"What it really means is pro-human-life. Abortion clinic bombers are not known for their veganism, nor do Roman Catholics show any particular reluctance to have their suffering pets 'put to sleep'. In the minds of many confused people, a single-celled human zygote, which has no nerves and cannot suffer, is infinitely sacred, simply because it is 'human'. No other cells enjoy this exalted status. But such 'essentialism' is deeply un-evolutionary. If there were a heaven in which all the animals who ever lived could frolic, we would find an interbreeding continuum between every species and every other. For example I could interbreed with a female who could interbreed with a male who could ... fill in a few gaps, probably not very many in this case ... who could interbreed with a chimpanzee. We could construct longer, but still unbroken chains of interbreeding individuals to connect a human with a warthog, a kangaroo, a catfish."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Richard Dawkins, "Richard Dawkins Chimpanzee Hybrid?", The Guardian, (January 2, 2009).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Transhumanism
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Transhumanism
32 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Transhumanism →
Related Quotes
"If you start putting very large numbers of human brain cells into primates, suddenly you might transform primates int…"
"Where people worry is when you get to the brain, the germ cells and the sentinel features that help people recognize …"
"Changing animals by putting human genes or cells into their structure is one way of making them more resemble the bit…"
"Transhumanism is defined as: The intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of …"
"It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God - but to create him."
"The more we learn about what we are, the more options we will discern about what to try to become. Americans have lon…"
"I not only think that we will tamper with Mother Nature, I think Mother wants us to."
"Buddhism is a faith tradition and set of spiritual practices whose core idea is that human beings can become more tha…"
"I believe in transhumanism: once there are enough people who can truly say that, the human species will be on the thr…"
"Francis Bacon and those who followed in the intellectual current of modernity were wrong to believe that man would be…"