Ian Murray:
> "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...
The mere existence of neural tissue does not seem generally thought to guarantee sentience. Some of the literature (on both abortion and the interests of non-human animals) goes into this in considerable detail -- I think you could probably find something in Peter Singer's work if you really cared about it. But if you cared about it, I suppose you would have already. I perceive the rhetorical ground to have been much gone over and well-scorched, so I hope you'll forgive me if I don't pursue it further.
-- Gordon