Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis
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Wesley J. Smith

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Child with measles symptoms

Steep Turn: RFK Jr. Endorses Measles Vaccine

He notes that measles was already in full retreat by 1960 — before the vaccine’s introduction — thanks to improvements in sanitation and nutrition

He also promoted Vitamin A and oft-neglected strategies like a balanced diet for reducing measles mortality. Is he making science matter again?

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handcuffs on the red book of laws. close-up. Black background.

Science Blogger: Make Violating “Scientific Consensus” a Crime

Attitudes like those expressed by Ethan Siegel have cost the scientific sector much of the public’s trust and goodwill.

A properly balanced relationship with expertise won’t be restored by imposing autocratic consensus rules. “Science” really needs less hubris and more humility.

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Mature doctor giving a speech on a stage at a conference in front of an audience

Claim: Only Doctors Can Prevent Global Warming

Becoming as political as one medical journal wants would corrode the medical sector’s “unique credibility.”

Few people who are not already fixated on global warming will care what doctors may think about it; most would rather their doctors stick to medicine.

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Vials with Sodium pentobarbital used for euthanasia and lethal inyecion in a hospital, conceptual image

Swiss Canton Liberates Suicide Tourism from Police Investigation

Suicidal people are increasingly abandoned to lethal assistance, with steps continually taken to make death easier to access

Predictably, assisted suicides are provided under ever-lessening oversight, to ever-expanding cadres of the eligible, leading eventually to death on demand.

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Four silhouettes of people looking at the night sky with a telescope.

Vice President Vance Defends Human Exceptionalism at Munich

The idea that humans are special is under increasing attack by some of society’s most powerful political and cultural forces

Oppression, genocide, discrimination, slavery, and other evils arise from refusing to see us all as equals based upon our common humanity.

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Pharmacy Drugstore Checkout Cashier Counter: Mature Female Pharmacist and Young Woman Using Contactless Payment NFC Smartphone to Buy Prescription Medicine, Vitamins, Beauty, Health Care Products

Oregon Bill Would Allow Nondoctors to Prescribe Assisted Suicide

I suspect the categories of providers are expanding because most doctors have no interest in assisted suicide

Usefully, however, the Oregon bill also requires hospices to say whether they participate in assisted suicide, contrary to hospice founders’ intentions.

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Syringe with anaesthetic drug - Propofol, ready for infusion.

Vermont Bill Would Allow Nondoctors to Prescribe Assisted Suicide

Initial assisted suicide laws are merely the launching pad for an ever-expanding prescribed death regime

“Strict guidelines” against abuse sell such laws to the public but they are never the ceiling of permissibility. The rules are loosened more and more.

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Mountain Goats and Hidden lake, Glacier National Park, Montana USA

Montana Senate Passes Bill Outlawing Physician-Assisted Suicide

In a muddled legal situation, the bill declares assisted suicide to be contrary to Montana public policy, making a previous courtroom defense unavailable

Legislation like this must be carefully written because assisted-suicide activists frequently redefine terms and obfuscate crucial distinctions.

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A Native American medicine wheel made of stones, with symbolic objects placed inside the circle

“Indigenous Wisdom” Would Make Environment Science Less Scientific

Indigenous people were and are keen observers of nature but modern environment policy needs to be deeply rooted in science as well as culture

much of the advocacy is about imposing ideology on what should be scientific practices

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A close-up of an elderly woman’s face

Will We Starve Dementia Patients in Slow Motion?

There is a proposal on the table to barely feed — i.e., malnourish — dementia patients who have previously signed a directive

Proponents argue that the patient should be bound by the directive even if he wants to eat and drink; this softens the public up for death by lethal injection.

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View of Mount Taranaki (Taranaki Maunga) from Lake Mangamahoe, Egmont National Park, on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island.

New Zealand Mountain Named a Person with Rights, Responsibilities

And what responsibilities can the mountain possibly assume? Can it be sued for an avalanche?

Nature rights is an ideological statement demoting mankind into just another animal in the forest.

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Diverse group of children playing on swings at a colorful playground on a sunny day

Gender-Dysphoric Children Protected from “Gender-Affirming Care”

The American medical establishment is increasingly the fringe advocate on this issue

Associated Press, covering for the transgender lobby, is all yesterday’s news, akin to a million-year-old mosquito stuck in amber.

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elephant

Colorado Supremes Unanimously Nix Elephant Personhood

The court further ruled that such a radical and culture-destroying change in law should not be imposed by courts but rather legislatures

It is way past time for the overburdened courts to dismiss these animal standing cases out of hand at the trial court level.

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young african scientist looking through a microscope in the laboratory about the vaccine she is working on.

Trump Withdraws from the World Health Organization

In recent years, the organization has been using its clout to impose woke cultural agendas on the world.

This article is reprinted from National Review with the permission of the author. President Trump has withdrawn the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) because of its Covid failings, allegations of being soft on China, and the disproportionate share of funding borne by the United States. There is even more wrong in how WHO leaders have wielded their influence. In recent years, the organization has not just been about promoting public-health internationally, but also in using its clout to impose woke cultural agendas on the world — including areas that have traditional moral values — and in seeking to construct an international technocracy. Item: WHO sought to force a radical abortion regime on the world by allowing abortion through the Read More ›

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Closeup of hand female caregiver holding oxygen mask with cute child patient in hospital bed or home,little girl putting inhalation,doctor or nurse intensive care,health care,support,help concept

What Canada’s Collapsing Health Care System Means

It means that people die who might have lived if they had access to health care

More than 15,000 people died in Canada in one year because they couldn’t access care in the country’s collapsing socialized health-care system.

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Human head and compass. The concept on the topic of navigation, psychology, morality, etc.

Progressive Columnist Almost Embraces Sanctity of Human Life

Some ethical codes are so important they need to be adopted by society to protect the general welfare and guard liberty

Nat Hentoff paid a steep price for his pro-life advocacy, losing his decades-long Village Voice column and suffering other career sanctions.

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Syringe with anaesthetic drug - Propofol, ready for infusion.

Assisted-Suicide Death Ceremonies Becoming Normalized

I certainly believe we should all remember that we are going to die as a means of focusing our faith or concentrating on how to live better lives

By attending a suicide party or ceremony, we validate the decision and, in so doing, become complicit in that death.

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question mark symbol covered in lush green plants against a vibrant green background. The image includes ample space on the right side for captions or text, highlighting nature and inquiry themes

High UN Official Supports Nature Rights and Environmental Lawfare 

Nature doesn't really go to court. People with political agendas do

Lawfare and the resulting usurpation of public policy by courts allows the elites to decide environmental policies by diktat.

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X and Y Chromosomes as male Chromosome concept for a human biology structure containing dna genetic information as a medical symbol for gene therapy or microbiology genetics research.

Basta! Italy’s Bioethics Committee Urges Blocking Puberty Blockers

It's becoming a trend and the United States may well follow suit

If Italy accepts the bioethics’ commission’s advice, it will join a growing list of countries that are taking steps to end the practice.

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Cows at stable. Netherlands. Farming. Modern Dutch farm. Netherlands. Cows eating roughage. Cows eating silage. Feed gate. Cattle breeding.

NYT Column: Factory Farms Are Good for People and the Planet

Journalist Michael Grunwald points out that factory farming means fewer natural spaces are cleared for farmland than would otherwise be the case

Journalist Michael Grunwald points out that factory farming means fewer natural spaces are cleared for farmland than would otherwise be the case.

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