Abortion

 

Here is one of the least profound statements that you’ll ever hear: Abortion is a difficult and divisive issue.

This is because many people on both sides of the debate look at abortion in a black/white manner.

People’s views on abortion can be roughly divided into two groups: those who think abortion is murder, and those who are in the “my body, my choice” group.

If someone says, “After conception, the fetus is a human being. So abortion is murder”. You can’t really argue this point because that is their belief.

If another person says, “As long as the fetus is in my body, It is part of my body, and thus it is my decision whether or not to have an abortion”. You can’t really argue this point either because that is their belief.

We have a conundrum. Is there a way to handle this?

It’s important to look at abortion from both a moral point of view as well as a legal point of view. Let’s look at the moral point of view first.

For those who think abortion is moral, there are many who think that abortion would be immoral after a certain gestational period. One thought I’ve heard was that abortion would be immoral once the child could live outside the womb. Others have suggested that abortion would be immoral once the fetus can feel pain. Although there is no medical consensus about this, it seems that most researchers would agree that after 26 weeks, the fetus could feel pain. This is at roughly 6 months. An abortion after this period would be considered a late-term abortion.

So morally, most people would think that abortion is immoral after the 6^th month of pregnancy (unless the mother’s health is at risk, or the baby is not viable).

For those who think abortion is murder, either at conception or shortly thereafter, abortion is immoral.

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Deciding when and if abortion should be illegal is different than deciding when and if it is immoral.

One concept I like in the philosophy of law is that a good law is one that at least 95% of adults agree with. A complete ban on abortion does not meet this criterion, as only about 40% of Americans agree with this law.

Thinking about laws such as those that criminalize murder (after birth), rape, child abuse, or theft, well over 95% of people agree with these laws. Fortunately, most laws are related to these.

However, we could reach that 95% threshold if we made abortion illegal after the 6^th month.

With respect to abortion laws, most of them give punishments for those who provide abortions. But rarely do they indicate punishments for the women who get an abortion. These laws treat women as if they are not responsible for their own decisions. Rational abortion laws should penalize the women who get them equally to those who provide them.

This might sound callous, but there is a good reason to require abortion laws to be this way. After all, how many people (or state legislators) would vote to put women who have an abortion in jail? Not many. And that’s because most of us know many women who have had abortions, and even if we don’t agree with them doing so, most of us don’t want to see them in jail.

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Thus, the most compelling conclusion is that abortion should be legal until the last trimester. And in the last trimester, it should be legal if the mother’s health is at risk, or if the baby is not viable.

We can all come together when we acknowledge that no woman gets pregnant in order to have an abortion. What can we do to decrease the number of abortions without making it illegal?

Educating teens and adults about sex and birth control is a good first step. If you are going to have sexual intercourse, and you don’t want to get pregnant, the man and/or woman should use birth control.

Our culture is overly sexualized and is pushing the message that any consensual sex is good.

But sex between those who do not love each other, or do not respect each other can be harmful emotionally.

Men are much less discerning when it comes to sex. Women are more discerning because only they can get pregnant. We should teach our girls and women to say no to sexual intercourse unless they love and respect the man they are with, and that the man that loves and respects them.

Boys should be taught that girls are not ‘play things’, and to have respect for girls and women as they do for their mothers or sisters.

For a woman who does get pregnant, and doesn’t want the baby, she should be informed about the possibility of adoption.

The process of adoption could be much more streamlined and less expensive. Certainly, we want adopting couples to be well-vetted. Once that is done, and a mother is found who wants to give her child up for adoption, the couple should be introduced to the mother (if she so desires). Immediately after birth, and after the child has been cleaned and examined, the baby should be given to its adoptive parents. This allows the baby to immediately bond with its adoptive mother and father, an extremely important process.

We all want to decrease unwanted pregnancies. Doing this would decrease the number of abortions without making it illegal.

 

Tim Farage writes about the application of Natural Law to all areas of society, including education, government, economics, science, math, technology, environmentalism, and relationships.

Why We Should Have Lots Of Children

There are still people who think that the world is overpopulated. Prince Harry and Megan Markle are planning on only having two children to help keep the ecosystem sustainable. The Guardian said about this, “So, of all the lifestyle choices you could make, having one less child is by far the best option.”

