From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Tue Nov 17 1998 - 10:15:49 MST
From: goetz@zoesis.com (Phil Goetz)
>Today, if someone goes out and surveys the literature,
>and gathers a lot of data, then publishes a book arguing on the
>basis of that data that, say, Asians are generally all-around
>smarter than Caucasians, those people are called racists.
>Rationality is irrelevant to the label.
Discrimination, since some of the members of the set are not
smarter. To generalize them together on the basis of race is to
show bias.
>The only way not to be a racist today is to say that race and
>genetics makes no difference in behavior or intelligence or
>strength. Someone who regards themselves as genetically transhuman
>has taken the critical step of acknowledging that genetics makes
>a difference.
Genetic's may make a difference in peoples abilities, but not in
how they should be treated.
>I am not saying that the term "racist" is being applied
>incorrectly. I think it is correct. Someone who believes there
>are or can be significant observable behavioral differences
>correlated with race is a racist. And anyone who considered
>themselves transhuman would necessarily believe that. Once you
>believe that, it would be inconsistent not to consider that there
>might be behavioral differences between other human races, and
>once you consider that, you are a racist at heart.
I don't agree, it is discriminatory (not a good thing) to group
together on the basis of race, sex, sexual preference, or religion,
but unless you show prejudice, it is not racist.
It is not peoples DNA, it is how you treat them.
People deserve to be treated equally/fairly.
Brian
Member, Extropy Institute
www.extropy.org
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