The ideal in question isn’t “at birth”, it’s whatever it is that drives folk to think “at birth” somehow matters more than “now”
If that’s the point you want to argue, you’ll have to go find somebody who holds that ideal, which means someone other than me.
My point is and always has been very simple - a birth certificate is a just that - a record that on some specific date at some specific time, a baby was born to some specific person. That’s it. That’s all it is.
That doesn’t mean or even imply that “‘at birth’ matters more than ‘now’.” It means that a birth certificate has one and only one job - to record a birth - and anything and everything after that is some other document’s job.
And in fact, I would say it’s undeniable that “now” is more important than “at birth,” which, again, is exactly why the very first thing I said was that, to me, the whole issue is an argument against using, or requiring, a birth certificate for ID.
To me, it’s as if you’re arguing that a doorbell should also be a microwave oven, and when I point out that a doorbell’s job is to be a doorbell, you accuse me of holding the “ideal” that doorbells are more important than microwave ovens.
As I said, Australian birth certificates don’t work the way you describe. They aren’t static and locked in to “at birth” as they’re able to be updated.
The fact that many birth certificates work this way means that treating “at birth” as sacrosanct isn’t a requirement. It’s a preference. And in this case, a preference that actively hurts people, whilst helping no one. You value a false notion of data purity over the lived reality of the people whose lives are damaged by not being able to update their birth certificates.
Even your fix works around the idea that data can’t be changed or updated, when the simplest solution, in place already in many countries, is to let go of the idea that old data is somehow more important than the people that data is from
And that’s it. No matter how many times and in how many different ways I explain my point, you insist on dishonestly assigning sinister motives to me, and there’s absolutely no reason I need to take that sort of abuse from anyone.
“I’m not an idealisist! I’m just so upset by your insistence that data purity doesn’t trump the needs of living people, that I’m going to block you!”
And to clarify, I never suggested that you were a bigot or had sinister motives. I suggested that you perceive data purity as some sort of ideal that needs to be upheld at all costs. And because you prioritise data purity, all of your “solutions” sustain data purity, but do it in ways that just won’t happen.
But in the mean time, in the world we are both living in right now, a change that doesn’t uphold data purity as the primary goal, is achievable, and literally saves lives.
You aren’t sinister. You just have your priorities in the wrong place, because to you, this is hypothetical and driven by an idealised perspective of what the world could be, rather than the reality of what it is right now, and the harm that is already happening because of it
If that’s the point you want to argue, you’ll have to go find somebody who holds that ideal, which means someone other than me.
My point is and always has been very simple - a birth certificate is a just that - a record that on some specific date at some specific time, a baby was born to some specific person. That’s it. That’s all it is.
That doesn’t mean or even imply that “‘at birth’ matters more than ‘now’.” It means that a birth certificate has one and only one job - to record a birth - and anything and everything after that is some other document’s job.
And in fact, I would say it’s undeniable that “now” is more important than “at birth,” which, again, is exactly why the very first thing I said was that, to me, the whole issue is an argument against using, or requiring, a birth certificate for ID.
To me, it’s as if you’re arguing that a doorbell should also be a microwave oven, and when I point out that a doorbell’s job is to be a doorbell, you accuse me of holding the “ideal” that doorbells are more important than microwave ovens.
As I said, Australian birth certificates don’t work the way you describe. They aren’t static and locked in to “at birth” as they’re able to be updated.
The fact that many birth certificates work this way means that treating “at birth” as sacrosanct isn’t a requirement. It’s a preference. And in this case, a preference that actively hurts people, whilst helping no one. You value a false notion of data purity over the lived reality of the people whose lives are damaged by not being able to update their birth certificates.
Even your fix works around the idea that data can’t be changed or updated, when the simplest solution, in place already in many countries, is to let go of the idea that old data is somehow more important than the people that data is from
And that’s it. No matter how many times and in how many different ways I explain my point, you insist on dishonestly assigning sinister motives to me, and there’s absolutely no reason I need to take that sort of abuse from anyone.
Blocked.
“I’m not an idealisist! I’m just so upset by your insistence that data purity doesn’t trump the needs of living people, that I’m going to block you!”
And to clarify, I never suggested that you were a bigot or had sinister motives. I suggested that you perceive data purity as some sort of ideal that needs to be upheld at all costs. And because you prioritise data purity, all of your “solutions” sustain data purity, but do it in ways that just won’t happen.
But in the mean time, in the world we are both living in right now, a change that doesn’t uphold data purity as the primary goal, is achievable, and literally saves lives.
You aren’t sinister. You just have your priorities in the wrong place, because to you, this is hypothetical and driven by an idealised perspective of what the world could be, rather than the reality of what it is right now, and the harm that is already happening because of it