[Merdoug]

Funny thing about insects: they're like little robots. If they get a certain stimuli, they will always react the same way. Push the appropriate button and they attack without any intelligence. If a threat comes to the hive, the poor mindless worker bees attack and kill themselves to the last one. I am not a robot. I have emotions and I try to think for myself. I do not follow any Party or President without thinking for myself. I totally agree that Saddam is a low-life scum who deserves death. So does about half the leaders in the world who condone violence and murder. We chose, for whatever reason, to get Saddam. Maybe he IS a major terror threat. If he is, then I say President Bush did the right thing. But I can still feel sorry for a murderer. I would not want his punishment to be any less, but I can still feel pity. That comes from being Human. :)

[Mr.Atos]

Insects react according to instinct.

Robots operate via their programming.

Humans have volition directed by judgment. Judgment is developed through a combination of information and experience. Unlike programming and instinct it can change itself or it can be over-ridden entirely. The danger in suspending judgment, or allowing bad judgment to develop, is that one runs the risk of putting one's well-being in danger. This is a violation of one's morality if the primary goal of one's existance is survival. If one encourages others to act similarly, it is likewise a moral crime. It is worse than acting according to instinct or programming because it is voluntary act of suicidal stupidity in contradiction of knowledge to the contrary. Empathy is indeed a unique human characteristic, but it is not always a qualifier of virtue. More often than not, emotions operate in opposition to judgment and must therefore be suspended when matters of mortality are at issue. One should not, for instance, forgo food for sex when starving nor consume poison because it tastes good. Likewise, one does not forfeit judgment to emotion when reacting to mortal threat - unless you are mentally retarded or a suicidal jackass.

I suggest that suspending one's sentience in such a manner, renders one lesser a creature than an insect, or a robot.

Atos