On Sun, Jul 18, 2010 at 6:49 PM, Gabriel M. Beddingfield <gabrbedd@gmail.com> wrote:

On Sun, 18 Jul 2010, Paul Davis wrote:

On Sat, Jul 17, 2010 at 5:55 PM,  <fons@kokkinizita.net> wrote:

Using farming machinery (*tractor) would even be more
difficult to justify...

i note that some 15-20 years ago, i was quite a rabid reader of the
agricultural movement that decried the use of the plough, an attitude
that was even more rabid when it came to the tractor that pulls a
plough. those guys would excoriate anyone who suggested using these
tools; i, on the other hand, am quite happy to refer people towards
rui's very nice device.

When I was in college, an elder gentleman said:

In the 1960's they invented the Simpson reaper, and it was adopted very quicly without any question.

Meanwhile in the 1960's, they developed localized anesthesia for use in childbirth.  However, this got mired in controversy over whether or not it was "ethical" to allow women to opt-out of God's curse that a woman should have increased labor pains.

-gabriel

p.s. for those who aren't bible scholars, in Genesis 3 God curses women with "greatly increased pains in childbearing" (Ge 3:16), but men were cursed: "By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food  until you return to the ground...."