From: Eliezer Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Tue Jan 21 1997 - 13:04:21 MST
[Lyle:]
> That's pretty much what I would expect from Shaun Russell. I would
> expect better from Eliezer, but when the dogma of equality is challenged,
> apparently even he is eager to reduce himself to the same level as Shaun.
> What happened to those fine proclamations about Truth? -- "I think that
> the truth takes precedence over anyone's feelings, including my own."
> Never mind.
I visited Hugo de Garis's page. I did not see a list of scientific
studies supporting his assertion. I saw an emotional argument for male
supremacy, based on self-righteousness. The only scientifically
interesting part was the bit about SAT scores.
So, as you quoted, I responded to the assertion about SAT scores with my
own assertion that the SAT wasn't a valid measurement of genius or even
intelligence, backed up by my ludicrous scores. The remainder of the
letter was an attempt to render untenable the "I, a male, am thus at the
top of the hierarchy HA HA HA!" that I believe provides the emotional
power of the male-superiority meme. If I'd had the time, I would also
have launched an attack at the male "screw-anything-that-moves" and
"wives-are-property" emotions, but from reading his web page I deemed
these to be secondary.
And as for my fine proclamations about truth - and that's a small 't',
Lyle! - *if* you can *prove* that no male can be a "genius", I'll force
that sad predicament of 47% of known sentient beings into my belief
system, regardless of how much damage it does along the way, and add to
my intelligence-amplification list a way to bring male genius up to
female standards. My actions will be similar if a someone proves that
no woman can be a genius.
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/singularity.html
http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/algernon.html
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.
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