Re: Disorders (Was: Re: Are guns extropian?)

Harvey Newstrom (harv@gate.net)
Sat, 11 Jul 1998 22:25:33 -0400

> At 01:49 PM 7/11/98 +0200, den Otter wrote:
> >Strictly speaking homosexuality *is* of course a mental/genetic
> >disorder/abnormality (it's a glitch that prevents reproduction). The
> >important point is, however, whether it is a "bad" disorder, being
> >harmful to the carrier and/or society.
>
> Speaking even more strictly, the discovery of genes associated with male
> homosexuality means that it is not a genetic glitch that prevents
> reproduction. The glitch that prevents reproduction seems to be a modern
> memetic one, which encourages gays to "come out of the closet" instead of
> trying to "act normally" by having girlfriends, marrying, etc.
>
> -Bradley Felton zim@pobox.com

Maybe not. It is well documented that rats in an overcrowded cage start producing more homosexual rats. This seems to be a normal (genetic?) reaction to over-population. In the modern, over-populated world, it would make sense that the same factors could kick in to slowdown human over-population. If this is the case, it may be the breeding population that keeps increasing the population beyond sustainable levels who are overriding the natural programming with memetic ideals. 

-- 
Harvey Newstrom                                   <mailto:harv@gate.net>
Author, Engineer, Entrepreneur,              <http://www.gate.net/~harv>
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