Tootfinder

TL;DR: spending money to find the cause of autism is a eugenics project, and those resources could have been spent improving accommodations for Autistic people instead.
To preface this, I'm not Autistic but I'm neurodivergent with some overlap.
We need to be absolutely clear right now: the main purpose is *all* research into the causes of autism is eugenics: a cause is sought because non-autistic people want to *eliminate* autistic people via some kind of "cure." It should be obvious, but a "cured autistic person" who did not get a say in the decision to administer that "cure" has been subjected to non-consensual medical intervention at an extremely unethical level. Many autistic people have been exceptionally clear that they don't want to be "cured," including some people with "severe autism" such as people who are nonverbal.
When we think things like "but autism makes life so hard for some people," we're saying that the difficulties in their life are a result of their neurotype, rather than blaming the society that punished & devalues the behaviors that result from that neurotype at every turn. To the extent that an individual autistic person wants to modify their neurotype and/or otherwise use aids to modify themselves to reduce difficulties in their life, they should be free to pursue that. But we should always ask the question: "what if we changed their social or physical environment instead, so that they didn't have to change themselves?" The point is that difficulties are always the product of person x environment, and many of the difficulties we attribute to autism should instead be attributed to anti-autistic social & physical spaces, and resources spent trying to "find the cause of autism" would be *much* better spent trying to develop & promote better accommodations for autism. Or at least, that's the case if you care about the quality of life of autistic people and/or recognize their enormous contributions to society (e.g., Wikipedia could not exist in anything near its current form without autistic input). If instead you think of Autistic people as gross burdens that you'd rather be rid of, then it makes sense to investigate the causes of autism so that you can eventually find a "cure."
All of that to say: the best response to lies about the causes of autism is to ask "What is the end goal of identifying the cause?" instead of saying "That's not true, here's better info about the causes."
#autism #trump
P.S. yes, I do think about the plight of parents of autistic kids, particularly those that have huge struggles fitting into the expectations of our society. They've been put in a position where society constantly bullies and devalues their kid, and makes it mostly impossible for their kid to exist without constant parental support, which is a lot of work and which is unfair when your peers get the school system to do a massive amount of childcare. But in that situation, your kid is in an even worse position than you as the direct victim of all of that, and you have a choice: are you going to be their ally against the unfair world, or are you going to blame them and try to get them to confirm enough that you can let the school system take care of them, despite the immense pain that that will provoke? Please don't come crying for sympathy if you choose the later option (and yes, helping them be able to independently navigate society is a good thing for them, but there's a difference between helping them as their ally, at their pace, and trying to force them to conform to reduce the burden society has placed on you).

Surya - Foundation Model for Heliophysics / SuryaBench - Benchmark Dataset for Advancing Machine Learning in Heliophysics and #SpaceWeather Prediction: https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.14112 / https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.14107 -> Here comes a foundation model for the Sun: https://research.ibm.com/blog/surya-heliophysics-ai-model-sun?previewToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpZCI6MTEsImlhdCI6MTc1NTYyMTUwOSwiZXhwIjoxNzU1ODgwNzA5LCJzdWIiOiI0NDY1In0.pv2-edPifhET2uDPQB4hsp4HsBzhZycvMcFlZpjFQKA -> NASA and IBM Unveil AI That Helps Scientists Forecast Solar Storms: https://gizmodo.com/nasa-and-ibm-unveil-ai-that-helps-scientists-forecast-solar-storms-2000645123 - experts recently identified major gaps in their ability to forecast space weather; Surya aims to fill them.

Genuinely interested in any thoughts as to where to send it next. The subject is Antarctica and influences on observed ice sheet change
#academicchatter

Spotify updates its AI policy, including adopting the upcoming DDEX standard to label and identify AI music and rolling out a new music spam filter (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/25/spotify-updates-ai-policy-to-label-trac…

Spotify to label AI music, filter spam and more in AI policy change | TechCrunch
Spotify is launching a music spam filter, labeling AI tracks, and clarifying its rules around AI voice clones.

If you read one thing today…
1. You should read more
2. Make it this 👇 https://mastodon.social/@danielquinn/114793526868620928

On The Road - To Xi’An/ Departure II 🔜
在路上 - 去西安/ 离 II 🔜
📷 Pentax MX
🎞️Kodak Double-X 5222
#filmphotography #Photography #blackandwhite

As of today, people in the UK visiting sites likely to host pornographic, self-harm, eating disorder and suicide-related content will have to prove they are over 18.
https://www.computing.co.uk/news/2025/age-verification-comes-into-force-in-t…

Age verification for risky sites comes into force in the UK
As of today, people in the UK visiting sites likely to host pornographic, self-harm, eating disorder and suicide-related content will have to prove they are ...

Waterfront near the Ithaca Farmer's Market looking north up the Inlet, to the left you can see the dock where boats can dock to visit the farmer's market or conduct tours of the lake
#ithaca #farmersmarket

On The Road - To Xi’An/ Departure 🔜
在路上 - 去西安/ 离 🔜
📷 Pentax MX
🎞️Kodak Double-X 5222
#filmphotography #Photography #blackandwhite

Sources: TSMC plans to drop Chinese chipmaking equipment, including AMEC's etching tools, from its most advanced 2nm production to avoid potential US backlash (Cheng Ting-Fang/Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/techn

TSMC cuts Chinese tools from cutting-edge chip production to avoid US ire
World's top chipmaker shifts 2-nm tool sourcing as American investment accelerates