Ethics subboard: It needs to be more rigid

[Genecks]

I'm tired of looking at the ethics of particular things, such as religion and marriage.

Is there someway we could notify users to make things more science related?

 

I mean, I would more than likely be cool with a religion thread that talked about transhumanism and if it's ethical for people to persuade others to transhumanism (and then the person made some argument about sociobiology and whether or not transhumanism serves a functional use in a person's life)....

 

But people aren't really going on that level.

 

The board is polluted and getting out of control again.

 

Ethics

Discussion of ethical topics relating to science, medicine, religion, and so on.

 

How about "religion and so on -- in relation to science/medicine"?

Edited February 7, 2011 by Genecks

[swansont]

Regarding "pollution" — if you see rules violations, please report them. The staff doesn't get the chance to read every single thread.

[CaptainPanic]

It's completely normal for an internet forum thread to slowly drift off-topic... and you have to be a bit tolerant with that.

 

Many people post things that are sideways related. Or they treat the topic on a much more abstract level. Or they only deal with 1 aspect of the question. Especially when dealing with complicated issues such as ethics, which almost never have a straightforward answer, the discussion is likely to go off-topic.

 

If you dislike that, you can always write a summary of all that's been said so far, and conclude that summary by re-stating the original question...

Or, as swansont said, you can always report it.

 

But be a little tolerant. We're having a forum where people of all nationalities, all ages and all professions can write something...

Edited February 7, 2011 by CaptainPanic

[Mr Skeptic]

We could start a thread on the ethics of trying to stop people from discussing things you don't like.

[Genecks]

We could start a thread on the ethics of trying to stop people from discussing things you don't like.

 

You would be surprised that I've never really bashed religion around here or belittled a variety of spiritual, metaphysical ideas around SFN. Personally, I think religious discussions help develop a sense of morality in people. It can also generate greater argumentative skills in individuals.

 

But if you want to make a thread like that. Go for it. I find what you just said to be a personal attack and rude.

 

This isn't what I'm really getting at, though.

 

I've been a member a long time here, and I've seen the ethics/religion subboards taken down before. It appears that they are often taken away when things get off track and irrelevant.

 

And if it gets like that again, I suspect the board would be taken down again. I believe I was actually one of the first people to argue for a religion board, but this was way back in 2006/2007 or so.

 

I was saddened that the ethics board went down, because it's great to talk about ethics in relation to science, especially on this board because we have plenty of actual scientists to discuss science AND ethics.

Edited February 7, 2011 by Genecks

[A Tripolation]

How does having ethic threads in regards to religion make you any less able to start an ethics thread over bioengineering or some such matter?

[ydoaPs]

How does having ethic threads in regards to religion make you any less able to start an ethics thread over bioengineering or some such matter?

Religion is more funnerer to talk about, so no one will talk about aborting bunny fetuses unless we are to sacrifice them to Cap'n Refsmmat.

Edited February 7, 2011 by ydoaPs

[Genecks]

How does having ethic threads in regards to religion make you any less able to start an ethics thread over bioengineering or some such matter?

 

Same way a post I make in /b goes away quite quickly: Darwinism.

 

I'm not saying what I'm talking about is better than what everyone else is talking about.

 

But I can assure people that most topics, such as human abortion, have been covered for a very long time. Many aspects of religion have been talked about before.

Edited February 7, 2011 by Genecks

[ydoaPs]

Same way a post I make in /b goes away quite quickly: Darwinism.

We've known for ages that Darwinism is false. Modern Synthesis is what we deal with now.

[Genecks]

We've known for ages that Darwinism is false. Modern Synthesis is what we deal with now.

 

Fine. Keep your theology school. of the threads cover elementary topics. If you've got a way to shut down the ethics threads I got and show how they are elementary, then go for it. I could come in, throw in links, throw out books, and tell people they're uneducated.

 

I think I have enough religious and spiritual training to pull it off.

 

Damn? Science and atheism? Science and religion? Really?

As if that hasn't been covered already for hundreds of years.

As if I've never seen such a thread on SFN.

 

I'm not particularly well-trained in the ethics of invasive species.

 

I'm not saying what I'm talking about is better, though. Because doing that means saying talking about science is better than talking about religion or vice versa.

 

I thought the reason that the link to your forum was generated was to get the mass of religious discussions off of SFN. I was pretty sure it was a religion forum at one time. Maybe that has changed.

Edited February 7, 2011 by Genecks

[A Tripolation]

Fine. Keep your theology school. of the threads cover elementary topics. If you've got a way to shut down the ethics threads I got and show how they are elementary, then go for it.

 

So you're saying that since your threads are more focused in science, that means that they are not elementary? I think threads that deal in religion are far more thought-provoking than the ones that argue about animal testing.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

The Ethics boards were never closed. We originally had a Philosophy and Religion forum and a Biomedical Ethics forum. P&R was closed. Biomedical Ethics eventually morphed into the Ethics board you see now. P&R was closed because of anger and vitriol, not off-topicness.

[lemur]

Damn? Science and atheism? Science and religion? Really?

As if that hasn't been covered already for hundreds of years.

As if I've never seen such a thread on SFN.

I agree. I get tired of the same old tired oppositions between stances. I even get into these discussions to put forth ideas that cut through that standard fare of polarization and I get tired of hearing myself repeating ideas to the point of dogmatism. Why don't you actually start a thread on transhumanism and/or whatever else you mentioned to have a discussion about it instead of talking about talking about it? You don't need to make anything more rigid since each thread can be as rigid as the OP suggests. My only request would be that you explain what transhumanism means and make the question/issue accessible to non-experts. Teach us a little and we'll process and give you back a lot.

[Mr Skeptic]

You would be surprised that I've never really bashed religion around here or belittled a variety of spiritual, metaphysical ideas around SFN. Personally, I think religious discussions help develop a sense of morality in people. It can also generate greater argumentative skills in individuals.

 

More than that, many (probably most) religious people base their morality off of their religion. Asking such people to discuss morality without religion would be rather like asking people to discuss physics without math. It would be one thing to make specific threads where you ask for opinions from only the secular humanism viewpoint (or some other specific moral system), it would be quite another to try to keep religion out of the entire ethics forums. It would take huge amounts of moderator time (because people are unlikely to read the rule and unlikely to follow it if they do), and lots of people would hate us for it. So I think it would be best to do that at a per-thread level.

[swansont]

Religion is more funnerer to talk about, so no one will talk about aborting bunny fetuses unless we are to sacrifice them to Cap'n Refsmmat.

 

Sacrificing cheese nips pleases the gods more than sacrificing bunnies. Premise: sacrificing cheese nips is ethical. *discuss*

[CharonY]

Yes. What about coffee?