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1) There are sex-differentiated characteristics of the brain. 2) Those sex-differentiated characteristics tend to be a mosaic in the brain [1]. 3) Despite bei

1) There are sex-differentiated characteristics of the brain. 2) Those sex-differentiated characteristics tend to be a mosaic in the brain [1]. 3) Despite being a mosaic, statistics can still differentiate sex based on individual brain characteristics [2]. 4) Therefore the current social structures that differentiate the roles men and women play in society are biologically derived /s /s /s /s A long time ago, it was decided that women and men had their place because god ordained it. When that fell out of fashion (still fashionable in many places), shallow thinkers used sed to make it seem more respectable. Putting this into the context of the recent discussion about the role of sex/gender in the tech industry, let's suppose that biological differences influence a person' career choice. Let's also acknowledge that until the last 60 or so years women were basically barred from pursuing technical work in great numbers by social obstacles. The question is, when did those social obstacles become so negligible that only biological factors are left as plausible reasons for gender disparities in, say, programming? Very few people disagree with the idea that society should treat people equally irrespective of their gender. There's just a contingent of people who say that such social parity has already been achieved (or maybe we've gone too far), and another contingent who say that parity has not been achieved. If we're already in an egalitarian society, then clearly the only reason for significant differences in the division of labor and social participation between different genders must be of biological origin. In other words, the contentious issue of biological differences between men and women isn't contentious because of the biology, but because of the assumptions that need to be made in order to correlate those differences with the structure of society. [1] http://www.pnas.org/content/112/50/15468 http://www.pnas.org/content/112/50/15468 [2] http://www.pnas.org/content/113/14/E1968.short http://www.pnas.org/content/113/14/E1968.short

VMG 9y ago
> There's just a contingent of people who say that such social parity has already been achieved (or maybe we've gone too far), and another contingent who say that parity has not been achieved. There also is a contingent of people who say that equal treatment will not lead to social parity.
- danharaj 9y ago
  I used social parity as a synonym for equal treatment, as indicated by the word 'such', to make it clear what sort of parity I was talking about.
  - mmirate 9y ago
    Ah, but this synonymy obscures the all-important difference between equality-of-opportunity and equality-of-outcome. The former is a noble goal; the latter will likely lead to tyranny if implemented fully - or require tyranny for full implementation. (cf. Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron)
    - danharaj 9y ago
      That's why I tried to identify precisely which equality I meant to avoid that issue. By the way, Harrison Bergeron was a critical satire of the position you're describing.
      - mmirate 9y ago
        > By the way, Harrison Bergeron was a critical satire of the position you're describing. Of equality-by-outcome? Yes, that was exactly why I cited it.
        danharaj 9y ago
        It was a satire of the attitude of American society towards communism during the cold war. The equality-by-outcome it presents is a strawman, precisely the strawman attributed by conservative politics to people who want to make society more equitable not just in "opportunity" but "outcome" as well. Vonnegut was a socialist and was quite warm to concepts such as "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need". It's really hard to see how people miss this subtext when the main character of the story declares himself the emperor that all must obey and defies gravity. It's so cartoonishly heavy handed!
nyxtom 9y ago
Or... consider that perhaps career choice or job choice in a location and/or company is a byproduct of percieved ability to adapt to that community's social norms. Google switzerland doesn't have these problems but it is well known that Silicon Valley is rot with the "brogrammer" culture. I wouldn't want to work there either knowing that's what you have to deal with. Maybe things are better now but it seems a divergence from the previous bro-culture at mountain view is uncomfortable for a number of people there.

VMG 9y ago

> There's just a contingent of people who say that such social parity has already been achieved (or maybe we've gone too far), and another contingent who say that parity has not been achieved. There also is a contingent of people who say that equal treatment will not lead to social parity.

danharaj 9y ago
I used social parity as a synonym for equal treatment, as indicated by the word 'such', to make it clear what sort of parity I was talking about.
- mmirate 9y ago
  Ah, but this synonymy obscures the all-important difference between equality-of-opportunity and equality-of-outcome. The former is a noble goal; the latter will likely lead to tyranny if implemented fully - or require tyranny for full implementation. (cf. Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron)
  - danharaj 9y ago
    That's why I tried to identify precisely which equality I meant to avoid that issue. By the way, Harrison Bergeron was a critical satire of the position you're describing.
    - mmirate 9y ago
      > By the way, Harrison Bergeron was a critical satire of the position you're describing. Of equality-by-outcome? Yes, that was exactly why I cited it.
      - danharaj 9y ago
        It was a satire of the attitude of American society towards communism during the cold war. The equality-by-outcome it presents is a strawman, precisely the strawman attributed by conservative politics to people who want to make society more equitable not just in "opportunity" but "outcome" as well. Vonnegut was a socialist and was quite warm to concepts such as "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need". It's really hard to see how people miss this subtext when the main character of the story declares himself the emperor that all must obey and defies gravity. It's so cartoonishly heavy handed!

nyxtom 9y ago

Or... consider that perhaps career choice or job choice in a location and/or company is a byproduct of percieved ability to adapt to that community's social norms. Google switzerland doesn't have these problems but it is well known that Silicon Valley is rot with the "brogrammer" culture. I wouldn't want to work there either knowing that's what you have to deal with. Maybe things are better now but it seems a divergence from the previous bro-culture at mountain view is uncomfortable for a number of people there.