Is free-will an illusion?

He's trying to win a futile position. Actually, addiction is an illness.

What was misrepresented? This is what you wrote:


I said that you understood that it's not chosen. Why so sensitive?

Why deform what I said all the time?

Yes, probably just another sore loser.

It's the reality you're inventing.

Sorry to break the bad news to you but I owe what I say, you don't.

Maybe you're just trying to protect yourself from a collapse of your belief system, hence this re-invention of the reality around you. It comes across as quite foolish.

All you've done is respond with insults. Forgive me if I'm less than impressed with these "debate" tactics. If you ever want to attempt an intelligent response then maybe you'll describe how participants blind to experimental conditions and whose behavior covaries with the application or withdrawal of the independent variable choose that for which they are unaware. If all you can do is respond with insults, then don't cry when you get called out. You're an intelligent guy, which can make a discussion more interesting, but if you think you've won some points by attacking my profession or making jokes about the people in the profession, then you're sadly mistaken, and I will take you to task every time. But as you say...it's your choice.

Sure, show me a clear experimental model and I'll review it. But will you then try to address what i come up with, or will you try and bend and deform it?

A minimum of intellectual honesty is required in those debates. You got to pay attention to what people ACTUALLY say. Otherwise you're just going around in circle inside your own mind, without speaking to anyone, really.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1311017/

I will. And if you heed your own advice then we can have a conversation instead of a debate.

Before i even open your link, you owe me an apology for your misrepresentation of my positions, and a promise that you won't do it again.

What position did I misrepresent?

1. on autism; 2. on environmental influences.

Since I quoted you I'm not sure how I misrepresented anything.

How is my statement: "For autism, i don't know much about it. Could be a choice in some cases." equivalent to your: " you blame 2-yr-olds with autism"??? How is the latter not a gross misrepresentation of the former?

As I also stated, the typical age of onset is around 2, when the MMR vaccine is typically given. To say that some children with autism choose to be autistic is blaming very young children for their condition. I also dedicated time in an earlier post discussing how important it is to me that people with disabilities do not get blamed and shamed for their symptoms; something that they do not choose, as this has led to people with autism (and many other disabilities) being victimized for things they cannot control.
http://able2know.org/topic/196759-44#post-6042995
And after I explained my position and you responded, you then threw in that some of the children might be choosing their disability. And you think you deserve an apology for being called out for this?

Good on ya, Briancrc. I was the Director of Administration at a nonprofit organization that provided support for the developmentally disabled. Early intervention helped them meet their maximum life time potential in what they wanted to do. What was interesting to observe and learn was that family members tended to help the disabled too much making them more dependent on others rather than making them more self sufficient. What is important to point out is that people who are ignorant about developmental disabilities do and say things that are offensive without realizing they have emotions like everybody else.
I have seen store clerks who have been patient with developmentally disabled people, and I have personally complimented and thanked them.
Developmental disabilities hits all peoples regardless of race, wealth, culture, or anything else.
I know that in Japan, the family used to keep them at home, because they felt shame. I hope that has changed.

Note: years ago no evidence was found to connect MMR with autism. A study authored by Andrew Wakefield in 1996 (going from memory) was withdrawn from the Journal, the Lancet, due to information that the data in the study were false.

Yes, I have been going to Japan and other East Asian countries since the 90's and have seen some tremendous progress in the treatment of people with autism in some of the countries. As you stated, there had been shame about the conditions and those that were effected were very much kept from being seen. There is, however, still a very long way to go.

So you belong to the thought police, and you invent the evidence you need to convict me, he?

I never blamed anyone, and my statement was in the conditional mode. It was a "maybe". Keep lying.

No, and as I said, to say a person chooses something is to blame them (or credit them), but I acknowledged that you distanced yourself from your initial statement.