Author: Wesley J. Smith | Page 4

secure connection or cybersecurity service concept of compute motherboard closeup and safety lock with login and connecting verified credentials as wide banner design

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
September 2, 2024

Categorized
Computer Security, Crime}

“Personhood Credentials”: The Next Big Thing in online security?

_{“I’m a human” credentials, intended to combat fraud, would likely start out voluntary but then, by degrees, become mandatory} _{Wesley J. Smith
September 2, 2024

3

Computer Security, Crime}

Rather than simplifying our lives, the internet has made our lives more complicated, what with having to continually change passwords, the use of multiple security levels, the threat of hacking, and the like. Now, with the threat of AI creating fraudulent content, some technologists are proposing “personhood credentials” to thwart incursions and impersonations. From the MIT Technology Review story: Personhood credentials work by doing two things AI systems still cannot do: bypassing state-of-the-art cryptographic systems, and passing as a person in the offline, real world. To request credentials, a human would have to physically go to one of a number of issuers, which could be a government or other kind of trusted organization, where they would be asked to provide evidence that they’re Read More ›

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
August 30, 2024

Categorized
Business and Finance, Ethics, Medicine and Health

Tagged
Gender ideology}

The ‘Gender-Industrial Complex’ Makes Billions Annually

_{A new report produced recently by the American Principles Project sheds light on financial incentives} _{Wesley J. Smith
August 30, 2024

4

Business and Finance, Ethics, Medicine and Health}

The report discusses long-term health risks and malpractice issues, demonstrating how the conjoining of big profits and radical ideology is a toxic mix. Read More ›

Medical syringe with a needle at the end of the drop

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
August 25, 2024

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health}

Boosters of Assisted Suicide Want It To Be Much More Common

_{Activists want assisted suicide normalized well beyond the terminally ill so that we become euthanasia enthusiasts} _{Wesley J. Smith
August 25, 2024

3

Ethics, Medicine and Health}

Almost every state that legalized assisted suicide has already liberalized their laws. It’s NOT just a teensy change in medical ethics. Read More ›

Intensive care emergency room with artificial lung ventilation monitor in the intensive care unit. Ventilation of the lungs with oxygen

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
August 21, 2024

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health}

Medical Journal Pushes Training for Doctors on How to Kill

_{Chillingly, most of the doctors who participated in a small study on assisted suicide, and who prescribe poison as part of their job, like it.} _{Wesley J. Smith
August 21, 2024

4

Ethics, Medicine and Health}

The push to increase assisted-suicide residency programs is designed to overcome most doctors' reluctance to kill their patients. Read More ›

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
August 18, 2024

Categorized
Law, Medicine and Health}

Universal Infant Genetic Screening Pushed in Science Journal

_{It’s hard to opt out of a procedure that you don’t know is going to be performed. Think of the eugenic possibilities!} _{Wesley J. Smith
August 18, 2024

4

Law, Medicine and Health}

And imagine the mischief when eventually everyone’s genome — which should be private — becomes identifiable and hackable. Read More ›

Pharmaceutical Team Conducting Quality Control in Sterile Environment. A group of scientists in protective gear meticulously conducting tests in a pharmaceutical production line.

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
August 14, 2024

Categorized
Media, Science}

Intellectual Property Is ‘Colonialist,’ Says Science Journal

_{A recent article penned by two public-health professors disdains intellectual-property rights as “colonialist” and advocates dismantling capitalism in the realm of medical research} _{Wesley J. Smith
August 14, 2024

4

Media, Science}

Aiding poorer areas of the world to develop scientific infrastructure is a terrific idea but, alas, that’s not what the authors have in mind. Read More ›

Female elderly professor giving a lecture

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
August 11, 2024

Categorized
Ethics, Plant Mind}

Blessed are the Peacemakers, for They Shall Be Called Bioethicists

_{War is too serious and consequential an issue for the raging dilettantism that the Hastings Center displays} _{Wesley J. Smith
August 11, 2024

