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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   34561 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 16, 2025

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You're defining "potential" very oddly here. Babies have the potential for sapience in the sense that, if things run their natural course, they will soon become sapient. There is no reference to probabilities or odds here--a baby in a very dangerous environment, with a 90% chance of getting killed before they turn 1, still has just as much "potential" for sapience as a safer baby. Similarly, someone under anesthesia has the same personhood no matter the caliber of the doctor operating on them.

I think his point here is that repeatedly having sex, if left to run it's natural course, will result in a baby.

So repeatedly having sex and always using birth control means you've deviated from the natural course in a way that prevents a baby from growing up

It doesn't prevent a baby from growing up though, it prevents a baby from being created in the first place.

"Natural course" is shorthand for a very complex concept I'll admit I can't rigorously define. But I do think it's intuitive that sex and embryos don't lead to babies in the same way. It's not just a question of progress, embryos being further along.

The problem with protecting the potential of personhood is that it starts even before conception.

This is what I take issue with. "Potential" of personhood, as commonly used, does not start before conception.

Yeah fair enough, it's not the greatest argument

I was mostly playing devil's advocate because I found his line of thinking interesting and kind of a funny way to run an idea out to the extreme end

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