Eliezer_Yudkowsky comments on The noncentral fallacy - the worst argument in the world? - Less Wrong

157 Post author: Yvain 27 August 2012 03:36AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (1742)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: shminux 27 August 2012 06:34:39PM 4 points [-]

I have tried constructing a pro-choice example similar to "Abortion is murder!" ("Forced pregnancy is slavery!"???), but it ended up pretty unconvincing. Hopefully someone can do better:

Leaving rape cases aside, the archetypal example is an unwanted teenage pregnancy due to defective or improperly used birth control or simply an accident. Forcing her into letting the embryo develop into a fetus and eventually into a human baby would likely make the woman significantly worse off in the long run, financially, physically and/or emotionally, so she should have an option of terminating the pregnancy.

An example a pro-life person thinks of: aborting a healthy fetus, possibly in the second trimester, as a habitual birth control method.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 27 August 2012 07:22:51PM 9 points [-]

I find "Forced parenthood is slavery!" to be pretty convincing, actually. Though I may be prejudiced by having grown up around a Libertarian father (now, alas, more Republican(!??)) who went about proclaiming that jury duty was slavery.

Comment author: shminux 28 August 2012 07:18:42AM 2 points [-]

Does this qualify as "a weak version of a strong left-wing argument that you do accept"?

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 28 August 2012 07:32:38AM 1 point [-]

Mm... sure. "X is Y!" is generally pretty weak, and I'm pro-choice, so, sure.

Comment author: mwengler 30 August 2012 03:17:27PM 0 points [-]

Are laws (in the U.S.) against driving on the left side of the road slavery?