A zygote and a laptop.

organism - definition of organism by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

or·gan·ism (ôrg-nzm)
n.
1. An individual form of life, such as a plant, animal, bacterium, protist, or fungus; a body made up of organs, organelles, or other parts that work together to carry on the various processes of life.
2. A system regarded as analogous in its structure or functions to a living body: the social organism.

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A computer is a system. It has a structure analogous to those in a living body. If computers have a sort of "birth", "lifespan" and ultimately a "death", and if it is perfectly fine for me to take my computer and destroy it in whatever way I see fit. Is it fine for a woman to do the same thing to a zygote? I believe it is perfectly fine to do so if the logic we are going by is one where context is no longer necessary. Do you?

Nonsense thread.

When your laptop can grow and have real emotions and self-awareness, let us know, so we can call the men in the white coats for ya.

Nonsense thread.

When your zygote can grow up and make you love it as much as you love your laptop, let us know, so we can call the men in the white coats for ya.

Interesting. The same exact response from two alleged different posters. Looks like someone is playing sock puppet. Isn't this against the rules?

EnigmaO01 said:

Interesting. The same exact response from two alleged different posters. Looks like someone is playing sock puppet. Isn't this against the rules?

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You need to read my post again.

Scarecrow Akhbar said:

Nonsense thread.

When your laptop can grow and have real emotions and self-awareness, let us know, so we can call the men in the white coats for ya.

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Or for it.....

What if it calls itself Eliza, and sets up a psychiatry practice?

Scarecrow Akhbar said:

Nonsense thread.

When your laptop can grow and have real emotions and self-awareness, let us know, so we can call the men in the white coats for ya.

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Areopagitican said:

Nonsense thread.

When your zygote can grow up and make you love it as much as you love your laptop, let us know, so we can call the men in the white coats for ya.

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Those are not requirements for it to be an organism. Many animals do not have self awareness or identifiable emotions.Plants don't have any. And yet they are still organisms.

1. An individual form of life

A laptop is not living. Even if a laptop is classified as an "organism" in a systematic sense it is not a living thing.

digsbe said:

1. An individual form of life

A laptop is not living. Even if a laptop is classified as an "organism" in a systematic sense it is not a living thing.

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Who says it has to be? Read the second definition. My argument is that if some inanimate objects can be classified as organisms because of definition #2, and these organisms can be destroyed, removed by whatever means the owner decides, then the same can be said about zygotes by virtue of them being an organism with an owner of sorts.

Scarecrow Akhbar said:

Nonsense thread.

When your laptop can grow and have real emotions and self-awareness, let us know, so we can call the men in the white coats for ya.

Click to expand...

Areopagitican said:

Nonsense thread.

When your zygote can grow up and make you love it as much as you love your laptop, let us know, so we can call the men in the white coats for ya.

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Moderator's Warning:

Troll posts. Do it again and I will make sure you will not do it a third time.

Hatuey said:

Who says it has to be? Read the second definition. My argument is that if some inanimate objects can be classified as organisms because of definition #2, and these organisms can be destroyed, removed by whatever means the owner decides, then the same can be said about zygotes by virtue of them being an organism with an owner of sorts.

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The second definition does not define it as living though, just systematic and organized. In this sense it is talking about something that is organized and functions, not something that is alive. We could say a concept is an organism like the assembly line or a mathematical formula. To be living an organism must meet the four criteria for lie.
1. It must be able to reproduce (and a zygote does reproduce new cells, it is also the product of reproduction).
2. It must be able to respond to the environment (which the zygote does, it tries to implant and responds to the female's body).
3. It must be able to metabolize (the zygote has a metabolism)
4. It must contain DNA.

Now a zygote meets all for criteria for life and is a living being by all definitions. All biologist recognize it as a living organism. By definition number 2 a laptop is an "organism" in the sense that it is an organized system. However, it is not an organism by living standards. In this definition the word organism is not synonymous with "a living thing." Also, by your argument would it be ok for someone to kill a slave because they own them? (I say this with all respect) Your argument does not take into effect the fact that organism and life are not synonymous by the two definitions given. A zygote and a laptop may both be organisms by these definitions, but the zygote is a living organism and a laptop is a non living organism. You cannot kill what is non living, and therefore destroying a laptop is not equal with killing a zygote.

Hatuey said:

A computer is a system. It has a structure analogous to those in a living body. If computers have a sort of "birth", "lifespan" and ultimately a "death", and if it is perfectly fine for me to take my computer and destroy it in whatever way I see fit. Is it fine for a woman to do the same thing to a zygote? I believe it is perfectly fine to do so if the logic we are going by is one where context is no longer necessary. Do you?

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I'm sorry, I didn't mean to vote "yes," because for a second there, I thought I was answering a logical question ...

Cilogy said:

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to vote "yes," because for a second there, I thought I was answering a logical question ...

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If you read this thread :

http://www.debatepolitics.com/polls/67656-conception-and-birth.html

It will seem entirely logical.

Hatuey said:

organism - definition of organism by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.



A computer is a system. It has a structure analogous to those in a living body. If computers have a sort of "birth", "lifespan" and ultimately a "death", and if it is perfectly fine for me to take my computer and destroy it in whatever way I see fit. Is it fine for a woman to do the same thing to a zygote? I believe it is perfectly fine to do so if the logic we are going by is one where context is no longer necessary. Do you?

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Specifically because you say out of context, yes. But in context, destroying a computer and killing a zygote are drastically different.

I suppose under a certain set of cirumstances, your view is correct, but thats only under those circumstances I'm afraid.

Hatuey said:

If you read this thread :

http://www.debatepolitics.com/polls/67656-conception-and-birth.html

It will seem entirely logical.

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Seems to be a good mimic of the thread you linked, inappropriate choices in definitions and all.

repeter said:

Specifically because you say out of context, yes. But in context, destroying a computer and killing a zygote are drastically different.

I suppose under a certain set of cirumstances, your view is correct, but thats only under those circumstances I'm afraid.

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So is giving birth to a newborn baby, and saying conception is the "birth" of an organism....It's all context really, but you seemed to voted false here and true on the other thread. Conflicted?

Lightdemon said:

So is giving birth to a newborn baby, and saying conception is the "birth" of an organism....It's all context really, but you seemed to voted false here and true on the other thread. Conflicted?

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I really don't know what you're talking about, I voted yes on this poll.

And yes, it is about context. If you chose to exclude context as was the case in this thread, then a laptop and a zygote are quite similar. But if you take all facts into account, it's quite stupid to compare a zygote and a laptop in terms of being an organism.