Sadly, this is about the worst thing we could do. The Guardian, and many others are worried about our ‘carbon footprint’. For some reason, they want us to think that the developed world is responsible for majority of CO2 in our atmosphere. But if you look at the data, it is the under-developed countries that are responsible for all of the increase in CO2.

And most of the other under-developed countries are increasing their CO2 output as well. (And I don’t blame them. They need more energy to become modern, prosperous, healthy countries).

One can worry about CO2 emissions or not, but there is virtually nothing that the developed countries can do about it.

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Here is a huge problem that more and more people are realizing: under-population in developed countries is becoming a disaster.

Consider this graph of population growth:

It takes 2.1 children per woman to maintain a population. But by the end of the century, world population will begin to decline. Worse, population decline is already happening in most developed countries.

Why is this bad? Countries depend on current workers to support their Social Security and Medicare-type programs. Low fertility rates means fewer workers and more retirees.

Countries around the world are beginning to reckon with a years-long drop in new births that has skewed population demographics heavily toward older age groups.

In a more local perspective, some cities are already reckoning with the challenges of precipitous drops in new births, including “ghost cities” in China and maternity wards with too few births to justify staying open in Italy. Some South Korean universities have so few students that the government is pressuring them to merge with others, and entire towns where deaths outnumber births are being consolidated in Japan.

Japan sells more adult diapers than baby diapers.

Look about what Elon Musk says about this:

Elon Musk says population collapse 'potentially the greatest risk to the future of civilization'

Musk has previously warned population collapse is a bigger problem than most people realize.

 

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It is true that too many children are being born in the Middle East and Africa, causing many problems for them. But outside of those areas, population declines are causing a huge problem.

Here’s my request of you, my dear readers: If you are a loving, married couple, please have lots of children. That means at least 3 and preferably more. Yes, kids cost money. But out great-grandparents were poor and had 6 to 8 children, and they worked it out.

NO! I don’t want to hear any excuses….

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Tim Farage is a Professor and Graduate Advisor in the Computer Science Department at The University of Texas at Dallas. He writes about mathematics, computer science, physics, chemistry, the reconciliation between science and spirituality, Intelligent Design, and the application of Natural Law to our various systems such as education, government and economics.

Free-Market Economics is the only Moral Economic System

Usually, when we talk about ‘markets’, we are referring to ‘free markets’.

If someone is referencing economic exchange, then we can use the term ‘free-market economics’.

Think about an open-air market where merchants are selling their goods. You walk by a merchant whose product you want, and if you agree on a price, you buy it. If not, you don’t. No one can make you buy anything. And no one can stop you from being a merchant.

(Although the government may require health and safety regulations).

This is a good example of free-market economics.

In the United States and most other developed countries, free-market economics is the norm. You can buy cars from whomever you wish if you agree upon a price. You can buy coffee from McDonald’s or Starbucks.

Here is something I consider essential: Free economic markets are the only moral basis for an economy. Why? Because if you can’t choose with whom to do business, or if you can’t open up your own business, then someone else (e.g. the government) is deciding for you.

What right does anyone have, even the government, to tell you what goods and services you can have? Or what business you may start?

The United States’ Declaration of Independence has what might be the most profound words written in the English language:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Because it is our God-given right to be free, no one has the legal right to infringe on our freedom.

(If a person infringes on another’s life or liberty, it is appropriate for the government to prosecute that person).

It’s interesting to see that a free-market economic system is not an economic system at all. It just allows people to freely trade with one another.

Some people mistakenly call this Capitalism, but that is a misnomer. It is a word used my Karl Marx pejoratively, and we know how well Communism has turned out wherever it has been tried.

If we use the term ‘markets’ more broadly, it can refer to the freedom we have in all of the aspects of life. For example, we have a free market in friendship: You can be friends with anyone who wants to be friends with you.

We even have a free market in our food choices: eat whatever you wish.

The only sustainable society is one that allows free markets.

This is why there are so few Communist countries left. Even China, which is a Communist country, has started to prosper because they are allowing more and more free economic markets.

