Zen Pencils by Gavin Aung Than for November 07, 2015
November 02, 2015
November 09, 2015
Transcript:
We are going to die. And that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of the Sahara. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats. ZZ Scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness… …that are here. - Richard Dawkins
waycyber over 8 years ago
Usually good stuff here. Dawkins? Not so much. Pseudo philosophy based on statistics.
mdhutton1949 over 8 years ago
Two fallacies in one simple phrase.“muder unborn babies”
First, murder is the illegal, premeditated taking of life. Abortion is not illegal.
Second, there is no such thing as an “unborn baby”…you might as well protest the number of “undead corpses” wandering the streets. Both describe stages in the progression of existence from zygote to corpse, and both need to pass certain milestones before an entity maybe named as such i.e. a baby needs to have been born and a corpses needs to have died.
“without the slightest thought”
Most, if not all, women give the matter serious thought before terminating their pregnancy.
When your arguments against an ages old medical practice are nothing more than appeals to emotion then you have removed yourself from the debate and entered into propaganda.
chromosome Premium Member over 8 years ago
The women I know who have had abortions did not do it thoughtlessly. They agonized over their choices. Also, the cartoon isn’t talking about the lives lost to abortion, but the statistical probability of what would be possible within all the eggs and sperm produced by humans.
Strider Keninginne Premium Member over 8 years ago
The Psalms in the Bible (as well as the book of Job) are profound on a level that Richard Dawkins can only grasp at.
benbrilling over 8 years ago
Why do those who are so concerned about “unborn babies” have so little concern for those who are born and living in poverty?
And how about all those who’s life gets cut short in wars before they ever have a chance to become poets and scientists.
And how about those in the future who will be suffering from global warming caused floods, storms, droughts, and mega-migrations?
nawsa Premium Member over 8 years ago
Dawkins is not anti-abortion. Fact is that hundreds of sperm are released in 1 ejaculation; most of woman’s eggs go to waste as the time necessary for the two 1/2 starter fetus to meet is limited, etc. Priest and nuns are probably responsible for millions never being even conceived. Nature has obviously allowed for far more than are needed.