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U.S. autism data project sparks uproar over ethics, privacy and intent

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Re: U.S. autism data project sparks uproar over ethics, privacy and intent

#111

It’s interesting to muse about the larger picture here. What is it that makes autism so dangerous? To me it looks like part of an almost spiritual war against empathy/compassion by traumatized individuals trying to fight their own Jungian Shadow.

This is like saying what makes cerebal palsy so dangerous. Why is trying to find out causes so dangerous? The dangers of empiricism in the 21st century. In the UK, there are regions where 50% of children born in the early 2000s have special needs, and more children than adults are claiming disability benefits. It is going to have a very big impact on the labour market when 20-30% of these cohorts cannot work and, the…

> It is going to have a very big impact on the labour market when 20-30% of these cohorts cannot work

"Cannot work" has more to do (imo) with the American Welfare Cliff where if you accept disability, you're forced to not have a job because if you make even a small piddling of money (it's something like $600/mo), you lose all your disability.

It's very disgusting, imo, and rejecting people's admission of a very real struggle they have because admission "does more harm than good" is, itself, harmful.

Re: U.S. autism data project sparks uproar over ethics, privacy and intent

#112

One thing this will do is disincentivize high functioning autists from identifying themselves as autists, which is a very good thing IMO. Just look at this channel https://www.youtube.com/@NationalAutisticSoc/videos . There is a lot of survivor-ship bias on this channel towards high functioning autists who can talk in front of a camera. Just to give an idea to those not familiar with the difference between high funct…

[deleted]

Re: U.S. autism data project sparks uproar over ethics, privacy and intent

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Do not commit the sin of empathy"

“The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy” — Elon on Joe Rogan It’s a core tenant of this Curtis Yarvin / neo reactionary ideology that seems to be shared by a lot of VCs

> “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy” — Elon on Joe Rogan

Also probably Nietzsche (not on Joe Rogan).

Re: U.S. autism data project sparks uproar over ethics, privacy and intent

#114

One thing this will do is disincentivize high functioning autists from identifying themselves as autists, which is a very good thing IMO. Just look at this channel https://www.youtube.com/@NationalAutisticSoc/videos . There is a lot of survivor-ship bias on this channel towards high functioning autists who can talk in front of a camera. Just to give an idea to those not familiar with the difference between high funct…

Channels about autism also disproportionally cover people who are willing to talk about their autism. Recently I've been reading The Lost Girls of Autism. Something that stood out in the anonymous accounts is the fear of being "discovered" and the associated anxiety and depression. Since reading that I'm not super comfortable with the idea of incentivising high-functioning people to hide.

Re: U.S. autism data project sparks uproar over ethics, privacy and intent

#115

It’s interesting to muse about the larger picture here. What is it that makes autism so dangerous? To me it looks like part of an almost spiritual war against empathy/compassion by traumatized individuals trying to fight their own Jungian Shadow.

“I told you once that I was searching for the nature of evil. I think I’ve come close to defining it: a lack of empathy. It’s the one characteristic that connects all the defendants. A genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow man. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.” ― G. M. Gilbert, American psychologist who worked on the Nuremberg trials

Didn't someone recently mention that "The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy"?

Sounds familiar...

Re: U.S. autism data project sparks uproar over ethics, privacy and intent

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll quote Kennedy's dehumanizing comments for context, that people can compare the two styles of rhetoric: - "Kennedy said many autistic children were “fully functional” and “regressed … into autism when they were 2 years old. And these are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a to…

He's specifically talking about nonverbal kids like mine. I'm sorry, it's a disability, and I'm terrified what's going to happen to my kid when I'm gone. I don't think RFK Jr's policies will help and I didn't vote for them. But the amount of frustration I have towards comments like yours that ignore our worlds is immense. At least RFK Jr speaks honestly and candidly. The challenges a level 1 autistic person faces are…

The kindness, sincerity and honestly that you attribute to his words are distinctly not there. Otherwise, he wouldn't be pitching pseudo-scientific views after ignoring and firing career professionals in the field. You have an autistic kid. Weren't you still able to recognize the dozen or so absolute falsehoods about autism that he spouted in that half an hour? What's even worse it that his tone and behavior has a very familiar and dreadful analogue from the past. Read your GP's top-level comment. At this point, people are simply ignoring the dozen flashing red lights. Do you really believe that he cares more about people's health than all the researchers who were working on several topics like this, whom he fired?

> The challenges a level 1 autistic person faces are well recognized and good for network TV.

Those level 2 and 3 people you seem to be so worried about are the ones who are going to suffer the most. At least we know how to mask it in public.

Re: U.S. autism data project sparks uproar over ethics, privacy and intent

#117

[flagged]

> ICE is gearing up to be the Gestapo.

It should be noted that the Nazis took a lot of US policies from 1920/30s and ran with them just a little bit further. The Nazis were famous for eugenics, but it was quite big in the US as well, see for example:

* https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/07/4694780...

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_v._Bell

Their initial treatment/segregation of the Jews wasn't much different than treatment of blacks in the US.

Re: U.S. autism data project sparks uproar over ethics, privacy and intent

#118
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

activities that would result in "identifying themselves as autists" include: seeking a diagnosis in the first place, getting the help of a mental health professional, frequenting support groups and forums, and wearing a fitbit or smart watch. It's really not a good thing when people, high functioning or not, are forced to choose between getting the help they need and being targeted by their government.

> and wearing a fitbit or smart watch. Since when is wearing smart watches only for autists?

It's one of the many private data sources they were planning to use to track and collect data on autistic people for their database. https://people.com/rfk-jr-to-launch-autism-registry-using-pr...

Autistic or not, giving that kind of health information to private for-profit companies who collect that data to use it against you or sell to third parties was never a good idea even before the government wanted to take it for themselves.

Re: U.S. autism data project sparks uproar over ethics, privacy and intent

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy” — Elon on Joe Rogan It’s a core tenant of this Curtis Yarvin / neo reactionary ideology that seems to be shared by a lot of VCs

[flagged]

A cadre of billionaires appears determined to institute fascism in the United States; there’s a very real chance they will succeed. Meanwhile, the climate crisis threatens the long-term survival of our species, yet efforts to steer us away from self-destruction are being actively sabotaged by the fossil fuel industry. This is to say nothing of the warmongering with China, another nuclear power.

The concentration of wealth (and by extension, power) really has become an existential threat to humanity.

Re: U.S. autism data project sparks uproar over ethics, privacy and intent

#120
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling it a "guess" seems very generous at this point, saying it is a "lie" is more accurate I think.

Never attribute to malice what cannot be adequately explained by stupidity. And he is one stupid fuck.

Add a new rule: Don't assume that that rule is always true. Especially when the subject's income depends on either.
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