Date sent: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 22:53:32 -0330 From: Bernard Hughes <bjhughes@istar.ca> To: extropians@extropy.com Subject: Re: >H gender apartheid and transhumanists Send reply to: extropians@extropy.com
>
Does this also hold for gender differences (verbal vs. visuo-spatial
cognitive styles, etc.)?
>
> Phil Goetz wrote:
>
> > Someone who believes there are or can be
> > significant observable behavioral differences correlated with race
> > is a racist. And anyone who considered themselves transhuman would
> > necessarily believe that.
>
> 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
>
>
> --
> Bernard J Hughes bernard@timedancer.com
> Timedancer Systems http://www.timedancer.com
> -- Creative Laziness at its best --
>
>