Freedom is essential to any good society. 

But in order to have an enlightened civilization, most people must use their freedom to improve themselves, and make the world a better place.

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Tim Farage is a Professor and Graduate Advisor in the Computer Science Department at The University of Texas at Dallas. He writes about mathematics, computer science, physics, the reconciliation between science and spirituality, Intelligent Design, and the application of Natural Law to our various systems such as education, government and economics.

The Inner Meaning of Christmas

No one would be surprised to know that Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ. That day was the 2nd most important in history. The most important day in history was the Resurrection, because without it, Christianity would never have spread.

But it's Christmas, not Easter, so I'll stick to a Christmas message.

The inner meaning of the birth of Christ, represents the birth of Christ within each of us. Each of our souls was given a part of God, that we may choose to develop or not.  

Those who develop this spark of God, figuratively gives birth to Christ within us.
This is called by various names in many spiritual traditions. Many call it spiritual enlightenment, or soul consciousness.

If we achieve spiritual enlightenment, we become Lights unto the world. We would spread love, peace, and goodwill among all of God's children.

And when enough people do this, it will indeed be a Merry Christmas.

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Tim Farage is a Senior Lecturer in the Computer Science Department at The University of Texas at Dallas. You are welcome to comment upon this blog entry and/or to contact him at tfarage@hotmail.com.

Vampires are Real

Someone asked me if uniting to fight a common enemy (such as aliens) could bring a unity to humanity.

I said that uniting to fight a common enemy could bring a temporary unity to humanity, but not a permanent one.

And that's because it is an external threat. So it does nothing to change people, at least in the long term.

But here is what could change people: humanity should unite to fight off the huge number of vampires that actually exist.

Have I, Jedi Grandmaster Farage, beloved by so many, lost my marbles? I'm sure my friends think so. Please give me a chance to redeem myself.

I'm actually serious about vampires being real. And there are more of them than there are humans.

Here are some of the common traits that vampires have:

1. They feed off human blood - our life force.
2. They can only live in the dark. Sunlight or fire kills them.
3. A stake through the heart kills them.
4. They are repulsed by a Cross, and Holy Water burns them.

But I am not speaking of the Dracula type of vampires.

I am speaking of the vampires that live within each of us.

We all have vampires that live in the dark within us. That is, they live mostly in our unconscious mind, so we are rarely aware of them.

And they suck our life force out by causing us to experience hate, or fear, or anger, or bigotry, or bitterness. As Yoda would say, "Vampires lead to the Dark Side of the Force."

Do we all not have many things we fear? Fear of those who are different than us? Fear of failing? Fear of succeeding?

Do we get angry every time a car pulls out in front of us, or if our spouse does something we don't like, or at the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, or when a waiter is slow to bring out drinks?

And yet, we usually aren't aware of how often we have such feelings. And we're also not aware of how much of our positive energy is being sucked out by these feelings.
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But there is good news. Look at the list above and it will guide us as to how to get rid of our vampires. They cannot live in the light of consciousness. So as we become aware of some fear or hate or anger that we have, we can consciously bring it into the light, and into our awareness. And when we do so, we can immediately replace those negative feelings with positive ones.

I have a friend who was always getting mad at other drivers. Now, when a driver cuts her off, and she catches herself, she says, "Bless you." This immediately dispels negativity with positivity. The anger she used to experience did nothing to stop bad drivers, but it did harm her. No more.

Putting a stake through a vampire’s heart refers to getting right at the core of your negative thought or feeling, in order to rid yourself of it.

And the aversion to Crosses and Holy Water tells us that when we lead Godly lives - when we love others; when we follow the Golden Rule; when we use our talents to help others - that our inner vampires have no power over us.

And that is the best news of all. These inner vampires can only control us only if we allow them to. The power of the Light, the power of God, is infinite compared to their meager power.
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It is when most of us step into the Light that our world will be transformed, and humanity will unite to create God's Kingdom on Earth. 
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Tim Farage is a Senior Lecturer and Graduate Advisor in the Computer Science Department at The University of Texas at Dallas. The views expressed herein are his own. You are welcome to comment upon this blog entry and/or to contact him at tfarage@hotmail.com.

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