The idea is that the mind of a human is different from the mind of any animal. Therefore, the carrier of the mind (viz, the brain) is what differentiates a human from a nonhuman.
Once a human brain begins to develop, the embryo must necessarily be considered human.
Good point on the term 'officially'. I thought I had altered that to 'essentially', but my browser was having problems. Thanks for pointing that out so I could fix it.
We also have an efficient thermal regulatory system that differs from all non-apes (and even apes to some extent). Therefore, that system must develop as well for it to be considered human.
See the problem? You can point out half a dozen things that are "human," but which of them if any truly define humanity? And is the mind of the human really that special? It's certainly more capable than many other animal minds, but a large portion of our intelligence is undoubtedly the result of social interactions, not any inherent "humanity." If you've ever seen the documentation on so called wild children who have been abused and starved of social interaction for years since birth, you may have noticed that their apparent intelligence is at approximately the level of a person with severe mental impediments. Or the average driver on the roads.
Such wave-signaling in mice brains plays a role in wiring the nervous system during development so that adjacent brain regions correspond to adjacent body parts. If these young cells are firing in waves, that activity could be part of this mapping process, Moody says.
I don't think that we'd argue that mice are humans, therefore, and that it's a sin to kill them. Just playing Devil's Advocate here, of course.
Such wave-signaling in mice brains plays a role in wiring the nervous system during development so that adjacent brain regions correspond to adjacent body parts. If these young cells are firing in waves, that activity could be part of this mapping process, Moody says.
I don't think that we'd argue that mice are humans, therefore, and that it's a sin to kill them. Just playing Devil's Advocate here, of course.
Of course there's a reasonable amount of speculation going on in that quote, but I understand your point and was mostly interested in pointing out that it's silly to claim that something isn't alive when its brain is already firing.
Of course there's a reasonable amount of speculation going on in that quote, but I understand your point and was mostly interested in pointing out that it's silly to claim that something isn't alive when its brain is already firing.
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Just playing Devil's Advocate here, of course. 
