Humanize | Page 3 | Discovery Institute

^{Wesley J. Smith
August 7, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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‘Plant Philosophy’ Denigrates Human Uniqueness

_{Wesley J. Smith
August 7, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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Lately, as scientists unlock the complexity of plant biology, we are witnessing equivalent advocacy with regard to plants. The latest example of such radical anthropomorphizing comes to us in a long article just published in Aeon that discusses "plant philosophy." Read More ›

a pile of carrots sitting on top of a wooden table next to a sliced up carrot

^{Wesley J. Smith
July 16, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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President Biden Is Not a Yam

_{Wesley J. Smith
July 16, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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There has been a lot of discussion about President Biden's declining cognitive abilities. That's certainly fair game and an important — nay, a crucial — election issue. But some have gone more than a step too far by using the odious V-word slur. Read More ›

Silhouettes of crude oil pumps at sunset

^{Wesley J. Smith
June 24, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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Medical Journal Editorial Urges Lawfare Against Oil Companies

_{Wesley J. Smith
June 24, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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A Perspectives editorial penned by law professors in the New England Journal of Medicine enters the fray again, this time, advocating lawfare by governments against fossil fuel industries. The authors take heart from a legal settlement between a Louisiana parish and oil companies. But this case is not the same thing at all as paying damages for climate change. Read More ›

^{Wesley J. Smith
June 17, 2024

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Steven J. Buri on the Pro-Human Mission of the Discovery Institute

_{Wesley J. Smith
June 17, 2024

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For the last Humanize episode of the season, I thought it would be edifying to explore how the Discovery Institute's institutional programs dovetail with the work of the Center on Human Exceptionalism. Who better to ask than our intrepid president, Steven J. Buri? Read More ›

^{Wesley J. Smith
June 3, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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‘Tobacco-Free Generation’ Establishes Age-Based Ban on Sale of Tobacco — to Adults

_{Wesley J. Smith
June 3, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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I don't smoke, but I am wary of efforts to prevent other people from so doing. Now, blue cities — and soon states, most likely — have hit upon a way to ban smoking known as "Tobacco Free Generation" (TFG). Read More ›

^{Wesley J. Smith
May 24, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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Too Many Climate Scientists Confuse ‘Science’ with Activism

_{Wesley J. Smith
May 24, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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Remember when a scientist admitted to removing nuance from a climate-change study because he believed that Nature would not publish it if he did not strictly follow the favored narrative of human-caused climate catastrophe? And now — perhaps in a reaction to that piece — Nature has published a cogent warning that too many scientists in the climate-change sector conflate "climate science" with "climate activism." Read More ›

Surgery, medical and a team of doctors in an operating room at the hospital for a medical procedure from patient pov. Face, mask and teamwork with a group of medicine professionals in an operation.

^{Wesley J. Smith
May 15, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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No, Doctors Shouldn’t Make Treatment Decisions for Incompetent Patients

_{Wesley J. Smith
May 15, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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Cardiologist and New York Times columnist Sandeep Jauhar has published a piece advocating that doctors and bioethicists be empowered to force treatment on some patients. He writes in the context of wanting to compel hospitalization on a schizophrenic patient with serious heart problems. From "Doctors Need a Better Way to Treat Patients Without Their Consent:" Read More ›

^{Wesley J. Smith
May 13, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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Colorado Town Learns the Harm Caused by Granting Rights to Nature

_{Wesley J. Smith
May 13, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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The nature-rights movement isn't about conservation or responsible husbanding of the natural world. Rather, it seeks to handcuff human thriving by preventing most uses of our natural resources. But it sounds soooo nice, doesn't it? Well, the Colorado town of Nederland has learned the hard way that granting "rights" to waterways impedes all kinds of beneficial projects. Read More ›

^{Wesley J. Smith
May 6, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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Again with the ‘Plants Are Intelligent’ Nonsense

_{Wesley J. Smith
May 6, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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Periodically, the mainstream media focus on advocacy for the idea that plants are intelligent and/or moral beings. For example, the New York Times ran a column some years back asserting that peas are persons. Why? Pea plants release chemicals in the soil that alert other pea plants of drought conditions. Read More ›

Medical Science Laboratory with Team of Microbiology Scientists Have Meeting

^{Wesley J. Smith
April 29, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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Bioethicists Want to Rule the World!

_{Wesley J. Smith
April 29, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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Bioethics has always been about granting "experts" in the field tremendous influence over public policy. And now, one of the most prominent practitioners in the field — the president and CEO of the Hastings Center Report, a prestigious bioethics journal — has urged that bioethicists expand their "expert" advocacy to issues of "global" importance. Read More ›

^{Wesley J. Smith
April 23, 2024

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Thomas Linzey on the Nature Rights Movement

_{Wesley J. Smith
April 23, 2024

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^{Wesley J. Smith
April 15, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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Belgian Health-Fund President: Euthanize Old People to Save Money

_{Wesley J. Smith
April 15, 2024
Human Exceptionalism

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Earlier this month, I noted that a U.K. columnist was pushing euthanasia for the elderly as a way of saving national resources. That call has now been echoed by a Belgian health-insurance official for one of the five mutual-fund companies that provide the country’s mandatory health- and disability-insurance policies. Read More ›