From: Michael Wiik (mwiik@netcom.com)
Date: Sat Jan 25 1997 - 08:23:37 MST
Lyle Burkhead writes:
>Eliezer writes,
>
>> What is it about male supremacists that they take male intellectual
>> superiority for *granted*, as if *we* had something to prove?
>> Why isn't the default hypothesis that *females* are of superior
>> intelligence?
>>
>> These people (de Garis and Wiik) aren't even bothering to argue.
>
>I think they were assuming that you had some experience of life, and
>some knowledge of the history of science, in which case their point
>would indeed be obvious.
Actually I was thinking more about basic biology. Women hold the secret
to life, after all. I'm not a male supremacist. However, I'm getting to
be a *white* supremacist, a position I hope will generate even more learned
postings from extropians. (I should get the $5).
Hmmm, could the Shaper/Mechanist conflict in Sterling's _Schismatrix_
be a projection of gender issues? It's "intuitively obvious" to me that
the Shapers = female genius while Mechanists = male genius. Can anyone
really claim that this is not obvious and most likely true? (As a metaphor
more than a generalization, at least).
Mostly though, I'm not bothering to argue because I don't have the time.
Between a full-time job and a sideline working on numerous web sites, I
barely have time to sleep, much less post erudite messages to this
list. (If I did, I would have thanked Amara Graps for her post entitled
Some Words About Prigogine, which was especially interesting to me after re-
reading _Schismatrix_ for the 3rd time (tip for first-timers: don't try
following the plot. You'll find out you're turning back a few pages to
find out how many years or *decades* have passed since the events of the
previous chapter. Every few pages there's some of the most transcendent
"extro-poetry" I've encountered.))
I would have replied directly to Eliezer's post, but I don't have time
to read him any more.
-Mike
PS. Despite the white supremacy bit, I don't discriminate to individuals.
I gladly admit that there are many millions of females and nonwhites
much more intelligent, productive, and better-looking than myself.
--
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Michael Wiik Messagenet Communications Research
mwiik@netcom.com http://messagenet.com
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