Engineering News

Is "euthanize" the same thing as "kill"?

I am having a serious problem getting a handle on the essential moral dilemma in this situation. If the issue is one of destroying or modifying an artistic expression created by someone else, one should have significant justification for doing this, such as, the creation has outgrown its container. I suppose one should consult the creator first, however.

The object is described as a jacket or coat. I have a preconceived notion of a jacket or coat which may be too limiting for this particular case. My notion of a jacket or coat is a wrapper of some sort that serves to isolate an object from the environment- an article of clothing, for instance, to protect the wearer from the cold, or an insulating jacket on a steam line, for example, to prevent overheating the environment. Now, it seems to me that a jacket that continues growing is not going to be a very practical jacket for very long. Even if the growth rate is synchronized with the user's growth, eventually both are going to have to stop growing when the wearer reaches maturity. This suggests that a dead jacket is more practical than a living jacket (I do not believe, were I partial to leather jackets, that I would want to try a wearing a cowhide while the animal was still alive). It seems to me, the curator has done nothing more than enhanced the utility of the object.

It seems to me that it would be more morally acceptable to grow one's apparel from stem cells than to strip the hide from a living creature. Of course, even more morally acceptable would be to wait for the creature to finish with it's components through natural causes (i.e., death due to old age) before incorporating them in to other products; but by then the utility of, say, the hide, might be forfeited due to degradation beyond acceptable limits...

But this does not seem to be the dilemma faced by the curator. What, exactly, is the moral issue under discussion here?

The remarks on the weblink are also extremely interesting.

A fine but mis-placed example of "Living Art".

Kind Regards....

A load of emotive nonsense..

Who has qualms about destroyong a piece of fruit which has mold growing on it?
The mold is 'alive'.
Or a house plant that has grown too big for it's pot?

we are easilly swayed by anything that looks cute.... if it were a jar of brown slime or a yeast... no-one would even notice.

Del

".... if it were a jar of brown slime or a yeast... no-one would even notice."

The Q would!

Euthanize = kill but it is "humane". I'm not sure what to think about that, sounds kind of gross to me. Neat idea, although I bet the market for mouse leather jackets is fairly small.

Doesn't the mouse fur keep them warm enough. Why do the mice need leather jackets? Is it just a status thing? Kind of like "The Fonz"? Next thing you know we'll be making mouse sun glasses and mouse cowboy boots. What an incredible waist of time and money!

Rosanna D.

How do you humanely kill a jacket that has no brain?

Probably the same people who are opposed to this would have no trouble killing a mouse if it was in their house.

Can I have the afternoon off Boss??

My jacket died and I need to go to the funeral...