the answer to your first questions is no, i don’t think my life would have any less value. at the same time, i’ll do everything i can to avoid paralysis, blindness, deafness, etc. i assume that, if once blinded for instance, i would jump at the chance to regain my eyesight. is this a controversial point of view?

i thought from the context that it was clear what i meant by function, but yes i mean function independently, as in not needing assistance at all times. i certainly don’t think that functioning independently is the only important thing. but i also don’t think that someone with autism, who needs assistance at all times…

if you aren’t then you aren’t included in that set of people who are, so i don’t know why you use the word ‘we’.

“The boy you said “couldn’t function” clearly was function at some level since he’s not dead.”

“trying to “cure” autism is like trying to cure Down’s Syndrome: it’s impossible to do without overhauling a person’s entire genetic code.”

i entirely agree.

oh, i didn’t know that about asperger’s.

i don’t think it’s fair to call it demonizing. you’re not demonizing someone by saying they’re afflicted with a horrible disease. maybe it’s unnecessary fear, or misplaced sympathy.

it might be more well received, but is it true? fundamentally broken is a pretty high bar, but is autism not a severe disorder? i know there’s asperger’s, which is, as i understand it, actually a separate disorder from autism (but on the autism spectrum), and high functioning. i also understand that, informally, the…

doesn’t it go without saying that anything anyone says emerges out of one single point of view within an entire universe?

i wonder if they factor that into their ads?

this is my view too. the fact is that anything that lives will suffer. that’s innate to the process of being alive. if you watch a video of an amoeba eating a bacterium, it’s pretty clear that the bacterium is suffering as it struggles to get free. i know people can project onto things, but then again people can also…

same here.

my brain read ahead of me there. “steve martin has ____”, i really thought the last word would be “died.”

i believe it was common in the civil war to outright hire a replacement if you had the means and were drafted. i don’t know if that’s still allowed though, but like you say, things can be worked out.

why?

so the 5k is x and the half-marathon is y. y = 4x is the relation between them, and it equals y/4 = x. i do see that x != 4/y. i *don’t* see your point. i’m sure we can agree with the equalities i’ve written, but your objection is how it’s phrased in english. what’s the problem with saying x is four times shorter than…

division is multiplication by reciprocal.

that’s not what “four times shorter” means. X is four times shorter than Y is a relation between X and Y. it describes the relationship between the sizes of X and Y, it’s not an imperative statement.