Date sent: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 19:00:02 -0330 From: Bernard Hughes <bjhughes@istar.ca> To: extropians@extropy.com Subject: Differences - was Re: >H gender apartheid and transhumanists Send reply to: extropians@extropy.com
>
There are other differences less politically incorrect to note, such
>
> Joe E. Dees wrote:
>
> > >Bernard Hughes wrote
> > >
> > >
> > > Seems to me the significant word is "significant". I would consider someone a
> > > racist who believes the differences in races are sufficient to stereotype
> > > individuals behavior. e.g..
> > >
> > > "You are Asian, you must be good at Maths". "You are black, you must be stupid".
> > >
> > > I think few racial differences are significant in that sense. Only one case
> > > springs to mind where it might be valid to treat individuals differently based on
> > > race. That is in testing for certain heritable genetic diseases. I'm hard pressed
> > > to think of racial differences that are not swamped for the individual by
> > > environmental factors and personal genetic variation.
> > >
> > > Bernard
> > >
> >
> > Does this also hold for gender differences (verbal vs. visuo-spatial
> > cognitive styles, etc.)?
> >
>
> I can think of plenty of cases where gender does make a difference. But on many
> traits, the differences seem overrated. For example, height. Males are on average
> slightly taller than females. But if I were to tell you "You will shortly meet two
> people. One is a native Thai adult male, raised in Thailand. The other is a native
> Masai woman, raised in East Africa". You would lose money (on average) betting that the
> male will be taller. Other factors swamp the gender bias.
>
> It seems our brains amplify the significance of small average differences. We go from,
> "men are on average taller than women" to " men are taller" to "couples in which the
> man is shorter are weird". This kind of social logic may have had some survival value
> to our ancestors. However, I think it makes the kind of diverse society I would like to
> live in less likely, so it is a thought process I try to resist.
>
> --
> Bernard J Hughes bernard@timedancer.com
> Timedancer Systems http://www.timedancer.com
> -- Creative Laziness at its best --
>
>