My job has made me into a TBI truther. Brain injuries are devastating to cognition, self-regulation, and a bevy of other health outcomes. It's linked to a zillion bad social outcomes.
Forget about every other factor that determines human development outcomes: forget about genes, IQ, pollution, whatever. All of that shit is easily washed out by one good fall off of a bike. But unlike genes, we can actually do something about protecting brains.
>I'm decent at abstract thought
... but we have warrant to infer that you could have been better.
I feel I should just add a little more so that doesn't feel like I'm being curt. Your counterargument seems to indicate that abstract thinking survives head injury, which may be true in a great number of cases, but I think that it's fair to say that there are degrees / extensions of brain health, and it's probably better to be on the "more" side than the "less" side.
@cosmiccitizen oh I'm much on board w prioritizing head-injuries more. I was mostly joking by using myself as "counterexample". I'm ~5% that it had a more or less "pivotal" impact on my life.