So President of these United States Barack Obama infamously said that knowing when life begins is above his pay grade. Then how come the guy he hired knows so much about it?

Patterico writes:

John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Obama’s top science adviser, co-authored a 1973 book that said a newborn child “will ultimately develop into a human being” if he or she is properly fed and socialized:

“The fetus, given the opportunity to develop properly before birth, and given the essential early socializing experiences and sufficient nourishing food during the crucial early years after birth, will ultimately develop into a human being,” John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, wrote in Human Ecology: Problems and Solutions.
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The specific passage expressing the authors’ view that a baby “will ultimately develop into a human being” is on page 235 in chapter 8 of the book, which is titled “Population Limitation.”

We can’t be shocked anymore by anything this guy says. (Holdren, not Patterico.)

But I just have to ask about the hubris of making such a statement. On what philosophical grounding do you make such a statement? None that I can decipher. It’s whim. And worse, it’s whim masquerading as compassionate social planning.

If we had too many babies in America, according to Holdren, the moment where life began would assuredly be slid over to the third trimester of second grade. If we didn’t have enough babies according to Holdren, then we’d limit open season on children to kindergarten or maybe even Pre-K.

Aren’t these supposed to be thinking people? His intellectual pontifications are essentially okaying a Holocaust. And this guy’s working in the White House for the man’s who’s unsure when life begins.

Patterico asks:

Would the authors object to a mother killing her two month old baby if they really believe life begins after a child is socialized? I’m sure they would for PC reasons, but I don’t see how they could and be philosophically consistent.

I’m honestly not sure they would. Or perhaps they would in public but in private they’d have no problem with it.

But let’s face it, the entire “above my pay grade” is just the public face of a monstrous agenda.