March 7, 2009
Hi there,
It's not often that bioethical issues make the news, but when they do, they are highly controversial. One of the biggest in recent months has been the bizarre story of OctoMom, a California woman who gave birth to octuplets. The father is a sperm donor, as was the father, or fathers, of her other six children. Who's more to blame here? The doctor? The feckless mother? She has been heaped with abuse for her alleged greed and her evident irresponsibility.
But the ever-sensible Jennifer Roback Morse takes a different view. It's one of the shrewdest comments I have seen on this disturbing case and deserves to be spread far and wide.
Cheers,
Michael Cook
Editor
March 4, 2009
Hi there,
If serendipity didn't exist, I'd have to invent it. I was scratching my head about what to say in this week's newsletter when Francis Phillips's review of a recently-published book arrived via email. The theme of the author, British doctor and journalist James Le Fanu, is that man is inexplicable if he is simply material. At the same time, I read an article in the world's leading Science journal, Science, about "neuroscience and the soul".
The authors, one a scientist, the other a theologian, claim that science will soon prove that "all aspects of a person can be explained by the functioning of a material system". Neuroscience knows that there is no soul, no spirit, no "ghost in the machine". Actually, the fine print says that conclusive proof of this will take at least another 100 years, but the authors are ready to jump the gun.
The coincidence of these two articles illustrates one of the great dramas of our time: man's yearning for the transcendent versus a crass materialism. My guess is that it will not take a century to settle the issue. And at MercatorNet, we plan to defend human dignity by asserting tirelessly that we are not machines, animals, or cost centres, but beings with a transcendent value.
Cheers,
Michael Cook
Editor
We are a bit late with this update because something crashed on our site last night and it took a little while to be fixed -- by our trusty team of techies in Mumbai. Thanks, guys. There are other reasons for tardiness on this occasion, too, but it is convenient to be able to blame it all on technology. Who wants to admit that personal disorder has anything to do with it? (There, it’s out!)
Owning responsibility for one actions (or omissions) is part of human dignity -- our great theme song on MercatorNet. The other part is freedom, which is a theme in some of our latest articles. In Beware of twisted ideas of human freedom, Edmund Pellegrino answers the question about whether bioethics is an obstacle to human freedom. As he points out, “Ethics in general and bioethics in particular are … protections of freedom,” from a science or technology that would go too far. Bill Muehlenberg shows that the Sexual insanity that a false idea of human freedom has unleashed in society was predicted well in advance by wise heads. And my article, Hillary Clinton goes to Beijing - again, argues that ignoring the human rights, or freedom, of the Chinese while you fix the economy and ecology does not even make economic sense in the end.
February 25, 2009
Hi there,
The other night, Gmail crashed for about 2½ hours. I was intensely annoyed and used some rich language, but when I cooled down, I realised that this had never happened to me before. Once upon a time, whenever my email crashed, it took me 2½ hours of my own time to fix it. Now I expect perfection. Thank you, Google.
One of the impressive minds who makes Google tick is Jonathan Rosenberg, its Senior VP for Product Management. His recent essay on Google's role in world history is a must-read. With the development of products like the iPhone, he says, “every fellow citizen of the world will have in his or her pocket the ability to access the world's information”. Using Google, of course. “Data is the sword of the 21st century, those who wield it well, the Samurai.” The problem is, how do you make sense of the data?
I don't think that this is a problem that Google's miraculous statistics will solve for us. In a turbulent world, what we need most is not reliable statistics but the wisdom to sort truth from falsehood and beauty from baseness. And you can't get wisdom by googling it. This is where MercatorNet comes in. We want to guide our readers toward a wisdom which will enable them to sift the mountains of data. In Rosenberg's words, “When every business has free and ubiquitous data, the ability to understand it and extract value from it becomes the complimentary scarce factor.”
Sounds absurdly ambitious? Yup. But Rosenberg concludes his essay on an absurdly ambitious note: “Our challenge is to steer incessantly toward greatness, to never think small when we can think big... and from this task we will not be moved.” That's just about sums up the way we feel, too.
Cheers,
Michael Cook
Editor
February 21, 2009
Hi there,
I hope that you enjoy this weekend’s selection of articles. There is Francis Phillips’s review of the recent book Heroes, by Simon Sebag-Montefiore; a plea for a bit more balance in the debate over climate change by earth scientist Javier Cuadros; and a thoughtful essay on President Obama and America’s culture wars, by Mark Stricherz.
I must confess that I was more than a little surprised in December when one of our most popular articles of recent times turned out to be a profile of the Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao -- a tough little guy with a big heart. Manny’s fans amongst our readers will be interested in learning that he has just been awarded an honorary doctorate by a local institution, Southwestern University, because of his “noble, unwavering humanitarian acts.” I wonder if his opponents had say in this...
One feature of MercatorNet which you might not be aware of is a video. There’s a lot of junk on YouTube but from time to time you may stumble across a gem worth displaying on our home page. If so, please tell us.
Cheers,
Michael Cook
Editor
February 18, 2009
Hi there,
I'm back on deck, after a three-week break in Sydney. Thanks very much to Carolyn Moynihan for doing two jobs while I was away. A lot of people from overseas have asked if I had been affected by the fires which swept through the outskirts of Melbourne. No, but it was a heart-choking reminder of how fragile we and how powerful Nature is. An American expert describes Australia as a fire continent built to burn with flames whose “scale and savagery have no equal on earth”. The number of victims is still unknown, as many people were cremated in their homes, cars, or backyards. It could be as many as 300. This amateur video gives you some idea of what happened.
