[nfb-talk] Proposal and predictions

[John G. Heim]

We're getting off the topic of the original proposal so it's a good thing 
somebody changed the subject line. But I would like to point out that it's 
not particularly relevant that people think blindness is horrible when it 
comes to the proposal that the NFB start providing adaptive equipment. The 
idea that blindness is horrible and that we're helpless are related but not 
identical. And while supplying adaptive equipment may not help dispel the 
idea that being blind is horrible, it might help dispel the idea that we're 
helpless.

Anyway, back to what you're saying...

I probably have told the story about how several of my friends insist that 
if they went blind, they'd kill themselves. I ask them how they can think 
that when they see me clearly happy and successful. But they say I can 
handle it. To some degree they are complimenting my toughness but it's also 
partially that they see me as a total nerd. It's not so bad for a nerd to be 
blind but if you're a normal human being, it's horrible.

Anyway, in spite of all my efforts to convince them otherwise, they insist 
that they'd kill themselves. And I'm talking about 2 groups of friends. One 
group are people I work with and the other is people I run with. They both 
know me really well and never the less think that suicide would be a valid 
option if they go blind.

I also would not dispute the idea that parents would probably abort a fetus 
if they were warned in advance that it would be blind. I suspect that 
probably has already happened. If it hasn't, it's probably only because 
there's no way to detect it.

The final point I'd like to make is that I think people are underestimating 
how soon we'll have artificial vision.  It' funny I got into an argument on 
this list about Ray Kurswail's predictions which I think are unrealistically 
optimistic. But we already have rudimentary artificial vision. It doesn't 
take a great deal of imagination to picture improvements that would give 
people effective artificial vision.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "RyanO" <ryano218 at comcast.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2009 8:50 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Proposal and predictions


> David, I fully agree with you on your prediction about synthetic vision. 
> I've said before that society will come up with a "cure for blindness" 
> long before it joins us in our belief that it is respectable to be blind. 
> I heard a radio commercial the other day with a cheesy rendition of, "What 
> a Wonderful World," in the background. The announcer asked parents to 
> imagine how terrible it would be to raise a child without sight. The fact 
> that a commercial like this can be aired in the mainstream today in a 
> hypersensitive culture of political correctness speaks volumes.
>
> Of course, world events may take us down a much darker path than the one 
> that leads to artificial vision. I firmly believe that circumstances could 
> lead us to a point when it would be a common societal practice to abort 
> embryos that are deemed "defective" by doctors. We may even hit a point 
> where our countries cannot economically sustain programs for the disabled. 
> Some have accused me of holding an extreme view on this futuristic vision, 
> but I sincerely believe that it is possible. War and economic collapse 
> often drive people into extreme behavior.
>
>
>
> RyanO
>
>
>
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