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Question posted on August 26, 2010; 1 response
Is it moral to use brain-enhancing drugs that have no negative consequences?...
Biology, Ethics Show

Question posted on July 22, 2010; 1 response
My question is straight forward and people rarely have trouble answering. What is life or what makes life to be life? Is it simply just living or is there more to its definitin that we haven't explored. What is life?...
Biology Show

Question posted on June 29, 2010; 1 response
In one hundred years, will an accomplished philosopher also have to be an accomplished neurologist, or does the subject have something to say independent of advances in brain science (posed another way, if we become ultra intelligent humans/machines with thinking...
Biology, Philosophy Show

Question posted on June 28, 2010; 1 response
Recent advances in scientific research claim to create "artificial life". They are only replacing DNA in living cells. I cannot find research that describes what life is, where it comes from, how it permeates inanimate molecules and makes...
Biology Show

Question posted on March 19, 2010; 2 responses
If, as Dawkins reminds us in "The God Delusion", our cellular self is completely renewed over time, should we absolve the criminal of his crimes after time has passed on the grounds that he is no longer the person that...
Biology, Existence Show

Question posted on March 19, 2010; 1 response
To my understanding, organisms evolve in order to adapt to their environment and its pressures. If that is the case, how come we are conscious? It seems like consciousness is an unnecessary add-on. Why aren't we p-zombies? P-zombies can do...
Biology, Consciousness Show

Question posted on February 17, 2010; 1 response
Hi, I'm wondering what is the purpose of moral philosophy assuming that our moral intuitions are mere products of evolution. Evolutionary psychology seems to explain our moral roots (genes that coded for cooperation helped the organisms in which they resided...
Biology, Ethics Show

Question posted on November 26, 2009; 1 response
A lot of people think we shouldn't conduct stem cell research or cloning based on the idea that man shouldn't 'play god.' My response; why not? Now, I'm an atheist, but even if we were to assume the bible were...
Biology, Ethics, Religion Show

Question posted on November 19, 2009; 1 response
Eugenics has a bit of a history for being unethical; between disputes over what makes people 'better' and outright genocide of those that don't make the cut, this is quite understandable. However, what about other methods of eugenics? I've recently...
Biology, Ethics Show

Question posted on October 8, 2009; 2 responses
Why doesn't knowledge of the obvious causal relationship between consciousness and brains destroy any ideas of an afterlife? ...
Biology, Consciousness, Religion Show

Question posted on September 24, 2009; 1 response
Why is an amoeba considered alive, but a car is not? The car is as complicated as the amoeba. It eats gasoline, and produces waste. It also has a reproductive system: by providing humans a useful service, cars have been...
Biology Show

Question posted on May 17, 2009; 1 response
Where moral codes come from? Are they something to aquire or are they inherently in our genes?...
Biology, Ethics Show

Question posted on May 12, 2009; 1 response
Do you think that it is morally wrong to store the DNA of innocent people on a central database? Living in Scotland, the law says that people who have been charged of a 'violent or sexual offence' can have their...
Biology, Ethics Show

Question posted on May 12, 2009; 1 response
The reason behind human appreciation of beauty is sometimes framed in evolutionary terms; we find a certain body type beautiful because it reflects good health, or we find a blossoming fruit tree beautiful because it can provide us with food....
Beauty, Biology Show

Question posted on April 1, 2009; 1 response
Richard Dawkins wrote in his “The Selfish Gene,” that people are essentially biological robots. If he is right then all of our thoughts are simply the result of cerebral and neurological processes. Electrochemical signals produced by entirely physical...
Biology, Rationality Show

Question posted on March 12, 2009; 2 responses
Suppose that a neuroscientist is studying love, and she discovers that romantic infatuation is caused by high serotonin levels, while attachment is caused by oxytocin. Has she actually learned anything about love? More generally, what is the significance of discovering...
Biology, Love Show

Question posted on February 23, 2009; 1 response
Complex language would seem to be beneficial to the survival of other species, so why are humans the only species with this trait?...
Biology Show

Question posted on February 13, 2009; 1 response
I'm passionately interested in Darwin and evolution, but have been bashing my head against the wall recently, over the objection that 'survival of the fittest' is a tautology. The answers to this that I've read state that 'fitness' doesn't mean: "those...
Biology Show

Question posted on December 6, 2008; 1 response
Is human cloning immoral? Or can it help more society rather than do it harm?...
Biology, Ethics Show

Question posted on November 23, 2008; 1 response
How can life be defined? What is the borderline between life and no life? Are virus alive? In human beings life starts in the conception? A person in coma or with cerebral palsy is alive? ...
Biology Show




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