From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Mon Mar 04 2002 - 09:28:46 MST
On Mon, Mar 04, 2002 at 04:25:19PM +0100, KPJ wrote:
> It appears as if Anders Sandberg <asa@nada.kth.se> wrote:
> |
> |As for genderless pronouns, it is interesting to note that angels, which
> |are sexless according to the scholastics, are usually titled "he".
>
> In fact, I understand angels are supposed to be hermafrodites.
Well, that depends on which theologician you listen to. Matthew 22:28-30
suggest that they are asexual.
To get back to more transhuman waters: I'm currently reading Greg Egan's
_Schild's Ladder_, and (minimal spoiler) there the far-future posthumans
have mainly adopted pair-specific sexes. When two (corporeal)
individuals are attracted to each other, they begin to change and
gradually develop sexual organs that are compatible. Exactly how they
look appears to be random but they are complementary and fit together
apparently uniquely for that pair. A rather neat solution, although I
have to agree with the acorporeal Yann that it is at the same time
comical.
However, unlike _Distress_ and _Diaspora_ Egan is not using gender
neutral pronouns here; the main character is referred to as he, and the
one other main character is consistently she. Even Yann, who is usually
noncorporeal is referred to as male. I guess he uses this to suggest
certain personality or behavior traits, although I can't say they are
very visible to me.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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