From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Oct 11 2005 - 14:08:29 BST
Platt previously:
> I guess that means you don't subscribe to the binary logic of life or
> death. Which is too bad in a way because the MOQ says better to be live
> than die -- the driving motivation of moral evolution.
Poot:
> correct me if I'm wrong, but I dont think it is such a clearcut subject as
> stated. Many that come out of the "shallow" end of the gene pool are
> eliminated naturally, by illness, genetic mutation, "accidents",etc.
Yes, they die because they have to, not because the want to.
> If you think about the theory of natural selection, then it is not
> "better" to live than to not live all the time.Any creatures which are not
> suited to living(unfit) will be more likely to die, because it is not
> beneficial that they're genes be passed onto afurther generation. Although
> most humans would want to continue living.... and we have since altered our
> medical sciences to eliminate much of this natural selection.
As Pirsig points out, life overcame inorganic death by finding methods to
propagate itself from one generation to the next, motivated by the desire
to live rather than die.
> In seemingly popular belief here in North America, it is always better to
> live than to die. Euthanasia is something we would priveledge our pets
> with, but not ourselves because it is "better" to live. I dont mean to
> apply this to every medical situation, but to things similar to those
> living in vegetable states, or maybe just above that.
Given a morality that says each person is responsible for his own life, I
see no objection if someone leaves instructions saying if she is in a
vegetative state should would wish to die.
Platt
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