James Rogers <jamesr@best.com> writes:
> Moving humans to a single gender for both sexes could have a long-term
> impact on the survivability of the species. After all, every aspect of
> both genders is extremely useful under some circumstance. Having two
> genders allows a species to embody multiple conflicting characteristics,
> which appears to be a strategy to maximize adaptability; to a certain
> extent, differences between cultures would seem to be a manifestion of a
> selection process among the large number of characteristics found across
> both genders.
So why not go for *more* genders instead? That would increase adaptability even more. For example, asexuals, androgynes, hermaphrodites and easy gender switching might be a good start. What about a gender that combined (say) the traditional ambition and doer mentality of males with the traditional social side of women (sounds like great politicians and administrators), or a gender with a different ego-structure? Over time I guess humanity may differentiate to the degree that it becomes silly to speak about genders, everybody is unique (some standards about the plumbing may remain for compatibility, but as a character in Varley's _Ophiuchi Hotline_ said: "don't worry, I've got an adapter!").
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y