4 ms·

>human sexual behavior not a topic on which RMS has adequate expertise Ouch!

rdiddly 7y ago
Yeah that struck me as a "sick burn" too, or at least potentially could be taken as one, but the rest of the essay makes me think it was unintentional and more about being one of the people who study sexuality.
- jammygit 7y ago
  Kuhn is a pretty level headed person, it is just unfortunate and sloppy wording. He is speaking about scientific or other expert knowledge
shadowgovt 7y ago
I think that's factually accurate. He's not a professor of sexology and (to my knowledge) has never pursued any formal study of the topic. Not everybody needs to be Dr. Ruth, but in some sense, Stallman going on about sex topics when he's not is as much a problem as Sagan once going on about the "reptile brain" without considering how much of the neuroscience he was contemporary to had already disproved that hypothesis. If you're going to have strong opinions on something and want to maintain your credibility in general, at least find a trustworthy and informed advisor on the topic.
- ernst_klim 7y ago
  > He's not a professor of sexology It's not a question of sexology, it's a question of ethics. I doubt that any of his critics are professors of sexology as well, people are arguing on moral ground here. Many of issues people are attacking him on, are not issues in my country. I don't see many fellow Europeans bothering what he said, it's American moral issue totally.
on_and_off 7y ago
Considering the guy has felt the need to publicly express his view that kids should be "allowed" to have sex with adults if they want to.. yeahh, I am going to have to agree.
mimi89999 7y ago
This actually makes sense. It is also morally bad to sell cigarettes and alcohol to minors because it is proven to be bad for their health and the society has determined that before the age of 18 people are unable to choose what's good for them.

Yeah that struck me as a "sick burn" too, or at least potentially could be taken as one, but the rest of the essay makes me think it was unintentional and more about being one of the people who study sexuality.

jammygit 7y ago
Kuhn is a pretty level headed person, it is just unfortunate and sloppy wording. He is speaking about scientific or other expert knowledge

shadowgovt 7y ago

I think that's factually accurate. He's not a professor of sexology and (to my knowledge) has never pursued any formal study of the topic. Not everybody needs to be Dr. Ruth, but in some sense, Stallman going on about sex topics when he's not is as much a problem as Sagan once going on about the "reptile brain" without considering how much of the neuroscience he was contemporary to had already disproved that hypothesis. If you're going to have strong opinions on something and want to maintain your credibility in general, at least find a trustworthy and informed advisor on the topic.

ernst_klim 7y ago
> He's not a professor of sexology It's not a question of sexology, it's a question of ethics. I doubt that any of his critics are professors of sexology as well, people are arguing on moral ground here. Many of issues people are attacking him on, are not issues in my country. I don't see many fellow Europeans bothering what he said, it's American moral issue totally.

on_and_off 7y ago

Considering the guy has felt the need to publicly express his view that kids should be "allowed" to have sex with adults if they want to.. yeahh, I am going to have to agree.

mimi89999 7y ago

This actually makes sense. It is also morally bad to sell cigarettes and alcohol to minors because it is proven to be bad for their health and the society has determined that before the age of 18 people are unable to choose what's good for them.