
Child With Missing Cerebellum Shows Power of Human Spirit - sudhirc
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2011/02/14/child-with-missing-brain-shows-power-of-human-spirit/
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djtumolo
I'd prefer if there were a less preachy version of this article. Its certainly
scientifically interesting, but the abortion angle is out of place on HN.

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pyre
If you click on the Amazon link to the book, you'll see that it's a book about
how much worse off the world would be if 'animal rights activists' succeed in
convincing the world that an animal's life is equal to a human's life. I'm
assuming this is either the site of that author, or the site owner is
endorsing the book. In either case, it seems like more of the arguments in
that book (based on the reviews/summaries on Amazon) are appealing to emotions
in a way that is reminiscent of the religious arguments against evolution
("Those darn scientists are trying to say that I'm nothing but a monkey! I was
made in _God's_ image damn it! Not some monkey's!"). Even the title of the
book, "A Rat Is a Pig Is a Dog Is a Boy," is meant to evoke an emotional
reaction.

After stumbling across this nugget of insight into the author, I'm not at all
surprised that the article is so preachy and attributes the boy's success to
the "strength of the human spirit" rather than our own shoddy understanding of
how the brain works. The title would be better reformatted as, "boy proves
that brain work in ways that we did not previously know," but that's not a
title that will fetch you as much ad revenue as it winds it's way through
Facebook.

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scott_s
I went the other way, and looked at the site itself. It's for a religious
think tank.

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6ren
No cerebellum, missing part of his brain stem... makes me think that perhaps
our mammalian brain + prefrontal cortex is so adaptable, that the older parts
aren't strictly necessary. ie they're vestigial. Though I expect that they are
specialized and actually do a better job of their tasks.

In the bigger picture: where there's life, there's hope. There are more things
in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Nature's
imagination is greater than your imagination.

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CWuestefeld
Playing devil's advocate...

He's only three. At that age, _nobody_ is "human" in the fullest definition of
the word. Full cognitive abilities don't develop for several more years.

The plasticity of the brain, especially young ones, is well documented. It's
not surprising to me that functionality could be offloaded to the parts of the
brain that are present (although the extremity of this case may be
surprising).

I'll be interested to see where he's at when he's 6 years old, and again at
puberty.

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iterationx
Human is a word which points to a member of the human race, its not a pointer
to a fully cognitively conscious self aware - whatever you are getting at.

~~~
CWuestefeld
Obviously this is a matter subject to some philosophical debate.

In my mind, the term you are looking for when you say "human race" is actually
_homo sapiens_. This is a biological term denoting the species.

When I used the word "human", I intended to communicate a more metaphysical
idea. Perhaps a better choice of words would be "person", but somehow -- and
this seems to be all subjective -- that seemed setting the bar too low. I
thought that the word "human" might convey the idea of "person", but also
implying a certain level of functioning.

For example, I'd expect more evolved cognitive skills (starting with the
persistence of objects, eventually moving through symbolic logic, and so
forth) from an entity described as a "human", as well as certain emotional
skills, such as empathy.

Back to my original point, none of those attributes I mentioned would be
expected at all in a 3-year-old _homo sapiens_ , so this would be a more
interesting story in several years when the boy reaches an age at which we'd
expect those skills to have developed.

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boredguy8
I still wonder at what may be lost if/when we have the ability to eliminate
genetic or birth defects.

Just like emerging through the "trough of sorrow" doesn't seem essential to a
strong business yet still seems to do something like what my dad called
"building character", I wonder if these ever-present difficulties contribute,
somehow, to making people stronger. And even, perhaps, more caring of each
other.

"But there's enough troubles already..." yes, yes, I know. But first, it's not
a response to the argument. Second, though: what about when those troubles,
and then the ones left after that, are eliminated? I've long liked "The
Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect" <http://www.kuro5hin.org/prime-intellect/>
in part because it shows what might be wrong with just such a world.

Would Abraham Lincoln still have been who he was if he didn't have Marfan
syndrome? Or what if he was never born because of prenatal screening? If we
could eliminate manic depression, would we ever have another Emily Dickinson?
Would Van Gogh still have show us the world in new ways if he didn't have
epilepsy?

Eugenics has promise. It also holds terror beyond simply how it has been
practiced in the past. We're already seeing the dangers of monoculture in
agribusiness. Could a similar molecular 'cleanup' of the human genome pose
similar dangers?

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dmm
I don't have an answer for you but might I make a suggestion? Maybe you should
spend some time with some severely disabled kids. Even in the best of
circumstances (wealthy parents with lots of support living in a developed
nation, etc) disabilities can cause immense suffering, for the people
diagnosed with the conditions, for their families.

When making a decision it's often a good idea to weigh the
benefits(genetic/developmental conditions providing troubles to overcome,
character building) versus the costs (the profound difficulties these
conditions can place on individuals families). You've touched on some of the
benefits but let's make those more explicit. I don't think you have really any
idea of the costs.

After carefully considering this issue, if you come to the conclusion that
people being born with genetic disorders is a desirable aspect of life then
there are immediate ways you can show everyone you aren't full of shit. For
example you could adopt several children with severe mental retardation who
require 24hr care and will for the rest of their lives. There are many
children out there who are desperately in need of loving families and you
could make a tremendous impact on their lives _right now_.

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Splines
Original video: <http://bcove.me/z8h3m3e3>

