----- Original Message ----- From: "Gordon Fitch" <gcf at panix.com>
The Silly People could argue, on the basis of nervous
> organization, that most fetuses were not sentient and therefore
> not persons, most of the time.
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"Cell proliferation and rearrangement results in the formation of the brain and other organs. Initially, the embryo is a disc composed of three germinal layers, ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm. The neural plate appears at 16 days and invaginates, forming the neural groove. The neural folds fuse, forming the neural tube. The posterior neuropore closes at 27 days." < http://www.akronchildrens.org/neuropathology/DevelNeurobiolM1.html #organogenesis >
So if neuronal activity is a necessary condition for the possibility of sentience and a currently necessary pathway to personhood, the Silly people are even sillier than we thought...
Ian