5

Ethics, Plant Mind}

I think the ultimate goal is to boost employment in the bioethics field. The more issues are deemed bioethical, the greater need for bioethics professors. Read More ›

Close-up of a white flower with water in the foreground and a blurred background to the right of the image

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post

Wesley J. Smith
Date
August 6, 2024

Categorized
Human exceptionalism, Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Plant Mind

Tagged
Featured, Plant rights}

“Plant Philosophy” Denigrates Human Uniqueness

_{Much contemporary advocacy is obsessed with deconstructing human exceptionalism} _{Wesley J. Smith
August 6, 2024

4

Human exceptionalism, Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Plant Mind}

Plant philosophy seeks to change the definitional understandings of “intelligence” to elevate the moral status of plants relative to humans. Read More ›

Woman with an eating disorder, anorexia nervosa, in kitchen

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
August 2, 2024

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health}

At Least 60 People with Eating Disorders Euthanized or Assisted in Suicide since 2012

_{Most had other mental illnesses. How might those mental disorders have affected these poor people’s ability to “choose” to be killed or kill themselves?} _{Wesley J. Smith
August 2, 2024

5

Ethics, Medicine and Health}

Once the legalization train leaves the station, it is no longer containable or controllable. The category of “killables” never stops expanding. Read More ›

Yam, traditional tubercle of brazilian cuisine

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
July 17, 2024

Categorized
Language, Medicine and Health}

President Biden Is Not a Yam; Don’t Call Him a “Vegetable”

_{Using the V-word to describe him — or any human being — is just wrong, and, if I may say, cruel, to people with cognitive disabilities and their loved ones.} _{Wesley J. Smith
July 17, 2024

2

Language, Medicine and Health}

My mother died of Alzheimer’s, and she was never less than fully human and as worthy of love and regard when she became incompetent. Read More ›

Blurred interior of hospital - abstract medical background.

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
July 15, 2024

Categorized
Medicine and Health}

The Misguided Justifications for Assisted Suicide Are Growing

_{The myth that legal assisted suicide is about terminal illness is becoming harder to swallow.} _{Wesley J. Smith
July 15, 2024

3

Medicine and Health}

The myth that legal assisted suicide is about terminal illness is becoming harder to swallow. Evidence can be found in a recent survey of doctors, published in the Journal of Cutaneous Oncology, which asked doctors this question: “In addition to adults with terminal illnesses, [which] other groups of patients who should be MAID eligible?” The answers are disturbing. From the survey: Majorities of doctors surveyed answered that they would be willing to be present when the deed is done. Here’s the question: “If it were available (or is available), what is your willingness to be present when patients took MAID drugs?” Again, disturbing results, with 61% either probably or definitely, yes: That’s only a hop, skip, and a jump to willingness to do the deed. And no Read More ›

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
July 11, 2024

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health

Tagged
Hemlock Society, MAiD (euthanasia) in Canada}

Canadian Death Doctor Has Euthanized Hundreds of Patients

_{Ellen Wiebe kills the sick, the disabled, the elderly, and unwanted fetuses} _{Wesley J. Smith
July 11, 2024

4

Ethics, Medicine and Health}

To her credit, reporter Sharon Kirkey at least provides a brief counterpoint to the pro-euthanasia narrative, something often entirely missing in many media. Read More ›

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
July 7, 2024

Categorized
Law, Logic, Politics}

What Does Granting “Rights” to Nature Really Do?

_{If everything has rights, nothing does really} _{Wesley J. Smith
July 7, 2024

1

Law, Logic, Politics}

Why not allow the profitable Teton tourist area to to return to a natural state as a forest on the mountain, as is, apparently, its inherent right? Read More ›

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post

Wesley J. Smith
Date
June 30, 2024

Categorized
Ethics

Tagged
Euthanasia, Euthanasia in Canada, MAiD (euthanasia) in Canada}

Disabled Canadian Euthanized Due to Lack of Care

_{He asked for and received euthanasia explicitly because of a lack of care} _{Wesley J. Smith
June 30, 2024

