There's no free will :)
Of course there is free will: it is a key ingredient in the decision to not be responsible for anything because 'the universe did it'.
Why would that decision require free will?
Gut bacteria may offer a treatment for autism
101–110 of 270 posts
Re: Gut bacteria may offer a treatment for autism
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interestingly, almost no one in NA justice systems talks about evil. The causality between life events leading to crime is often ridiculously clear, and choice barely factors into it. Believing in evil is its own kind of privilege. I for one have now seen a lot of criminal cases, and I've only seen sick people and people following the path laid before them. No evil in sight, but the concept's very existence allows fo…
They still choose to continue down that path, or to not seek healing. Maybe it would be difficult to make another choice, but impossible? I find that pretty hard to believe.
It would be pretty difficult to cut off your own right hand, but impossible? No. It just takes a considerate amount of willpower.
This kind of discussion leads down a path where we try to quantify something that's incredibly hard to quantify in a vacuum.
The question of willpower is also only relevant when you try to find an appropriate punishment for immoral offenses. And because this is hard, every country on earth has courts and trials - which can take forever for good reason. Because it's already hard on a per-case basis, let's not try to find an answer that would be applicable to every offence ever.
Once you're through with your offender you should give them a probable path to redemption and back into society regardless of whether they lack willpower or not - especially if they lack willpower. Punishing someone for their lack of willpower and then closing every door in their face is a sure way to make them a criminal for life. And it's also petty.
Re: Gut bacteria may offer a treatment for autism
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
Look at the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Their belief isn’t necessarily yeast but dietary standards in general. Promotion of a vegetarian/vegan diet, and removal of alcohol, coffee, and sugar since the late 1800’s. As far as I know the dietary standards include the promotion of the effects of gut bateria, and the ill effects of eating things like warm bread but not necessarily removal of yeast.
I don't think that seventh day Adventist church is necessarily an example of being we'll adjusted
Just living the longest.
Re: Gut bacteria may offer a treatment for autism
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which major religion forbids yeast intake (and how would you guarantee that) and from which angle does one shine light on a people united in faith but with distinct local food (and yeast) sources to make it "interesting"?
Look at the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Their belief isn’t necessarily yeast but dietary standards in general. Promotion of a vegetarian/vegan diet, and removal of alcohol, coffee, and sugar since the late 1800’s. As far as I know the dietary standards include the promotion of the effects of gut bateria, and the ill effects of eating things like warm bread but not necessarily removal of yeast.
You're really reaching here.
Re: Gut bacteria may offer a treatment for autism
#105Without S. Boulardii, I am a neurotic mess who can't digest anything at all nor think straight after eating anything, so I'm inclined to believe this hypothesis. I am also intrigued about what this means for criminality and how the line between illness and evil is likely to shift given the role of microorganisms in behavioral dysfunction; and more broadly, we don't like to admit it, but it seems that completely amora…
Have you tried helminthic therapy by any chance? Also would you care to share your current treatment protocol? I am in a similar position with lots of dietary allergies and I am considering doing helminthic therapy because it seems to have a lot of success stories.
Re: Gut bacteria may offer a treatment for autism
#106Without S. Boulardii, I am a neurotic mess who can't digest anything at all nor think straight after eating anything, so I'm inclined to believe this hypothesis. I am also intrigued about what this means for criminality and how the line between illness and evil is likely to shift given the role of microorganisms in behavioral dysfunction; and more broadly, we don't like to admit it, but it seems that completely amora…
I don't see that species in the article. How did you learn about that tropical species of yeast, and how long have you been taking it? What was your digestion/appetite like with and without that supplement?
Not the parent poster, but I learned about S Boulardii from some German studies of probiotics. Boulardii at one point was one of the few that showed benefits in randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. That was a while ago so don't know what the state of the research is now.
Re: Gut bacteria may offer a treatment for autism
#107Reading about toxoplasma (a parasite of rats which can infect humans and alter their behaviour), I recall something about the common cold (a virus) and behaviour. My memory is fuzzy but there was a study that indicated that those with initial stages of a cold seek out human contact more and in the case of women, show more skin. The implication is that the virus seeks to replicate by altering our behaviour to transmit…
"the virus seeks to replicate" variants of the virus that caused their hosts to socialize more replicated more
May I prescribe you a daily dose of Lactobacillus reuteri ?
Re: Gut bacteria may offer a treatment for autism
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
The human body is complex but it has a lot of global variables. All a virus needs to do is twiddle these global variables and sometimes it will have a beneficial effect for propagation. Any part of the body can chuck any molecule into the blood stream and have it transported round the body. Virus evolutionary processes can ‘engineer’ for things to cross the blood brain barrier just like pharmaceutical researchers. Ev…
What should I read to know these variables ? any books or references ?
In this case, we'd be talking about hormones or toxins that get into the blood flow which distributes them to most cells in our organism.
By extension, most if not all molecules that are present in the plasma.
Re: Gut bacteria may offer a treatment for autism
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
I asked this question to a gastroenterologist recently and he suggested that people should treat them like medical drugs - don't take them at all if you don't have digestive issues, and if you do have issues, take them with medical guidance to help find one that works for you. I have mild IBS and had done some exploration prior to asking this question. In my personal experience, the above is definitely true. The wron…
My experience so far has been exactly how you describe I feel like I have mild cold when I take it. I have tried three or four brands. Do you mind sharong what you have tried and which one is successful?
I tried 3-4 before finding one that works for me too, but unfortunately I didn't keep track of all of the failures' names. Looking through my rough notes and gmail, I found Now Foods Probiotic-10 and Ethical Nutrients Inner Health Plus. The one that ultimately did the job was California Gold Nutrition's LactoBif, which you can buy on iHerb and has a surprisingly large volume of positive reviews on the site. I started with the 5B CFU and ramped up to the 30B. Hope that it does something for you as well!
Re: Gut bacteria may offer a treatment for autism
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't have any statistics, but judging from the number of sites and blogs that have popped up that deal with similar conditions, this seems to be an increasingly common problem. It seems like you could now speak about brain fog and everyone would understand what you meant, and I don't think that was the case 15 years ago. I've only ever made 2 top-level comments related to this issue on HN and they have surprised m…
I think the conversation about that came up with chronic fatigue. These days it’s used to describe mild hangover-like states, mostly. What people with celiac suffer is more like the confusion that comes with multiple sclerosis. As far as other people’s ‘brain fog’ I think they’re referring to a much more mild condition. Self described sensitivity to gluten is on the rise. Possibly some gluten intolerance is on the ri…
There are actually some very interesting studies looking at blood samples from the 1950s, for instance, that indicate that celiac is much more common than it used to be. See for instance "Increased Prevalence and Mortality in Undiagnosed Celiac Disease" in the journal Gastroenterology, July 2009.