Parable of the Beard

The circle on the far right may actually be infinitely large, but since it cannot be pictured, it is represented by a finite circle.

We tend to perceive human beings as shown in the figure on the left, focusing on their material existence. When you have a chimpanzee mind in a human body or a human mind in a chimpanzee body, which do you feel is more human? If you choose "a human spirit in a chimpanzee body," that means you don't value the physical body. And yet, isn't it strange to judge things by the shape of the physical body?

The individual is like a cat's whiskers, "sensing and communicating this to the body," and although each whisker is a different entity, this is not important.

• Science Fiction Setting
  • When space alien says to humanity, "We respect human life," it means about as much as not pulling out a cat's whiskers for no good reason.
  • Body hair might be better than a beard, because there's no rational reason for a beard to be pulled out.
  • If it's body hair, they shave it off because they want to "get a good look at the body".
  • They are respected to the extent that "you don't shave for no reason," and when some reason arises, those with some attributes of humanity are slaughtered. The remaining humanity says, "Oh my God! It's not what you said! It's a betrayal!" etc., but the aliens in question say, "What? What? I just shaved my head because I had a reason to shave it. We still respect human life, don't we?" I think.

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