2

Ethics}

Quebec’s chief coroner promises an investigation. Don’t expect much to come of it. Read More ›

Store employee with down syndrome working in a produce store selling stuff

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
June 27, 2024

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health}

Neanderthals Cared for Down Syndrome Children

_{Too often, we abort them} _{Wesley J. Smith
June 27, 2024

2

Ethics, Medicine and Health}

Such compassion is on the outs in these “enlightened” days. Indeed, it may now be that more babies with Down syndrome are killed in the womb than are born. Read More ›

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
June 16, 2024

Categorized
Ethics, Law, Medicine and Health}

European Court: Assisted Suicide Not a Human Right

_{The high court also ruled that refusing life-sustaining treatment is not the same thing as suicide} _{Wesley J. Smith
June 16, 2024

3

Ethics, Law, Medicine and Health}

The court did not rule — as Glucksberg did not about states — that countries cannot legalize assisted suicide or euthanasia. Read More ›

EU Office buildings in Brussels, Belgium

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
June 10, 2024

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Peer Review, Science

Tagged
Richard Horton}

Don’t Believe in “International Community”? You’re Hardly Human!

_{Who said that? Not a streetcorner doomsday crank. No, it’s the editor of a highly respected medical journal} _{Wesley J. Smith
June 10, 2024

4

Medicine and Health, Peer Review, Science}

In reality, the public's loss of “belief” is the natural consequence of the international system’s failing and betraying those it was designed to serve. Read More ›

^{Type
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Wesley J. Smith
Date
June 5, 2024

Categorized
Technocracy

Tagged
Health, National Review, Technocracy, Tobacco, Wesley J. Smith}

Tobacco and Technocracy

_{Is tobacco just the first villain to be punished by a growing technocracy that seeks to limit freedom?} _{Wesley J. Smith
June 5, 2024

3

Technocracy}

I don’t smoke, but I am wary of efforts to prevent other people from so doing. Now, blue cities — and soon states, most likely — have hit upon a way to ban smoking known as “Tobacco Free Generation” (TFG). It’s Pretty Clever Allow people who can legally buy tobacco today to purchase it, but permanently outlaw the sale of tobacco products to people based on the date of their birth — even as they become adults — as described glowingly in the New England Journal of Medicine: The bylaw, passed by Brookline, Massachusetts, gradually phases out commercial tobacco by banning the sale of nicotine products to anyone born on or after January 1, 2000 (one of us cosponsored the bylaw). Read More ›

Earth Mother International day illustration 3d concept of gaia made with Generative AI

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
May 18, 2024

Categorized
Environment, Human exceptionalism, Law, Politics

Tagged
Nature Rights}

Harvard Law to Teach Rights of Nature

_{People think that such a whacky idea will never gain traction. But the nature-rights movement is making great headway} _{Wesley J. Smith
May 18, 2024

2

Environment, Human exceptionalism, Law, Politics}

If the law grants geological features, viruses, and pond scum “rights,” our economies and human exceptionalism will be the victims. Read More ›

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Wesley J. Smith
Date
May 16, 2024

Categorized
Language, Medicine and Health}

Woke Gobbledygook Now Passes for Erudition in Medical Journals

_{When science publications run policy bafflegab about healthcare reform instead of statements of hard facts about it— however dense they may be — science is the big loser} _{Wesley J. Smith
May 16, 2024

2

Language, Medicine and Health}

This article is reprinted from National Review with the permission of the author. Our most august medical journals are in danger of becoming more woke ideological-advocacy publications than disseminators of learned scientific studies. This is particularly true of the New England Journal of Medicine, which regularly publishes progressive gibberish pushing “equity” that is often nearly impossible to understand. Here’s the latest example. From “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize — Focusing on Health Care Equity”: We believe that health care–centric goals — equity in patient experience and clinical outcomes — should be the primary equity-related targets for clinicians, health care administrators, health plans, and payers. The health care sector is best positioned to improve the effectiveness and equity of the care it Read More ›