V: Thoughts on Embryonic Stem Cell Matters, Conclusion

See parts 1 , 2, and 3 of V's guest commentary. I know that there will still be people who may say, "Don’t try to confuse me with statistics or inconsistencies. Sperm meets egg, life is formed---what's not obvious about that? Why complicate the issue?" To them I have this to say---Our history is littered with phenomena that once appeared patently obvious but were later shown to be false. For instance, till relatively recently (in the larger scheme of things), people were put to death for suggesting that the sun may not revolve around the earth. I mean, look at it. Everyday it comes up on one side, traverses an arc and goes down the other. What’s not obvious about the fact that it revolves around the earth? Correct? But we now know that this seemingly obvious and tremendously seductive notion is wrong. Because people like Aryabhatta and Copernicus saw that the neatly packaged belief (of earth as the center of the universe) didn't explain certain seasonal events or eclipses or some movement of the stars, and this led them to think of other models of celestial motion that would account for all the observations. And there are other similar examples---such the idea that the earth is round. But anyway, the point to make is that organized religion has always been quick to label intelligent quest as heresy. But it has been, for as long as we existed, the investigation of inconsistencies that has revealed to us the greatest of truths. Tags: Stem Cells, Science, Politics, IVF, Bush, Tony Snow, Snowflake babies