Reasoned Political Discourse

Segment of a conversation that took place in our department today.

Design Girl: Is my whole body stem cells? Like could I cut off my finger and donate it to stem cell research?

Writer Boy: And the Nobel Prize goes to Design Girl.

Me: I think the most useful stem cells come from embryos.

Design Girl: Embryos? Frozen babies?

Writer Boy: Well, not really babies—potential babies.

Design Girl: But what do these use stem cells for?

Me: Research. Possibly curing diseases like Alzheimers and Parkinson’s.

Design Girl: So then what’s the controversy?

Writer Boy: The thing you just said—the frozen babies. They could develop into humans.

Design Girl: So people dive in the trash looking for embryos to get stem cells?

Writer Boy: Yes. Just like you go dumpster diving, people go looking for frozen babies.

Design Girl: This is too complicated. I’m just going to put my headphones on and listen to music.