“Another trend is the rapidly falling testosterone among American men, which has gone so far as to cause some men to dress up and pretend they are women. They might even get surgery to mutilate their genital organs. This behavior is destructive, a form of self-indulgence and escape which contributes to the breakdown of societal fabric. If communities are going to reap the benefits of strong families, they will have to reject and condemn these behaviors. Otherwise, the demographic suffers from below replacement births and has no future. A shrinking demographic is a dying demographic.”
Yes. In communities where the strength of the family is irrelevant and the only focus is on the self, such behaviors are common. These communities are slowly being replaced by others due to their failure to reproduce.
I don’t know which communities you’re talking about, but anecdotally I have to say I’ve found trans bars and support groups to have a much broader range in race, class, and origin than any other places I typically go.
Also, low testosterone you describe in that paragraph is not implicated as a cause of transgender behavior, with people generally being in the typical range for their birth sex before transition, which includes outliers with very high testosterone levels. Giving people additional testosterone has been tried and not been found to “cure” transgender behavior.
Relying on made-up facts for an entire paragraph of your purpose statement is not very encouraging.
The androgen receptor (AR), also known as NR3C4, is activated by the binding of testosterone or dihydrotestosterone, where it plays a critical role in the forming of primary and secondary male sex characteristics. Hare et al. found that male-to-female transsexuals were found to have longer repetitions of the gene, which reduced its effectiveness at binding testosterone.[18]
So maybe the amount of testosterone would be normal but it would have less effect?
Wikipedia lists a large amount of evidence for differences in genetics and brain volume. I know its possible that culture could cause changes in brain structure to some extent, but it can’t influence genetics.
It does, but less divorce might still make for more stability in extended families. I don’t know whether the effects of divorce on extended families has been studied.
Make divorce more difficult and/or more discouraged.
Yes, NRx’s are trying to do that too.
Discourage people from throwing their children out. This means discouraging homophobia and transphobia.
Is there an actual logical connection between those two sentences that isn’t a fully general argument against parents insisting on any ethical standards from children?
If I understand you correctly, transsexuals are not the problem, lack of family values and low testosterone are the problem, and transexuals are one symptom.
Assuming, for sake of argument, that this is true:
1) A lot of people are pro traditional family values. What do you think the marginal utility of one more advocate is? Or is advocating it amoung certain groups (e.g. LW) more important because we need intelligent people to keep breeding?
2) You say “These communities are slowly being replaced by others”—has your estimate for when the singularity occurs moved far back in time? Concerns about family values seem of little importance if non-biological intelligence is likly to turn up soon.
In reference to your first comment, basically yes.
1) The only reason I joined this thread in the first place is because someone attacked me, I don’t particularly advocate neoreaction among LW groups, because I understand the community is hyper-liberalized to the point of absurdity.
2) Yes, my estimates of when the Singularity will occur moved from 2030-2040 to 2070-2080 over the last five years. This change is partially what has caused the neoreaction thing. I think there is a real risk that Western civilization will fall apart before we get there.
1) I would agree that its probably best to keep NRx and LW separate. Still, this leaves the question of what is the marginal utility of advocating traditional family values?
2) I see, this does make your NRx position more understandable. I too have moved my estimates somewhat backwards.
Is it really useful to give one numerical answer here? “2070-2080” doesn’t capture the same amount of information as “if not before (say) 2050, not for a few centuries”.
(Of course, the standard LW memeplex hardly has a reason to look forward to a non-Western singularity—wouldn’t it be almost certainly unfriendly by Western standards?)
Do you have evidence for that? The family is not the main unit for transmission of information. Professional educators took over that function long ago.
And I quote:
Yes. In communities where the strength of the family is irrelevant and the only focus is on the self, such behaviors are common. These communities are slowly being replaced by others due to their failure to reproduce.
I don’t know which communities you’re talking about, but anecdotally I have to say I’ve found trans bars and support groups to have a much broader range in race, class, and origin than any other places I typically go.
Also, low testosterone you describe in that paragraph is not implicated as a cause of transgender behavior, with people generally being in the typical range for their birth sex before transition, which includes outliers with very high testosterone levels. Giving people additional testosterone has been tried and not been found to “cure” transgender behavior.
Relying on made-up facts for an entire paragraph of your purpose statement is not very encouraging.
According to wikipedia:
So maybe the amount of testosterone would be normal but it would have less effect?
What about low testosterone in utero (or high testosterone for f->m)?
What do you think the most probable cause of transgender behavior is?
I’m not sure about KaceyNow, I suspect transgender behavior is basically a culture bound syndrome.
Wikipedia lists a large amount of evidence for differences in genetics and brain volume. I know its possible that culture could cause changes in brain structure to some extent, but it can’t influence genetics.
Given Wikipedia’s editorial biases (and academia’s publication biases) on these kinds of topics, it’s almost certainly filtered evidence.
Citation on the testosterone business?
Alternate suggestions for making families stronger—oppose whatever tends to weaken family ties.
Make divorce more difficult and/or more discouraged. Teach people how to be good companions.
http://www.businessinsider.com/lasting-relationships-rely-on-2-traits-2014-11
Discourage people from throwing their children out. This means discouraging homophobia and transphobia.
Support telecommuting. Being geographically scattered is hard on families.
That doesn’t make families stronger—that makes people who hate each other live together (usually with pretty bad results).
It does, but less divorce might still make for more stability in extended families. I don’t know whether the effects of divorce on extended families has been studied.
I think that in this context stability is the wrong thing to optimize for.
Yes, NRx’s are trying to do that too.
Is there an actual logical connection between those two sentences that isn’t a fully general argument against parents insisting on any ethical standards from children?
You could distinguish between behavior which is clearly dangerous to other members of the family, and behavior which isn’t.
If I understand you correctly, transsexuals are not the problem, lack of family values and low testosterone are the problem, and transexuals are one symptom.
Assuming, for sake of argument, that this is true:
1) A lot of people are pro traditional family values. What do you think the marginal utility of one more advocate is? Or is advocating it amoung certain groups (e.g. LW) more important because we need intelligent people to keep breeding?
2) You say “These communities are slowly being replaced by others”—has your estimate for when the singularity occurs moved far back in time? Concerns about family values seem of little importance if non-biological intelligence is likly to turn up soon.
In reference to your first comment, basically yes.
1) The only reason I joined this thread in the first place is because someone attacked me, I don’t particularly advocate neoreaction among LW groups, because I understand the community is hyper-liberalized to the point of absurdity.
2) Yes, my estimates of when the Singularity will occur moved from 2030-2040 to 2070-2080 over the last five years. This change is partially what has caused the neoreaction thing. I think there is a real risk that Western civilization will fall apart before we get there.
1) I would agree that its probably best to keep NRx and LW separate. Still, this leaves the question of what is the marginal utility of advocating traditional family values?
2) I see, this does make your NRx position more understandable. I too have moved my estimates somewhat backwards.
1) Way too many to list here.
2) I still consider a near-future Singularity possible but not likely.
Is it really useful to give one numerical answer here? “2070-2080” doesn’t capture the same amount of information as “if not before (say) 2050, not for a few centuries”.
(Of course, the standard LW memeplex hardly has a reason to look forward to a non-Western singularity—wouldn’t it be almost certainly unfriendly by Western standards?)
The LW tone has improved this year and this post is refreshing.
Do you have evidence for that? The family is not the main unit for transmission of information. Professional educators took over that function long ago.