| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Andres64" |
| Date: |
06 Oct 2005 03:22:33 PM |
| Object: |
OT: Stem cell research... |
Jack's Essay: In the Name Of Science - 10/6/05
When the federal government proclaimed that they intended to limit stem
cell research for moral reasons, I thought of the usual stuff: The
church's hostility towards Copernicus and Galileo.
Joseph Stalin set Soviet biology back for decades by insisting that his
scientists support the quack evolutionary theories of the scientific
charlatan T. D. Lysenko.
But most of all, I thought of my hero: Ignaz Semmelweis. Never heard of
him? Well, if your momma lived past childbirth, he is a big part of the
reason why. He was a young doctor in an obstetrics ward in a Vienna
hospital back in 1847, when he noticed something.
Mothers whose babies were delivered by midwives generally did fine.
Mothers whose babies were delivered by doctors were dying like flies
--more than ten percent of them died of infections. Why was this?
Nobody knew about germs back then, but Semmelweis noticed that his
fellow doctors would perform autopsies, wipe their hands on their
aprons, or not at all, and then go examine new patients. Diseases
spread like wildfire.
Semmelweis ordered his doctors to start washing their hands with
disinfectant. The mortality rate dropped to less than one percent. He
should have been a hero.
But he wasn't. The other doctors bitterly resented being made to wash
their hands. Some of them said they didn't believe his theory, in
spite of the evidence. They said God determined who lived and died. And
he was fired from his job.
The good doctor became so depressed he had a nervous breakdown, and was
put in an insane asylum. He resisted, and the attendants beat him up so
badly that he died.
Now I have no idea how Ignaz Semmelweis would have felt about stem cell
research. I can tell you this, though.
Those so-called doctors who destroyed him, and who fought this crazy
idea that they should wash their hands?
They would oppose it.
http://jackshow.blogs.com/jack/
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| User: "quibbler" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Stem cell research... |
06 Oct 2005 08:14:05 PM |
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In article <1128630153.461329.69260@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
andresc64@excite.com says...
Jack's Essay: In the Name Of Science - 10/6/05
When the federal government proclaimed that they intended to limit stem
cell research for moral reasons, I thought of the usual stuff: The
church's hostility towards Copernicus and Galileo.
Joseph Stalin set Soviet biology back for decades by insisting that his
scientists support the quack evolutionary theories of the scientific
charlatan T. D. Lysenko.
I don't know if you made a typo, but Lysenko was an *ANTI-evolutionist*.
He considered the competition in evolutionary theory to be an
endorsement of capitalism and therefore subscribed to his own kooky non-
evolutionary and non-genetic theories.
--
"If you think your belief is based upon reason, you will support
it by argument rather than by persecution... But if your belief is
based upon faith, you will realize that argument is useless, and
will therefore resort to force."--Bertrand Russell
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| User: "Kevin Anthoney" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Stem cell research... |
07 Oct 2005 11:41:10 AM |
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quibbler wrote:
In article <1128630153.461329.69260@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
andresc64@excite.com says...
Jack's Essay: In the Name Of Science - 10/6/05
When the federal government proclaimed that they intended to limit stem
cell research for moral reasons, I thought of the usual stuff: The
church's hostility towards Copernicus and Galileo.
Joseph Stalin set Soviet biology back for decades by insisting that his
scientists support the quack evolutionary theories of the scientific
charlatan T. D. Lysenko.
I don't know if you made a typo, but Lysenko was an *ANTI-evolutionist*.
Sort of. He followed a brand of Lamarckism, which is still an evolutionary
theory, although nothing like Darwin's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism
He considered the competition in evolutionary theory to be an
endorsement of capitalism and therefore subscribed to his own kooky non-
evolutionary and non-genetic theories.
--
Kevin Anthoney
kanthoney[a]dsl.pipex.com
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| User: "Andres64" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Stem cell research... |
07 Oct 2005 09:04:19 AM |
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quibbler wrote:
In article <1128630153.461329.69260@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
andresc64@excite.com says...
Jack's Essay: In the Name Of Science - 10/6/05
When the federal government proclaimed that they intended to limit stem
cell research for moral reasons, I thought of the usual stuff: The
church's hostility towards Copernicus and Galileo.
Joseph Stalin set Soviet biology back for decades by insisting that his
scientists support the quack evolutionary theories of the scientific
charlatan T. D. Lysenko.
I don't know if you made a typo, but Lysenko was an *ANTI-evolutionist*.
He considered the competition in evolutionary theory to be an
endorsement of capitalism and therefore subscribed to his own kooky non-
evolutionary and non-genetic theories.
I did not know that. I just heard the piece on NPR. Was he a
theist/creationist?
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