Each year, Gerber, the baby food manufacturer, holds a “cute baby” photo contest, the winner of which receives a $50,000 cash prize and may appear as a “spokesbaby” to advertise the company’s products. Media coverage of the contest is usually limited to sweet human-interest pieces. Not this year. The contest made huge news when Lucas Warren, a child with Down syndrome, was Read More ›
February 12 is the birthday of Charles Darwin, aka Darwin Day, which we recognize each year as the occasion for naming a Censor of the Year, or COTY. As Darwin himself said, in a scientific context, “A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question.” But through Read More ›
I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrong-doing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly, I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion. —The Hippocratic Oath The Read More ›
We’ve seen it happen: A new assault on the sanctity of human life appears—say, infanticide being promoted in a major bioethics journal, or officials in Iceland bragging that no children with Down syndrome are born there, thanks to prenatal genetic screening—and some horrified opponents respond in horror, “That’s what the Nazis did!” It’s an easy accusation to wield, but rarely Read More ›
We used to think of interracial marriage as a sign of social progress. Now, thanks to The New York Times, we know it’s just another sinister tool of white supremacy.
Over the past few years, it seems like every week our media-academia complex discovers a new addition to the list of “things that seem completely innocuous but are actually white supremacist.” In recent months, for example, we’ve learned that math, logic, and even square dancing are “weapon[s] of white supremacy.” (You should feel a pang of guilt for every time you do-si-doed in elementary school.)
Read More ›This is the untold story of tax reform: It’s a boon for freelancers, contractors, and the 24 million American workers who participate in the “gig economy.” Next year, Uber drivers, Web designers, and contract janitors will see large reductions in their taxable income, leaving them more money to spend taking care of their families or reinvest in their businesses. Contrary to the Read More ›
Joseph Fletcher (1905–1991) was one the most influential philosophers and bioethicists of the twentieth century. His advocacy blazed the path for many of the radical social transitions we are experiencing today. He gained fame as the prime proponent of “situational ethics,” popularly known as social relativism. But his work in bioethics eroding the sanctity of human life and promoting a Read More ›
President Donald J. Trump could care less about biotechnology. How else to explain his total failure to engage the most important and portentous biotechnological issues of our day? In fact, the Trump administration’s policy void on these issues is so complete the president hasn’t even taken the rudimentary step of appointing a bioethics advisory council to advise him, Congress, and Read More ›
