From: stdnt428@hampshire.edu
Date: Fri Oct 06 2000 - 15:12:14 MDT
> **************************************************************************
> My question: Does Gay (GLBT included) culture serve an Extropianistic role
> in human society?
> **************************************************************************
> > That is actaully, exactly NOT what I am getting at here. For example, the
> > role of Gay Artist or Gay Philosopher is pretty common. My question,
> > is... just as a bee colony produces worker bees, warrior bees, a queen
> > bee, etc... perhaps evolution produces Gay people for the advantage of
> > the society they are in. For example, because GLBTers don't bring the same
> > perceptions about relationships, they are more likely to introduce new and
> > novel social memes. ... Any ideas about this?
>
> Yes, as a matter of fact. I think that studies I've seen showing higher than
> average IQ are interesting, and the traditional role of the lifelong bachelor
> philosopher/scientist (in or out of the priesthood) being free of family
> obligations to pursue the quest for knowledge. However, I think this is sort of
> a chicken/egg argument. Is it because more geniuses are free thinkers that they
> become gay (or realize they are gay), or that more gays become free thinkers and
> more imaginative because they apply the same more-breaking tools that led to
> their 'outing' (personally or socially) to other things the world considers
> 'truth'?
Yes, there is a chicken-egg issue. However, if one takes an evolutionary
perspective, for trait to be that persistant (2-8% of the population,
depending on who's opinion you ask) and that consistant (throughout
human history)... there must be an evolutionary advantage. My suggestion
is that the advantage is on a social level - that the benifit is to
society...
However, the fact that homosexuality exists in the rest of the animal
kingdom goes against this thesis since animals probably don't make the
same social contributions...
Hmmmmmmmmm.....
- Eric
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