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As it applies to the abortion issue.

ugh, Well, let's keep it going then. Brain activity of any sort other than continuing to develop into a fully functioning human brain is not central to my belief that a human is human at conception. It's your point as I understand it, that unless there is measurable brain activity on an equal level to a born, living human, than it is not indeed human yet. I understand your point of view, but again simply do not agree with it. For several reasons.

1. A fetal brain develops physically in the first few weeks and continues to develop through the pregnancy, and indeed through life.
2. From the first cell, the brain is serving it's intended purpose. That purpose changes somewhat as it develops.
3. Comparing the fetal brain and the born human brain in terms of function is inadequate since they are obviously not at the same level.
4. What constitutes normal brain activity, and do those that have less than relatively normal brain activity still qualify as humans?
5. Is your assumption an IBTL sort of attitude? You know that baring some abnormal circumstance, the brain will begin to function at the level you describe within a very short period of time from conception. Is it simply the presence of some measurable electrical impulse that would qualify or is it more than that?

Does your proposal serve any other purpose other than defining an acceptable period to perform abortion? Is brain activity all the defines person-hood in your opinion?
nope i did not say "equal level" to an adult brain i said brain activity period. once the brain is developed to the point of "activity" then human life starts. the point at which it starts is in the link you gave in a previous post, and we talked about, which is around the first trimester i believe. i never said "normal brain activity" i said the spark of the brain. yes my proposal only serves to make the LAW when life starts more in line with what we have already determined to be when someone dies so we have ONE standard for the two events. no i don't think it is ALL that defines personhood there are MANY things other than brain activity that go into that.
 
nope i did not say "equal level" to an adult brain i said brain activity period. once the brain is developed to the point of "activity" then human life starts. the point at which it starts is in the link you gave in a previous post, and we talked about, which is around the first trimester i believe. i never said "normal brain activity" i said the spark of the brain. yes my proposal only serves to make the LAW when life starts more in line with what we have already determined to be when someone dies so we have ONE standard for the two events. no i don't think it is ALL that defines personhood there are MANY things other than brain activity that go into that.

So, from the first electrical impulse on is where you define the begining of humanity?
 
So, from the first electrical impulse on is where you define the begining of humanity?
i admit i am no expert on brain activity but if the last exlectrical impulse is the ending of life then yes the first would be a logical starting point.
 
i admit i am no expert on brain activity but if the last exlectrical impulse is the ending of life then yes the first would be a logical starting point.

Well, from what I've read, that would put it at around 4 to 5 weeks....earlier than most women realize that they are pregnant at all.
 
Well, from what I've read, that would put it at around 4 to 5 weeks....earlier than most women realize that they are pregnant at all.

Here's some more information on brain activity:
Brain_Waves

They found "electrical activity" in fetal brainstem cells from 10 weeks of pregnancy (56 days after fertilization) on, but that doesn't mean much. An EEG involves measuring varying electrical potentials across a dipole, or separated positive and negative charges. Any living cell has an electrical potential across its membrane, and any living structure is a dipole, which explains why people have been able to put electrodes on plants, hook them up to EEG machines, and get "evidence" that plants have feelings. But this has nothing to do with "brain waves," which are a nontechnical term for a particular kind of varying potentials produced by certain brain structures that don't even exist in an embryo and associated with consciousness and dreaming as well as the regulation of bodily functions.

The Bergstroms did not find electrical activity of a kind that had anything to do with "brain function" until 84 days (12 weeks) of gestation, or 70 days after conception. The activity then recorded was not in any way similar to what is seen on a normal EEG, which includes what people call "brain waves." Rather, the Bergstroms stimulated the fetal brain stem and were able to record random bursts of electrical activity which looked exactly like the bursts they got from the fetal leg muscles when they were stimulated.....

....When people, including physicians, talk about "brain waves" and "brain activity" they are referring to organized activity in the cortex. While no embryo or fetus has ever been found to have "brain waves," extensive EEG studies have been done on premature babies. A very good summary of their findings can be found in Pain and its effects in the human neonate and fetus," a review article (often cited by "pro-lifers" writing about fetal pain, but not about brain development) by K.J.S. Anand, a leading researcher on pain in newborns, and P.R. Hickey, published in NEJM:

Functional maturity of the cerebral cortex is suggested by fetal and neonatal electroencephalographic patterns...First, intermittent electroencephalograpic bursts in both cerebral hemispheres are first seen at 20 weeks gestation; they become sustained at 22 weeks and bilaterally synchronous at 26 to 27 weeks.
 
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