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Originally Posted by raytri";p="
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Originally Posted by ForceoftheTruth";p="
Brain stem activity does constitute personhood (morally, not legally).
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Well, then, prepare for a neverending war over abortion. You cannot win with such a stance if you attempt to make it a basis for public policy. Too many people (myself included) think that a brain stem just means you're a functioning biological machine -- a sack of meat. Personhood requires consciousness and self-awareness.
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The brain is made of nerves. Nerves, in turn, are made of cells, and cell division is what drives fetal development. Some level of consciousness must exist from conception, therefore.
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That's illogical. A synapse is not conscious, nor does it create consciousness. It's the interaction of millions of synapses, connected to other brain structures such as those that supply memory and stimuli, that create consciousness. |
That is consciousness as we have it. Animals with only one cell have some level of consciousness. Given how human development progresses, it follows that consciousness evolves rather than appears suddenly. Actually, we are all biological machines on a physical level. Consciousness and self-awareness are, for the purposes of science, biological phenomena.