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"Parasitic worms bore into our organs, steal our nutrients, and sup on our blood—but their effects aren’t all harmful" The point of the article is largely that
by murbard2 11y ago
"Parasitic worms bore into our organs, steal our nutrients, and sup on our blood—but their effects aren’t all harmful"
The point of the article is largely that the same is literally true of babies :)
- humanrebar 11y agoAnd it would be a funnier comparison if people didn't philosophically equate babies with parasites.
- gizmo686 11y agoWhat do you mean by philosophically? It seems to me that the obvious way to equate babies with parasites is in a technical sense (they are another organism surviving by sapping nutrients and resources from the host).
- humanrebar 11y agoPeople often compare fetuses to parasites when they're arguing that abortions aren't a big deal and/or an entirely personal decision. I'd consider transplant organs to be a better analogy to unborn humans. At least both have human DNA. That's not to say the mechanisms the autoimmune system uses to identify and reject intruders aren't manipulated by parasites. It is probably true that learning how that works could help more women have healthy pregnancies.