Who are you kidding Martin? Most of the people on this planet are slaves to a banking system that expresses their worth as debt.They are the debt slaves of those who counterfeit their currencies.

We are witnessing it right now in the $ trillions,yet the scammers continue to deny it.

Arjay,

You wrote,

"Whoever thinks that there are too many people on the planet and aggressive pro-active steps are needed to save the planet,then they should be the first to volunteer for the great human cull,which many environmentalists are actively pursuing without including themselves ".

How about 2 children at around 30 years of age and balanced migration. That is 70,000 out ,then bring in 70,000.

No culling required. I guess you are religious, so by doing this you can use the brain that God gave you and you can preserve the beauty of God's natural world. Rather than your design of trashing the planet.

Cheers,

Ralph

Martin

Enjoy your sandpit demography 101.

The rest of the PhD's have moved way on.

Look up neutron bomb in your Funk and Wagnel, dude!

And then decide if asking your woman to only have one child per lifetime is a better option on an increasingly overpopulated and gridlocked planet.

Hint: only a drone could not answer this correctly.

>>And NONE of them seem to realise that their only point of agreement with each other is that they would do ANYTHING other than align with the straightforward science that life begins at conception<<

Wow, no kidding? I can see you must have been top of your biology class.

You've managed to miss the entire point of the argument, Stephan. Everybody knows life begins at conception: but this applies as pigs just as much as it does to people. I happily pay other people to murder and butcher pigs for me so that I can cook and eat their delicious flesh. Clearly, the taking of life only matters sometimes. Even hardcore vegans swat mosquitoes.

The question that matters is: when is it wrong to take a life? When that life is human? What about in self-defence? And if only human lives are sacred where does that leave the poor Vulcans? Where does it leave Spock, with a foot in both camps? Or is it when that life belongs to a person? If that is the case we have to determine what a person is. Is being human all there is to being a person, or are there other criteria to take into account beyond mere biology?

Cheers,

Tony

We have some interesting points here. Some people are defining a "person" as a fertilized egg, however Stephan seems unable to explain the difference between a fertilized egg and other diploid cells. What makes one more special than the other? Many seem to attach magical properties to the human race, which can only come from religious indoctrination.

Tony Lavis makes a good point that we value life not based on the level of human, but on other factors that we relate to as humans.

So, how do we value human life? Are all "people" equal, from a single fertilized egg to a 10 year old child to a 99 year old cancer patient? I think not. The fact is, killing anything (human or animal) is not nice. Nothing that is alive (including plants and bacteria) wants to die. The taking of life is justifiable, and necessary, however we must judge the value of all life before taking it. To me and many other people single celled organisms are not valued in the same way as multicellular organisms. You can extend these comparisons to other animal/species/developmental groups. Note: Without killing, none of you would be alive today. The fact that you pontificate due to the fact that you have drawn a different line in a grey area just shows your ignorance and pseudo moral superiority.

Stezza - I have a few issues with your arguments.

"Many seem to attach magical properties to the human race, which can only come from religious indoctrination." I think you will find there are a large number of people here whose views are not based on any sort of religious belief. There are many scientific reasons for distinguishing humans from other life forms as well as philosophical ones. Note that I am not saying value human life more, or less, than other life forms, just see them differently.

What is your definition of equality? Mine is to do with how we value someone and therefore do indeed see all humans as equal. Note; equal does not mean the same. My wife is somewhat different to me and I appreciate the differences!

"The fact that you pontificate due to the fact that you have drawn a different line in a grey area just shows your ignorance and pseudo moral superiority." Wow! Glad that's not a morally superior statement. Oh, wait...

Stezza, I'm glad you have an opinion in this area, and I realise it is an area in which people feel strongly, but I think you need to learn to value the opinions of others a little more and not resort to cheap shots and generalisations.