Excessively specific adjective: The average human has no particular regard for the life of the Other. An open-eyed view of both history and the world around you reveals that in spades. Calling out what we usually call the civilized world for not caring about the life of the Other is a major, major lamppost argument. The idea that one should care about someone else 10,000 miles away of another color and completely different culture is a striking and unusual attitude in human affairs.
(Since we ourselves are human it can be easy to blip over the historical manifestations of these facts as just part of the natural order of things ourselves. So, as one exercise if you have trouble understanding what I mean on a gut level, consider the stocks [1]. Consider what it means that in the middle of what was at the time the height of civilization and the genesis of our own in the western world, these things not only existed, but were in public places. And used. I can not truly internalize this, only observe it. And consider how often you've seen these and never thought about what they actually mean about the culture they appear in, if you never have before. For those not of western civilizational descent you can find your own examples; they are abundant in all cultures.)
Of course, actual examination and comprehension of this state of affairs won't necessarily leave you more confident about the likely outcomes.... but it may make you reconsider the validity of letting someone else beat you to the research anyhow. Your influence towards humane usage is maximized by being on the cutting edge, not just being some guy over there yelling.
(Since we ourselves are human it can be easy to blip over the historical manifestations of these facts as just part of the natural order of things ourselves. So, as one exercise if you have trouble understanding what I mean on a gut level, consider the stocks [1]. Consider what it means that in the middle of what was at the time the height of civilization and the genesis of our own in the western world, these things not only existed, but were in public places. And used. I can not truly internalize this, only observe it. And consider how often you've seen these and never thought about what they actually mean about the culture they appear in, if you never have before. For those not of western civilizational descent you can find your own examples; they are abundant in all cultures.)
Of course, actual examination and comprehension of this state of affairs won't necessarily leave you more confident about the likely outcomes.... but it may make you reconsider the validity of letting someone else beat you to the research anyhow. Your influence towards humane usage is maximized by being on the cutting edge, not just being some guy over there yelling.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stocks