Amphipolis
2007-09-27 13:33:15
Gazzaniga’s illustration misses the mark. Home Depot would be the sperm and egg cell. After fertilization all the parts are there that are necessary for future development. Otherwise, the Home Depot illustration could as easily lead to the conclusion that infants are not human. And, as usual, he neglects to specify a better (less absurd?) benchmark than fertilization.
If you deny that a fertilized egg is human, you must explain what those non-human cells are that otherwise appear human, what benchmark they must achieve to become human, and why that particular benchmark was chosen over a dozen equally arbitrary benchmarks.
Youth is a normal human condition. We know all about it. How is it that otherwise rational people deny it?
