When does life begin?

[Secular Sanity]

Bacteria are alive, and they don't even have brains. The same thing is true of plants.

Plants and animals.

[Syne]

You're, again, conflating words...here "non-functioning" with "dead". They are not synonyms, especially in the sense of a brain. It's not like your electronics, where we colloquially call a nonfunctional piece of tech "dead".

That's how science defines death--the non-functioning flatline of the brain. Being brain dead. It's the same for early fetuses. There is no difference in these states.

Nope, I've already given you the definition for death, several times. It is the cessation of an organism or vital process.
You've given no alternative that avoids the cessation of existing life. You just keep reiterating the same nonsense.

No, life doesn't "come from" molecules, otherwise we would have proof of abiogenesis (and you'd likely win a Nobel prize if you could...so there's no lack of motivation). Food is converted to chemical energy for a living organism to do the work of growing tissue; food doesn't become living tissue.

Yeah..food comes from dead tissue and non-alive molecules. It is the way life continues, by using the non-alive molecules of dead tissue and building itself out of those. The living matter doesn't just appear out of nowhere. Matter that is dead turns into matter that is alive. This is basic science. I'm surprised you didn't know this.

Who disagreed that food comes from dead tissue? No one, but apparently, in your ignorance, you think that makes some kind of point.  
What don't you understand about food merely being the chemical energy a living organism needs to do work?
Living cells divide to produce new living cells. There is never a non-living step in the process of reproduction. They simply use chemical energy to do the work, as per the first law of thermodynamics. Very basic science here.

You obviously have no clue about science. Again, if you're so sure that "Matter that is dead turns into matter that is alive", you should really publish a paper and claim your Nobel prize. Again, from the guy who believes in toilet ghosts: https://www.scivillage.com/thread-6186.html

If a brain was functioning at one time, then irreversibly ceases functioning, it must have previously been alive. (A brain can't function unless its many neurons are living cells.)

And a brain that is not functioning previous to being alive, as in prior to the 25th week, is the same as a brain that not functioning after being alive. Non-functioning is non-functioning. A turned off tv is turned off whether it was previously turned on or just bought from the store.

See, I told you you were conflating terms and confusing brains and electronics.

[Magical Realist]

See, I told you you were conflating terms and confusing brains and electronics.

LOL! The brain IS an electronic system. It entirely depends for its functioning on the flow of electrons. Just like a TV set.

[Syne]

So, MR, if you believe that developing a brain is the same as brain death, where does anencephaly fit in? O_o

an·en·ce·phal·ic
adjective
1. having the cerebral hemispheres and a large part of the skull congenitally absent; exhibiting anencephaly.
noun
1. an anencephalic fetus or infant.

Is that brain death, the lack of a brain, a developing brain, or are they all the same to you? O_o

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See, I told you you were conflating terms and confusing brains and electronics.

LOL! The brain IS an electronic system. It entirely depends for its functioning on the flow of electrons. Just like a TV set.

LOL! Do you think you can turn the brain on and off too?

[Magical Realist]

Is that brain death, the lack of a brain, a developing brain, or are they all the same to you?

That would be brain dead too. All dark inside.

LOL! Do you think you can turn the brain on and off too?

Yes...when a brain is turned off it's called brain dead. It's the same state in the early fetus and the expired human.

[Syne]

Thanks for making sure we're all very aware of just how completely scientifically illiterate you are, MR. Job well done, man.

[Magical Realist]

Thanks for making sure we're all very aware of just how completely scientifically illiterate you are, MR. Job well done, man.

If slavish devotion to science is a standard for speaking the truth. Unfortunately there is no objective evidence of that at all.

[Syne]

Thanks for making sure we're all very aware of just how completely scientifically illiterate you are, MR. Job well done, man.

If slavish devotion to science is a standard for speaking the truth. Unfortunately there is no objective evidence of that at all.

Keep it up, man, you're doing a great job.
Only anti-science rubes say crap like "slavish devotion to science" when objective and verified facts contradict their subjective, ignorant nonsense.

Everyone notices that you've hardly addressed, much less refuted, any of the facts I've given you.
But you're more than welcome to keep opening your mouth and removing all doubt.

[Secular Sanity]

There is no debate, and 100% consensus, on the scientific view of when life begins. Anyone that tells you otherwise doesn't understand science or has an intentionally dishonest agenda.

How do you feel about the frozen embryos that are discarded?

[Syne]

There is no debate, and 100% consensus, on the scientific view of when life begins. Anyone that tells you otherwise doesn't understand science or has an intentionally dishonest agenda.

How do you feel about the frozen embryos that are discarded?

They can be frozen before the second or third day, before the separate DNA contributions form an new, unique DNA.

An embryo can be frozen during several stages of its development: from the day of fertilization, when they are an only cell1, to five or six days later in their blastocyst stage2, when they are the same size but with more cells within. During their first seven days alive, they grow within the external membrane of the oocyte, exactly like a chick in an egg shell… Remember an egg is a chicken’s oocyte! The moment in which the cells break the membrane is known as the hatching of the blastocyst3, they come out and implant immediately in the inner layer of the uterus. Thus, they can be frozen up until that moment.
- http://www.fertility-experiences.com/fro...they-live/

Considering frozen embryos are fertilized (which takes only 16-20 hours) in the lab, this is not a problem.