Nope, you are engaging in the flawed reasoning by dressing this up as some highfalutin logic-chopping argument. You are completely wrong. It is perfectly reasonable to extrapolate sentiment from behavior--many people do it all the time. Google it.
Or would you like examples? Here's one. If I go out of my way to make something easier and better for someone, we would often conclude that I favor that someone and value that someone more than someone I don't do that for. Crazy talk, huh?
But thank you for making my point. What is the purpose of influence, if not to make things easier and better for oneself? I am fairly certain it isn't merely to satisfy some chilly and abstract notion of influence for influence's sake. Adults use their influence to shape their world comfortably for them, and not for children, and it is because they value themselves more, not "just because."
You earlier accused me of inflexible thinking. This is too good to be true.
I've explained how the "correlation does not imply causation argument" is flawed and your response is.. No it isn't.
There go those goalposts again
Now give me an example of how a world geared towards adults proves that children are less valued. And remember, A and B exist therefore B exists because of A... is a fallacy. We've established that.
Adults use their influence to shape their world for them and not their children
This is the most fun I've had in days. And I had sex today.
Yes. They would say it.I am absolutely certain that if asked whether to save a life of an unknown child or an unknown adult, overwhelming majority of people would say the child. If you don't believe me, make a poll about it.
You showed me absolutely nothing. It is I who showed you your errors.
They would do it too. In emergencies people tend to save children first. Emergency workers definitely save the children first.Yes. They would say it.
Foetuses are not children.But, again, notice that in the one instance where this actually happens in the real world with enough lag time between being informed of the problem and the action it produces to allow for thought, we enshrine in law that the adult's life matters more. And even if there isn't lag time--in an emergency situation, a doctor MUST act to save the mother and not even the latest-term unborn if it conflicts with saving the mother.
I have no problem with that. But it IS reality that we choose the adult.
A late-term fetus, one ready to be born, is as much a child as one out of the womb 5 minutes later. I am all for a woman's right to choose--or rather, in this case, protecting the adult ahead of the child--but I am not going to lie to myself about what we are doing. Late term, it is infanticide protected under color of law. The child could breathe and live on its own were it delivered, and that's all I need to consider it a child.They would do it too. In emergencies people tend to save children first. Emergency workers definitely save the children first.
Foetuses are not children.
What is wrong with the numbers game in Insurrection?Most of Trek's most famous quandaries are all over-thought, convoluted derivatives of the trolley car dilemma. The problem is, none of them are written very well.
"Tuvix," is a good example. In this case, the person on the side track and the person at the switch were one in the same. And Tuvix was absolutely right. In no free society should a person ever be forced to sacrifice his life to save others. Call it selfish, weak, whatever, but the minute someone forced death upon him (especially if that someone is a member of the armed force) the free society is dead.
But, like true Star Trek miss-the-mark fashion, the issue gets weighed down in silly magical what-ifs that only obfuscate. So the initial issue is lost.
Same goes for "Dear Doctor." If Phlox's option was ultimately to forsake one species to save another, then he took the most ethical and fair option by taking himself out of the equation.
Insurrection is another one. It plays strictly to the numbers game and completely ignores the ramifications of the unique culture they'd be destroying. Why? Because the Ba'Ku were affluent white-bread yuppies from Santa Monica hanging out at the Renaissance fair. There was nothing about them that showed they were a uniquely evolved species with their own culture other than they were really good at hacky sack.
This is why I hate it when Star Trek tries to wax philosophical. It's so fucking bad at it.
A late-term fetus, one ready to be born, is as much a child as one out of the womb 5 minutes later. I am all for a woman's right to choose--or rather, in this case, protecting the adult ahead of the child--but I am not going to lie to myself about what we are doing. Late term, it is infanticide protected under color of law. The child could breathe and live on its own were it delivered, and that's all I need to consider it a child
I posted one in the Prime Directive thread, as PD was heavily involved in this bad decision.So... how about those bad decisions by starship captains, hmm? I remember discussing those once upon a time.![]()
And...?Starfleet and/or Dougherty decided to relocate the Bak'u from their home without their consent because their population was relatively small, especially in comparison to the billions of Federation citizens who would benefit from the planet's resources.
Kor
It was so bad that a Paramount executive brought it up O_o
We would like to better establish why the future of six hundred Ba’Ku is so
important. Currently it is unclear why Picard is so passionate about the future of
this particular race. The “blood feud” between a few hundred Son’A and six
hundred Ba’Ku seems like nothing more than a gang fight. Numerous
civilizations have been eliminated by previous Star Trek megalomaniacs, so what
makes the Ba’Ku special? To be blunt, with only six hundred people in the gene
pool, the Ba’Ku would inbreed themselves into extinction in a few generations.
Perhaps, their settlement is larger. Or maybe, the normally passive
Ba’Ku provide Picard with a fantastic new battle technology in the third act. This
would make them a more active participant in the finale and more important to
the story. However we proceed, the future of the Ba’Ku needs to be crucial to the
big picture in a fundamental way. Let’s discuss.
The point is that we are supposed to fall on the side of the 600. That is the "moral" choice our heroes make, and we "should" agree.
Why should we fall on the side of the 600 and agree with the Star Trek heroes? Logic matters more than morals. If we have no reason to agree with a decision, we should not.It was so bad that a Paramount executive brought it up O_o
From a memo to the Star Trek Team:
The point is that we are supposed to fall on the side of the 600. That is the "moral" choice our heroes make, and we "should" agree.
But each life has the same value. So more lives means more important.The point of Picard's "how many does it take" speech was supposed to be that the value of lives shouldn't be reduced to mere numbers.
To me, his speech sounded like an angry Tootsie Pops commercial. "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop, Admiral, before it becomes wrong? A thousand? Fifty thousand? A million? How many licks does it take, Admiral?"
Kor
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