Unlike most of the nonsense I talk on SBBS, I actually know a bit about stem cell research, have spent several months a few years ago reading up on it and interviewing people involved.

As a result, I can’t even be bothered to deal with the lunacy of the latest “stem cell research debate”. There is no fucking debate. It’s not even the clash of a scientific-rational worldview and a mystic-superstitious one, since the mystic-superstitious types who shrill-y protest against stem cell research in the US are far too hypocritical to also protest against IVF…

The only interesting debating point I’ve ever seen raised “against”(-ish) stem cell research is that people suffering from degenerative neural disease don’t actually suffer, so we shouldn’t necessarily view their apparent distress as a serious criterion in our medical priorities (thanks to Tom Stoneham, who sadly now only blogs about smartphones rather than interesting things, for that one).