Comment Re:Yeah, what of it..? (Score 1) 559
"Well, once you actually have a child and it becomes independent enough to make decisions on its own.. it's, well, an independent life form. Not some kind of "extension" of the parent. It is now a separate entity."
No. The child is an independant life form from birth, capable of making informed decisions for him/herself. A newborn will creep to his mothers breast for nourishment; if you had children you respected and listened to you might notice that newborns have very strong preferences and are quite capable of making these preferences clear. Its up to the parent or caregiver to hear the child and assist the implementation of the desired activity. That's the job of the parent. I daresay that "even" children/people (same thing) with serious brain "dysfunction" are capable of making informed choices; we just haven't discovered a way to communicate with many of them.
A person I know works with children who have cerebral palsy. Until someone went and built these "communicators" ( devices that enable the kids-this is a school- to effectively talk, with a voice that is their own, by programming it or pressing on it or moving their head slightly to the left or whatever, twitching etc), many of them were probably thought to be useless vegetables (or whatever) as well. To suggest that just because a person is unable to respond in a way we can recognize, they are therefore useless or should be killed, is illogical and unscientific.
Again, I say that this is an underexplored area and that our energies should be towards discovering methods of communication.
No. The child is an independant life form from birth, capable of making informed decisions for him/herself. A newborn will creep to his mothers breast for nourishment; if you had children you respected and listened to you might notice that newborns have very strong preferences and are quite capable of making these preferences clear. Its up to the parent or caregiver to hear the child and assist the implementation of the desired activity. That's the job of the parent. I daresay that "even" children/people (same thing) with serious brain "dysfunction" are capable of making informed choices; we just haven't discovered a way to communicate with many of them.
A person I know works with children who have cerebral palsy. Until someone went and built these "communicators" ( devices that enable the kids-this is a school- to effectively talk, with a voice that is their own, by programming it or pressing on it or moving their head slightly to the left or whatever, twitching etc), many of them were probably thought to be useless vegetables (or whatever) as well. To suggest that just because a person is unable to respond in a way we can recognize, they are therefore useless or should be killed, is illogical and unscientific.
Again, I say that this is an underexplored area and that our energies should be towards discovering methods of communication.
