Re: group-based judgement

From: CurtAdams@aol.com
Date: Thu May 23 2002 - 12:14:30 MDT


In a message dated 5/23/02 2:19:42, weidai@eskimo.com writes:

>Consider a situation where you absolutely don't have time to judge someone
>on his own merits before having to make some decision. The only
>information you have is that he belongs to a certain group. Should you
>ignore that information and just treat him as a random human being?

If you do, your decisions will be more accurate (insofar as the groups really
have differences in means, of course). "Groupists", their genes, and their
ideas, will tend to supplant "non-Groupists".

>What if he chose to join that group voluntarily? Does that change
>anything? What if he was born into that group but had the choice of
>leaving it, perhaps at some cost? Does it depend on the type of group? If
>so, which types should be considered, and which types should be ignored?

Any further individual data which usefully informs will also benefit
those who consider it.



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