Humanize

Scandal! “Science” Busts Allegedly Bogus Neurological Science

_{Wesley J. Smith
October 2, 2024
4}

This is how the scientific method is supposed to work. For years, a neuroscientist and National Institutes of Health official named Eliezer Masliah led the field in researching dementia, Parkinson’s, and other neurological diseases. His work became primary bases for developing experimental treatments, offering hope for these scourges of human aging. But now, Science reports that much of this research was mistakenly compiled — or worse. From “Picture Imperfect:” Over the past 2 years questions have arisen about some of Masliah’s research. A Science investigation has now found that scores of his lab studies at UCSD and NIA are riddled with apparently falsified Western blots—images used to show the presence of proteins—and micrographs of brain tissue. Numerous …

Bioethicists Push Psychedelics to Make Life “Interesting”

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 30, 2024
4}

We live in a hedonistic age in which pleasures — including of the most intense kind — are readily available. Yet, despite the supposed good times, we are increasingly anxious and depressed, to the point that addiction and suicide are considered symptoms of a profound mental health crisis. What to do? How about some regular doses of LSD? Three bioethicist/researchers write in Practical Ethics that not only are psychedelics a potential psychiatric medication — already being investigated scientifically — but should be considered “intrinsically valuable” as a means of living an “interesting life.” How? First, the experiences — what were once called “trips” — are profoundly aesthetic. From “Are Psychedelic Experiences Intrinsically …

Death by Nitrogen: Cruel or Death with Dignity?

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 30, 2024
1}

Alabama just executed its second murderer by nitrogen. It was reportedly not pleasant: Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was pronounced dead at a south Alabama prison. He shook and trembled on the gurney for about two minutes with his body at times pulling against the restraints. That was followed by about six minutes of gasping breathing. And yet, we are told that suicide by nitrogen in the suicide pod is peaceful and dignified. So, which is it? This is another example of what I call cruel and unusual death with …

Richard Weikart on Medicine’s Descent from Healing to Killing

_{Richard Weikart
September 30, 2024
2}

Whether to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia is one of the most culturally contentious — and important — public policy debates of our time. Supporters of legalization call it a compassionate “last resort” means of preventing unnecessary suffering and promoting autonomy. Opponents see the intentional ending of the lives of the ill as a profound abandonment and a path to eventually allowing death on demand. How did the so-called right to die become such a visible issue? Wesley’s colleague at Discovery Institute, Dr. Richard Weikart, has the answers. Weikart is emeritus professor of history at California State University, Stanislaus, and a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. He has published eight books, including, …

Medical Journal Pushes Conjoining Euthanasia and Organ Harvesting

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 27, 2024
2}

Back in 1993, my first anti-euthanasia piece, published in Newsweek, warned that if we legalized assisted suicide, organ harvesting would eventually be included as a “plum to society.” “Alarmist!” my hate mail screeched. “Slippery slope fallacy!” etc. Even those who agreed with my overall critique assured me it would never come to pass. And yet it did. Conjoining organ harvesting with euthanasia is now deemed so respectable it is even boosted at the highest levels of the medical establishment. JAMA Surgery just assured us that kidneys harvested from patients killed in hospitals — as happens in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Canada — work better and sooner. And remember, many of these killed donors were not terminally ill. “Kidney Transplant Outcomes Following …

The “Suicide Capsule” Claims Its First Victim

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 26, 2024
3}

The ghoulish Australian “doctor” Philip Nitschke has long been obsessed with making suicide readily available to anyone who wants to die. Indeed, years ago, he told NRO’s Kathryn Jean Lopez that he wanted what he called “peaceful” suicide pills sold in supermarkets, even to “troubled teens.” Nitschke also sold plastic suicide bags in Australia (which I helped cause to be outlawed when I busted him for his ghoulishness in the national media there in 2001). Subsequently, he traveled the world teaching how-to-commit-suicide classes and starred at international death-movement conventions. Awful. More recently, Nitschke made world headlines in the assisted-suicide-boosting media for inventing a “suicide capsule” that asphyxiates the suicidal person with …

Suicide Is a Problem. Left-Wing Policies Disguised as “Public Health” Aren’t the Solution

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 24, 2024
8}

Suicide is at a crisis level in the United States and around the world. According to the World Health Organization, more than 700,000 people committed suicide in 2019. In 2022, there were 49,476 self-inflicted deaths in the U.S. alone, or 14.2 per 100,000 people. At the same time, assisted-suicide activism enjoys ever higher visibility, continually promoted in the media and popular culture as the best way to “die with dignity,” resulting in an increasing toll. Each year, well over 20,000 people around the world die by assisted suicide or euthanasia — which are generally not included in suicide statistics. It is into this disturbing and paradoxical paradigm that The Lancet Public Health medical journal devoted an entire issue to suicide …

