Would you reconsider your idea if you found out that the most effective trauma surgeons were found to have unusually high levels of testosterone? Have you considered what other possible side effects might occur if this was carried out on a societal level? Would their be incentives for individuals to circumvent these restrictions?
Correlation is not causation. I’d have to see evidence that high testosterone was needed for trauma surgeons to be effective before I’d accept that it was a necessity.
What percentage of traumas are caused by violence? If excess testosterone were treated would the number of traumas decrease as well, making it unnecessary to have as many trauma surgeons?
As for whether I’ve considered what side effects would occur, no actually, I haven’t. That was a good reminder. This isn’t an idea I’ve thought about a lot yet so I haven’t gotten very far. Up until this point, I’d been thinking about it like a disease—you don’t justify failing to treat a disease by worrying about what society will be missing when those people are healthier.
Though, you could still wonder what might happen, sometimes consequences are unexpected. I don’t know that much about testosterone. Do you have suggestions?
I don’t think hormone tweaking is a humane cure for violence.
Honestly, I don’t think I would do anything about violence directly on a patient-level. The incidence of homicide has been steadily falling for centuries. This is a desirable trajectory.
Instead I would seek to improve the socio-economic conditions that I believe precipitate violent behavior. If poor people commit more violent crimes, then we should look for what factor of their condition contributes most to this behavior. I suspect it is the exaggerated boom-bust cycle engendered by living paycheck to paycheck and the disproportional value of status goods in low income communities.
I promote a post-scarcity society as the solution to violent crime. If this proves too distant a solution for your concern, then I would suggest a reform of social services to establish guaranteed housing, food, education, and healthcare through a non-monetary system. I would fund this through taxes and provide the services to even those who do not need them currently. I would attempt to establish these as universal rights that every government should provide on the risk of international sanction.
Would you reconsider your idea if you found out that the most effective trauma surgeons were found to have unusually high levels of testosterone? Have you considered what other possible side effects might occur if this was carried out on a societal level? Would their be incentives for individuals to circumvent these restrictions?
Several problems:
Correlation is not causation. I’d have to see evidence that high testosterone was needed for trauma surgeons to be effective before I’d accept that it was a necessity.
What percentage of traumas are caused by violence? If excess testosterone were treated would the number of traumas decrease as well, making it unnecessary to have as many trauma surgeons?
As for whether I’ve considered what side effects would occur, no actually, I haven’t. That was a good reminder. This isn’t an idea I’ve thought about a lot yet so I haven’t gotten very far. Up until this point, I’d been thinking about it like a disease—you don’t justify failing to treat a disease by worrying about what society will be missing when those people are healthier.
Though, you could still wonder what might happen, sometimes consequences are unexpected. I don’t know that much about testosterone. Do you have suggestions?
I don’t think hormone tweaking is a humane cure for violence.
Honestly, I don’t think I would do anything about violence directly on a patient-level. The incidence of homicide has been steadily falling for centuries. This is a desirable trajectory.
Instead I would seek to improve the socio-economic conditions that I believe precipitate violent behavior. If poor people commit more violent crimes, then we should look for what factor of their condition contributes most to this behavior. I suspect it is the exaggerated boom-bust cycle engendered by living paycheck to paycheck and the disproportional value of status goods in low income communities.
I promote a post-scarcity society as the solution to violent crime. If this proves too distant a solution for your concern, then I would suggest a reform of social services to establish guaranteed housing, food, education, and healthcare through a non-monetary system. I would fund this through taxes and provide the services to even those who do not need them currently. I would attempt to establish these as universal rights that every government should provide on the risk of international sanction.