The Romans allowed abortion until a child started speaking. Before then, they weren't really considered human, I suppose.

That's not abortion, that's infanticide. But, still relevant, I suppose.

Semantics... but yes you're right. I think the perceptions that allow for abortion or infanticide are similar (though that might be something I'm "not allowed to say"). If it doesn't seem real to you, you can control and/or destroy it.

Zygotes killed by contraception are similar. Very few people consider a single-celled zygote a human.

Not only that, but they had to speak Latin!

If I kid can't say "I think, therefore I am" and mean it, then...

If you think a reality show sucks after watching most of an episode, would you watch the ending?

The child analogy isn't perfect. You can't just dump a child like you can dump a bad startup. I agree that many people underestimate how much you have to commit to your startup, but you there probably is a scenario in which it would be wise to give up. It's a lot easier to think of a scenario like this for a startup (pets.com) than it is for a kid (...?...).

The timeframes are different. 2 years is not that much time compared to the time it takes to raise a kid. But 2 years is a long time for a startup.

I think the implicit question is, do you care about your startup like it's your child or like it's an amusing reality show? Two years is a long time to watch a crappy reality show, but not a long time to nurture your child.

It's true. But from the guy's description, it sounded like he cared about it a lot. I thought his question was about when one should let a startup go.

Profound stuff, man. :D