So, if you’re ever in a car accident, you’re going to refuse attention from the EMTs, right? Because, after all, you knew when you got in the car that there was a chance you could crash, and there are other people who could die because the EMTs were spending their time on you, so allowing them to treat you is just refusing to accept the consequences of driving, right?

Please… give the box to the Army. They’ll take it from there.

Animals can’t be Christian and are, therefore, digestible.

Speaking of laugh attacks, that one made me fall off my chair.

As for the original question, the real issue is to what extent I’d treat the box like it had a baby in it. The flaw (well, one of them, anyhow) in the analogy is that most people would define “treat the box like it might have a baby in it” as “don’t squish it.” Whereas pregnancy requires several months of actively supporting that “baby,” and that’s just a little bit more than simply refraining from jumping up and down on a cardboard box.

The thing with pregnancy, however, is that you have to choose between smashing the box and carrying it around with you for months on end as it gets heavier, and providing life support for the baby that might be inside. You cannot leave the box alone; the only way to get rid of it is the way that has anti-choicers screaming that you’ve destroyed the baby OMG murderer! because there’s not an option commensurate with what you’d actually do with a box when it might have a baby in it (which is in my case, while not squishing it, generally leaving it alone and going about my own business, leaving it free to be dealt with by whomever has responsibility for it, which would be whoever chose to complete its creation, which is not me.

Oh, yeah. And maybe if I thought a little dinky toy car had the horsepower a real roadster and could go a hundred miles an hour, I’d jump out of the way every time I saw one, because I’d be scared the little sucker would mow down my feet. Justifiably, according to this ad. Because there might be just a small chance that a toy car could run like a real car…so I’d have to hop out of the way, just in case.

Morons.

When you get a parasite sucking off you for 9 months that increases your chance of dying, let’s all stand around and laugh at you, ok?

If there’s a small chance that your computer’s attained sentience, shouldn’t you not take the chance that you’re treating a conscious being as a slave? Ask it before you do anything, and don’t do anything until you get an answer.

As for no. 40 super: I’d agree with the last point except for the word “only”. Casual sex can in fact produce heart-break, as can mountain-climbing, attempting to learn Japanese, and Catholicism. People can also get an awful lot that’s good from any of the above (viz how I met my incomparable wife—and it weren’t on no mountain, language lab, or church, Davey).

Additionally, please note that some of our grand-parents were in favour of Free Love, or at least practised it; also note that material progress consists precisely of not living with the “natural” consequences of life: I’m near-sighted, but I can see using lenses; I’ve had pneumonia a couple of times, but I’m not dead. I don’t grow plants or kill animals, but I haven’t starved. All of these are Against Nature, and I’m damned glad of it (though I wish I were allowed to grow a _few_ plants, for personal use [and, of course, sale to middle-schoolers]).