Delaware Governor Vetoes Assisted Suicide Legalization

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 23, 2024
3}

Suprise! Governor John Carney has vetoed legislation that barely passed in Delaware that would have legalized assisted suicide. From the Governor’s veto message: During my time as Governor, and since this legislation was first introduced, I have consistently opposed a state law that would allow physician-assisted suicide. I have always recognized, and do today, that this is a deeply personal issue. Supporters and opponents alike have thoughtful views on the subject, in many cases informed by their own painful, personal experiences. Over the past several years, I have listened to legislators, advocates, and constituents who have reached out to me and my team to share their views. I also followed the action of the Delaware General Assembly, where this legislation passed by just …

“Rights of Nature Tribunal” Seeks to “End Fossil Fuel Era”

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 23, 2024
3}

The nature-rights movement continues to advance, and that’s bad for human thriving. Now, a “tribunal” will be held in New York — coinciding with Climate Week NYC 2024 — to promote the rights of nature and undermine public support for fossil fuels. The tribunal’s website is typical of the anti-humanism that permeates the nature-rights movement. For example, the fundamental philosophy of nature rights — as elucidated at the website, is “that the interests of nonhuman beings are of equal importance to human interests.” So, pond scum, mosquitoes, trees, squirrels, grass, and scallops are equal to us. That’s self-loathing any way you look at it. Worse, adopting such a misanthropic approach to environmentalism would have serious consequences to human thriving. For …

Scientific American Harms Science by Endorsing Harris

_{Wesley J. Smith
September 18, 2024
5}

The science establishment continues to politicize “science” — and that ain’t good for science. In July, Nature — supposedly the most respected science journal in the world — endorsed Kamala Harris. Now, following the ideological leader, so has Scientific American. And what a sad joke the endorsement is. For example, the editorial repeats the lie that Trump told people to inject bleach to fight Covid. From the editorial: Trump touted his pandemic efforts during his first debate with Harris, but in 2020 he encouraged resistance to basic public health measures, spread misinformation about treatments and suggested injections of bleach could cure the disease. No. He. Did. Not. How can an editorial in a supposedly factually based scientific …

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Richard Weikart on Medicine’s Descent from Healing to Killing

_{Richard Weikart
September 30, 2024
2}

Sam Brownback on the Connection Between Religious Freedom and Human Rights

_{Sam Brownback
September 16, 2024
2}

In the modern era, religious freedom — the ability to live and act according to one's faith — has been seen as a profoundly important human right. To a disturbing degree, that is no longer true. No one has put more thought into this urgent matter of human freedom than my guest today, Sam Brownback.

Steven J. Buri on the Pro-Human Mission of Discovery Institute

_{Steven J. Buri
June 17, 2024
2}

For the last Humanize episode of the season, I thought it would be edifying to explore how Discovery Institute's institutional programs dovetail with the work of the Center on Human Exceptionalism. Who better to ask than our intrepid president, Steven J. Buri?

Robert J. Marks II and Zoltan Istvan on the Promise — or Threat — of Artificial Intelligence

_{Robert J. Marks II and Zoltan Istvan
May 6, 2024
3}

In this episode of Humanize, Wesley focuses on AI — artificial intelligence. Are we on the verge of an era if incalculable human progress because of the power of AI? Or are we threatened with being made obsolete and perhaps extinguished in an age of intelligent machines? Or, perhaps, a combination of both? The program features two experts who have different perspectives on these issues. Dr. Robert J Marks II is an AI enthusiast. An electrical engineer, Marks is the Distinguished Professor of Engineering in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University. His research supporters include NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the National Institutes of Health, the Army Research Lab, and the Office of Naval Research. He has consulted for Microsoft, and …

Thomas Linzey on the Nature Rights Movement

_{Thomas Linzey
April 22, 2024
2}

Most people support responsible environmental policies but may be unaware of how radical the leading edge of the movement has become as an increasing number of activists support granting personhood rights to nature. Is nature rights a subversive threat to human exceptionalism and our thriving or is it the next necessary step in society’s moral growth and key to preventing a catastrophic environmental collapse as its adherents claim? Let’s find out. Wesley’s guest is one of the primary founders of the nature rights approach. Thomas Alan Linzey, serves as Senior Legal Counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, an organization committed to globally advancing the legal rights of nature and environmental rights. He is the co-founder of the Community …

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