Then why is it that this difference, out of the many dimensions of differences that form up humankind, and the multitude of interest-group formation patterns that could have been generated, is the one that gets so much attention? It would be bizarre if an unbiased deliberation process systematically decides that one unremarkable axis (gender) is the one difference that should be discussed at great length and with very vigorous champions, while ignoring all of the other axes of diversity of human minds.
Now it is possible for one unremarkable axis to become overwhelmingly dominant in coalition formation, but that would involve some fairly unpleasant implications about the truth-seekiness and utilitarian consequences of this sort of thinking.
I dunno about this. It seems that the difference between those concerned with an intelligence explosion and those concerned with other scenarios has gotten way more attention here than gender.
I wasn’t surprised on the occasions when questions of differences in tone between the two camps flared up when discussing that topic. I would have been shocked almost beyond belief if, when discussing that topic, questions of tone differences between men and women had arisen.
The idea is, almost every topic, men and women are very similar, because the differences aren’t relevant. When you begin looking at the differences, then you get amplifying effects. In particular, each participant being what they are and completely unable to change that means:
that the topic isn’t going to be to convert people from one camp to the other or otherwise influence their choice as in the example above, but it’s going to have to be about something about that. This added layer of meta makes things much less stable. Imagine having a discussion about how we ought to talk about the differences between intelligence explosion and other scenarios, while universally acknowledged that no one was going to change their position on the actual subject. It’d be all over the place.
that empathy is harder to achieve. And in particular looking at the difference from one end gives exactly opposite perspectives on the issue. When you ‘normalize’ the differences, it’s maximally different.
By definition, those on either side have different experiences with regard to the difference, and thus are vastly more likely to hold different opinions.
When the difference IS the topic, that tends to amplify the relevance of the differences.
Then why is it that this difference, out of the many dimensions of differences that form up humankind, and the multitude of interest-group formation patterns that could have been generated, is the one that gets so much attention? It would be bizarre if an unbiased deliberation process systematically decides that one unremarkable axis (gender) is the one difference that should be discussed at great length and with very vigorous champions, while ignoring all of the other axes of diversity of human minds.
Now it is possible for one unremarkable axis to become overwhelmingly dominant in coalition formation, but that would involve some fairly unpleasant implications about the truth-seekiness and utilitarian consequences of this sort of thinking.
I dunno about this. It seems that the difference between those concerned with an intelligence explosion and those concerned with other scenarios has gotten way more attention here than gender.
I wasn’t surprised on the occasions when questions of differences in tone between the two camps flared up when discussing that topic. I would have been shocked almost beyond belief if, when discussing that topic, questions of tone differences between men and women had arisen.
The idea is, almost every topic, men and women are very similar, because the differences aren’t relevant. When you begin looking at the differences, then you get amplifying effects. In particular, each participant being what they are and completely unable to change that means:
that the topic isn’t going to be to convert people from one camp to the other or otherwise influence their choice as in the example above, but it’s going to have to be about something about that. This added layer of meta makes things much less stable. Imagine having a discussion about how we ought to talk about the differences between intelligence explosion and other scenarios, while universally acknowledged that no one was going to change their position on the actual subject. It’d be all over the place.
that empathy is harder to achieve. And in particular looking at the difference from one end gives exactly opposite perspectives on the issue. When you ‘normalize’ the differences, it’s maximally different.
This.
By definition, those on either side have different experiences with regard to the difference, and thus are vastly more likely to hold different opinions.