Instead of lots of /opinions/ on the matter, how about someone do a study to find out which language actually does turn out the highest quality programmer. That's the only way this question will ever get settled.

I've always had trouble getting decent(ly priced) copies of old philosophy books and this would help me a great deal. I just wish they were testing this in the US...

So how does this affect anything? Last I heard, what we called "choosing" to do an act was very specific and has nothing at all to do with brain states. That these states correlate with decisions are... accidental. I may be Wittgensteinizing here, but what it means for me to choose to do something is not the same as what it means for some sort of activity to be present in my brain. That both situations are called "choosing" may present some confusion, but they don't appear to have much to do with one another otherwise. This kind of article seems to be much hype over absolutely nothing...