Among the only differences I could think of, is that noticing the difference between black and white has almost only negative connotation today, while noticing it between males and females is a more mixed bag. What if it was possible to attach positive affect reactions in excess to negatives ones, to that color difference ? Would it still be good to abolish people’s noticing ? Though, color of skin isn’t a category in the same sense sex is; it doesn’t correlate with so much potential difference.
This also leads to the other reason why you’d think it’s important to care about difference between sexes but not between skin color, is because the first has practical consequences, for instance, on your relationships, while the other would not.
But while this is true, I can’t shake the feeling there is a bias there, which ticks me off. Some people may not feel like gender makes such a difference in how they relate to others. This doesn’t back the idea that erasing differences is a desirable thing, but it probably lessens the extent to which the fact that humanity has two sexes adds to life’s interest—at least Eliezer should stick to saying he finds it desirable on a personal level, and be more careful about making it an universal.
It’s true—a woman can take pride in being caring, empathic, etc. A man can (secretly) take pride in being aggressive, competitive, etc. Blacks in America are constantly told to take pride in being black, but aren’t supposed to take pride in any specific traits—just specific events in history. (I saw an Indian woman, trying to compliment a black man, say very sincerely that blacks were good at sports. He was not pleased. The fact that this could seem funny is strange.)
Absorbing all cultures into a single culture would be bad; I say this based on experience with genetic algorithms. If we eliminated race, it would increase cultural entropy. And I’ve got to think there must be similar advantages to having different races, as opposed to churning out people with SNPs chosen independently with probability proportional to their worldwide frequency.
Some people may not feel like gender makes such a difference in how they relate to others. This doesn’t back the idea that erasing differences is a desirable thing, but it probably lessens the extent to which the fact that humanity has two sexes adds to life’s interest
This basically sums up my thoughts on the matter.
Either gender differences are intrinsic sex differences viewed through cultural lens, in which case erasing the differences isn’t possible anyways baring advanced technology; or they’re pure socially constructed groups with sex-biased membership in which case the proposition that gender is more relevant than any other social group identity strikes me as weakly defended at best.
Among the only differences I could think of, is that noticing the difference between black and white has almost only negative connotation today, while noticing it between males and females is a more mixed bag. What if it was possible to attach positive affect reactions in excess to negatives ones, to that color difference ? Would it still be good to abolish people’s noticing ? Though, color of skin isn’t a category in the same sense sex is; it doesn’t correlate with so much potential difference.
This also leads to the other reason why you’d think it’s important to care about difference between sexes but not between skin color, is because the first has practical consequences, for instance, on your relationships, while the other would not.
But while this is true, I can’t shake the feeling there is a bias there, which ticks me off. Some people may not feel like gender makes such a difference in how they relate to others. This doesn’t back the idea that erasing differences is a desirable thing, but it probably lessens the extent to which the fact that humanity has two sexes adds to life’s interest—at least Eliezer should stick to saying he finds it desirable on a personal level, and be more careful about making it an universal.
It’s true—a woman can take pride in being caring, empathic, etc. A man can (secretly) take pride in being aggressive, competitive, etc. Blacks in America are constantly told to take pride in being black, but aren’t supposed to take pride in any specific traits—just specific events in history. (I saw an Indian woman, trying to compliment a black man, say very sincerely that blacks were good at sports. He was not pleased. The fact that this could seem funny is strange.)
Absorbing all cultures into a single culture would be bad; I say this based on experience with genetic algorithms. If we eliminated race, it would increase cultural entropy. And I’ve got to think there must be similar advantages to having different races, as opposed to churning out people with SNPs chosen independently with probability proportional to their worldwide frequency.
It seems you’re mixing culture with ethnicity.
Also, ethnicity/race is a historical, but ultimately pointless fact of evolution. Why should we care, other than for its social implications?
This basically sums up my thoughts on the matter.
Either gender differences are intrinsic sex differences viewed through cultural lens, in which case erasing the differences isn’t possible anyways baring advanced technology; or they’re pure socially constructed groups with sex-biased membership in which case the proposition that gender is more relevant than any other social group identity strikes me as weakly defended at best.