Thanks for sharing these thoughtful, debatable, socially and culturally loaded issues and then most important is the role of religion. It gives us lots of research ideas as well.! Which societies would choose one vs the other option? Why? Which individuals? The level of religiosity and its relation to these decisions to be made. Individuality vs collectivism?.... Best Zohreh Dr. Eslami From: Burke, Mack <Mack_Burke(a)baylor.edu&gt; Sent: Saturday, April 13, 2024 5:41 PM To: project.leer(a)lists.it.utsa.edu; project.diverse(a)lists.it.utsa.edu Subject: [Project.diverse] Bioethics Some of you might like- Just got back from judging a Bioethics competition that my dear friend and colleague Dr. Carter got me roped into...it was a great multi-cultural cross section of very smart philosophy students- some the most anti-fragile ZjQcmQRYFpfptBannerStart This Message Is From an External Sender This message came from outside your organization. ZjQcmQRYFpfptBannerEnd Some of you might like- Just got back from judging a Bioethics competition that my dear friend and colleague Dr. Carter got me roped into...it was a great multi-cultural cross section of very smart philosophy students- some the most anti-fragile undergrads I have seen in years- a couple prepping for med school- descend on Baylor from across the country to debate incredibly difficult questions there is no clear answer- like: is it morally ethical for someone with a disability to use germline genetic therapy/genetic editing to remove the genetic basis of their disability and eliminate future suffering for their offspring and for future generations- basically eradicating it. An extension of current logic in many areas. For example, there are no people with Down's Syndrome for example in Iceland and many Nordic countries. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/down-syndrome-iceland/<https://urldefense... And is a recuring issue in the UK- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/28/mps-bring-bill-to-ban-late-... And likely will see it as a robust issue in the US as there is a strong pro-life disability advocacy group- especially among traditional Catholics and the faith based community which will put the issue of disability and choice on the front burner- who in a related issue- just put out an encyclical letter critiquing gender theory. People forget- social justice is a deeply religious idea- the person who coined the term was Luigi Tapreli- a Jesuit priest in 1848 and serves as the bases of Catholic Social Teaching. In today's language- it is a cultural appropriation in the way it is currently being used politically. So- expect more cultural conflicts on that front as those of faith reassert its original meanings. https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/vatican-human-dignity-docu... Interestingly- the counter point used in the Bioethics competition was from Elizabeth Barnes- a disability studies professor who is in the Philosophy Department at University of Virginia and the mere difference view. I was looking at some of her views- which are interesting- I had to do my own homework. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/677021?seq=16<https://urldefense.... Reminds me of Jim Kaufman's piece on Disability Chic- based on the fad going around in the fashion world of "Heroin Chic" at the time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin_chic<https://urldefense.com/v3/__... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09362835.2017.1283632<htt... and people giving themselves a disability- which is a mental illness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_integrity_dysphoria<https://urldefe... I think this was circulating some time ago- but not sure about its- veracity- https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-woman-who-put-drain-cleaner-in-her-eye... https://www.snopes.com/news/2015/10/02/jewel-shuping-blind/<https://ur... Strange times/strange issues and debates...MDB Mack D. Burke, Ph.D. Department of Educational Psychology Applied Behavior Analysis and Special Education Programs Behavioral Education & Assessment Research (BEAR Lab) School of Education, Baylor University