Australia is an erratic place. Now the problem is massive floods.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akofPNrnTRw
On another note, MercatorNet New Year's resolutions for are still aglow. We'd like to expand the coverage of our newsletters, Family Edge and BioEdge. We need a couple of volunteers who can write 3 or 4 crisp, short articles each week. It's great training in journalism. If you are interested, get in touch with me or Carolyn Moynihan.
Cheers,
Michael Cook
Editor, MercatorNet
This week we find ourselves caught up in the romantic themes of St Valentine’s Day. Guiomar Barbi Ochoa started it with her true confession, “Finding Mr Right”. Michelle Martin, mother of ten, reminds us of the days -- not so long ago -- when a fellow didn’t have to mint money to take a girl out on a date. They still don’t, if they follow her tips in “Valentine’s Day: remember this”. And Lea Singh points out that professional women need to check their priorities if they want a husband -- and most do. In “Career choice…” she tells us that it worked for her.
It is also movie award season, with the British-Indian outsider, Slumdog Millionaire, promising to scoop the pool. Anjalee Lewis writing from Mumbai, scene of the story, gives us a rundown on its local reception. In “Red carpet morality” Barbara Lilley finds herself seriously disenchanted with the “Brangelina” brand and suggests what to do about it.
Provocative commentaries on current affairs from the Philippines and Australia highlight the need for good values and constructive action.
Since everyone else has had a go at Pope Benedict over the Lefebvrist bishop who denies the Holocaust, I thought MercatorNet ought to have a say in the matter too. Just for a change I have considered him as a pastor, not a politician.
Among our articles this week I would particularly recommend “reinventing campus sexual culture” -- Ryan Anderson’s encouraging account of how students at some top universities in the United States are, with the support of some professors, making space on the campus for sound sexual values and living. He has some eminently practical advice on how to go about this.
In recognition of the Darwin anniversary being marked this year, we have one of an occasional series on the problems of his theory of natural selection -- by an octogenarian (with a blog) who has dealt with his work professionally in the past and made it one of her life’s interests. Dorothy Vining’s essay is comprehensive and informative.
And Mary Hinton offers us a view of President Obama from the perspective of her African American mother, for whom he represents a very particular hope.
Condolences to all those in the frozen wastes of the Northern Hemisphere; it’s very hot Downunder and I am not sure which is least conducive to working.
While governments and interest groups grapple with the great problems of the day -- the global recession, terrorism, wars -- the daily decisions of individuals are shaping the values that will either solve these problems or make them worse.
We have two articles this week about parents coping with more or less disabled children, and not merely coping but growing in moral strength and stature. Monica Regnal writes cheerfully about life with two adopted daughters with Down syndrome and a natural daughter. Francis Phillips, who herself has two children with special needs, reviews a book by a father who says his completely helpless young daughter “brought out the magnanimous, tender and heroic features of human nature in those around her.” These are virtues we need to see more of.
By contrast, as Dia Boyle points out, the colossal mess in Washington’s Mall after the Obama inauguration illustrates the social cost of individual acts of irresponsibility. Responsibility is also the issue in Jennifer Roback Morse’s riposte to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s foot-in-the-mouth claim that funding birth control would help stimulate the economy. More likely it’s an investment in irresponsible sex, says Morse. The threat of birth control ideologues to the consciences of health care workers is a real one, writes Nancy Valko, especially if President Obama signs the so-called Freedom of Choice Act.
MercatorNet has a wide variety of contributors, among them India journalist Nirmala Carvalho, who has contributed stories on the persecution of Christians in Orissa and the “gendercide” arising in India from sex selection abortions. This month she was one of two women awarded the Graham Staines award for Peace, for raising awareness of human rights violations against women and other minority groups in India and throughout the world. Congratulations, Nirmala.
As President Obama settles into his job at the White House we have a lot of advice for him and not a few questions about where his administration will take the United States of America. There is advice on closing Guantanamo (although polls show barely half of Americans are sure this is the right thing to do); on the economy (rather tough stuff); and on foreign policy from Stratfor (Pakistan is the wild card, it seems).
Our questions centre on one of the key principles of MercatorNet, human dignity. As the Editor, Michael Cook, says in his piece, The Challenges Ahead: “This is an historic opportunity. As the leader of the world’s most powerful nation, President Obama can set the agenda for human dignity in many areas, domestically and internationally. But will he?” Mr Obama’s inaugural speech did not give us much, beyond sentiment, to go on: “Soothing words, obscure directions, historical continuity. Is this the Change We Can Believe In, or is there something else in the mail?”
Yes there was. Yesterday, one day after the infamous Roe v Wade anniversary, the new president signed an executive order to lift the Mexico City policy, a Reagan-era policy that prohibits taxpayer funds from going to organisations that promote or perform abortions overseas. It was last lifted by Bill Clinton and reinstated by George W Bush. In spite of everything Mr Obama has said in the past in favour of liberal abortion policies, we had hoped his desire for inclusiveness and national unity would prevent such a step. He has immediately dashed hopes and made it more difficult to trust his judgement on other issues.
In view of developments in America and around the world it’s clear that we cannot depend on virtue in high places. It has never been more important for grassroots efforts to build an international culture that respects human dignity. That is what MercatorNet is all about.
A thought experiment about marriage
24 May 2012
A world in which sexual intimacy could not produce children would never have come up with the idea of marriage.
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9:25:14 PM
March 7, 2009
Hi there,