We have decided some brain quirks are disorders (and get accommodations, as is compassionate), whilst others are flaws (and get slurs). But no one picks their hardware. You cannot earn a better prefrontal cortex or deserve a calmer amygdala. Nor does one get to pick the environment they are born in, which will inform their choices later in life. Even the capacity to “learn better” is a roll of the dice, some brains start the race with sprinting shoes, others with lead weights.

So when we call someone stupid, lazy or insane we are not describing a choice, but simply announcing which kinds of unlucky we’ve decided are worthy of scorn.

  • Datz@szmer.info
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    4 hours ago

    Could this comment then maybe affect the chain of your future thoughts, and result in you seeking a psychologist?

    • oreoreore@lemy.lolOP
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      3 hours ago

      You suggest I see a psychologist, yet psychology confirms my point: we are the products of our neurobiology and our environments.

      If you believe there is a part of the human mind that exists outside of cause and effect, I’d love to see the clinical study that located it.