Beats me, but I seem to have attracted some pretty dedicated haters on this site recently, so I’m assuming one of them.

I literally just did in the comment that you replied too.

That’s a very interesting subject to explore. If you want my personal opinion on it, free will is an artifact of our limited nature and the resulting inability to consciously perceive how everything fits together in the big picture. It may not necessarily be true, but we also have no other way to live than to assume we can make decisions about what is a good and a bad idea, such as deciding that jumping off a cliff is a very bad idea which will likely result in our death.

we’re a few steps away from genetic manipulation on a wide scale

That actually happens to be within my specific area of study, and you may be overstating things. We’ve only just scratched the surface of genetic manipulation, and nobody really knows how long it will take before we can design effective genetic code deliberately. So far we have determined the nucleotides which build the basic structure of DNA, and found correlation between certain blocks and traits exhibited, but it’s not quite as simple as cutting and pasting those blocks like you’re writing computer code. We have also found further layers of ‘information storage’ within DNA which relates to how those nucleotides are arranged, called epigenetics, which we barely know anything about at all. As things stand with our current level of knowledge, we have established an extremely extensive testing regime for any novel genetic product which takes decades to complete, and which nearly every product tested so far has failed to complete, often due to unexpectedly resulting in sterility and death. It’s a very exciting science, and I have great hopes for what it can accomplish if we don’t kill ourselves first, but it’s a stretch to suggest that it’s just around the corner.

I think people are getting their wires crossed by bringing prior bias into this discussion here. While I do agree with what you have said here, my personal understanding of the argument for respecting the natural order comes from seeing people make decisions which will naturally lead to their own inability to survive/procreate, then getting mad at others for failing to respect those decisions.

Yea, you’re definitely just fishing for an argument.

Arf Arf Arf!

Edit: And just to note, I actually did engage with someone else who replied to my initial comment, who wasn’t just blatantly fishing for an argument like you. Go look there if you want to see discussion over an example.

No, I think you’re behaving like a sea lion.

Certainly, and the consequences of such are also a part of the natural order. Unless you want to argue that free will is a myth, you ought to seriously consider working towards making better decisions rather than complaining about how things are.

I don’t think you’re understanding what I’ve said here…

What? O.o

In the broadest sense possible, the laws of physics and the world that is formed as a result.

It is certainly hard to swallow as an individual, but consistently rejecting natural selection through technological intervention does eventually create significantly greater crisis. It’s a very difficult problem with modern medicine, where we can always keep more people alive, but the resources required to do so increase exponentially without limit. Death is ultimately one way that the natural world self regulates when any particular species outgrows it’s environment.

Huh? The whole thing is that the natural order enforces itself, so if you don’t respect it you will suffer from that.

Did narcissistic sociopaths use a crisis to pursue personal gain?

Whoa whoa whoa, have you been playing too many online games recently? Because your views are sounding a little bit extreme there…

Heavy lifting specifically works wonders for me.

Students finding those pictures and sharing them around causes significant behavioural problems in the school, regardless of what you think should happen.

Both things can be problems.

A small splash of amaretto in macaroni and cheese. Only about a cap full, or one teaspoon, gives it an amazing sweet and salty flavour.

I discovered this incredible recipe one night when I was preparing some mac-n-cheese only to discover I was completely out of milk, and had to substitute the next best liquid I had on hand.