T11:03:10.662-06:002009-12-03T11:03:10.662-06:00>Don't Trust that Cloud
Sounds like user&#...>Don't Trust that Cloud<br /><br />Sounds like user's rights (or at least, their capabilities and convenience) are being obscured by the clouds. <br /><br />I guess that's what you give up in exchange for a free service. Personally I don't think it's anyone's business to "approve" my documents, so I'd switch to private hosting if that happened to me.mtnrunner2https://www.blogger.com/profile/10974435572236740294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-80367139708693308742009-12-03T10:32:02.964-06:002009-12-03T10:32:02.964-06:00Mike,
The basic Objectivist position, as I unders...Mike,<br /><br />The basic Objectivist position, as I understand it, is that since your life belongs to you, so does your body: If you want to sell an organ, you should be perfectly free to do so.<br /><br />See also this article on the subject by Craig Biddle, "<a href="http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4710" rel="nofollow">Altruism: The Morality of Suffering and Death (Exhibit 347R: Organ Donation)</a>," which considers the widespread idea that people should be forbidden from selling organs.<br /><br />The essential difference between such a trade in organs and what is going on in Africa has nothing to do with ideas like "inviolacy of the body" -- which, given the track record of the Catholic Church, is probably just a sneaky way of saying, "Your body is really God's property. Hands off."<br /><br />Rather, people are having their lives (and body parts) taken from them without their consent in Africa, which is plainly not the same thing as someone deciding that they will chance living the remainder of their lives with one kidney.<br /><br />GusGus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-54921924501463363982009-12-03T10:06:45.405-06:002009-12-03T10:06:45.405-06:00On the "albino body parts" subject...
I...On the "albino body parts" subject...<br /><br />I'm curious if you or any of your readers have any thoughts about the concept of body parts as a commodity.<br /><br />In society today, there is a concept that I will use the Catholic term for, for lack of a better: the "sanctity of the body." To a liberty-minded individual, the more salient meaning would appear to be the "inviolacy" of the body, or something inherent to the individual's right to live free of harm by physical force/injury. But that doesn't quite capture the "sanctity" element. For whatever reason, in (nearly) every culture on Earth, there is a sacredness to the body spanning the spectrum from mystical to profane. The purchase and sale of body parts is generally a black-market exercise here and now in 2009.<br /><br />I'm writing a novel that explores a culture where the body is just another commodity, and as such I realized my own perspective on this is very limited. (To serve the plot, in the world of the story, any part of the body except the brain can be artificially replaced, but the synthetics are never quite as good/strong/robust/resilient as an original organic part, so there are markets in both implants and transplants.)<br /><br />Even here and now in the world today, suppose a poor person was willing to sell his leg to a rich amputee for a substantial payoff... how would you consider that? Assume there was no overt coercion -- obviously the financial pressures of everyday life consititute some level of background duress, otherwise none of us would want for anything -- but otherwise the deal is on the up-and-up, functionally speaking.<br /><br />I'm interested in Objectivist or other perspectives, and it seems the albino parts "luck charm" story hits wide of the mark, but is on the same playing field.Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10125745545009130612noreply@blogger.com