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You seem to be forgetting the part where we've moved to a knowledge worker's society in which men's physiological differences no longer make him inherently more

by mtrimpe 13y ago

You seem to be forgetting the part where we've moved to a knowledge worker's society in which men's physiological differences no longer make him inherently more fit as a provider. That is what has lead to a massive shift in gender roles over the past half century. It has had it's fair share of casualties due to maladjustment on both sides. One specific group of casualties just happens to be highlighted in this article.

PeterisP 13y ago
You may care about how a knowledge worker's society has changed the inherent fitness and gender roles - but all your built-in mechanisms that judge attractiveness of potential mates, evaluate beauty and cause warm fuzzies or disgust - they don't care, and they haven't changed since that time. Mating is a core activity of any lifeform, and our actual behavior preferences for that aren't really chosen by the rational part of your brain, but heavily influenced by much more direct chemistry. If in a future society 100 year old eunuchs with purple skin would be the super-best-fit for life companionship, 30-year old men would still rather feel attracted to 20-year old women unless they're genetically altered.
graycat 13y ago
I didn't mention "physiological differences", say, taller, stronger. I did emphasize tool making. I should also have mentioned team formation for hunting, building, and fighting. E.g., hunting is not nearly all size and strength but heavily understanding how to locate and kill the prey. And if the hunting is with a team, then need to be good at forming teams. So, the women were back in the village concentrating on child care, food, and clothing, and the men were generating fire, tools, wheels, things made of bone, wood, and stone, making progress with metals, ..., a server farm with 20,000 computers. That was men's work, done by men, in ways convenient for men, that used talents of men, apparently from hunting, tool making, team formation, and fighting, that changed the economy, government, and societies. Alas, women mostly didn't participate and mostly still don't. Look, there's a recent study about boys and girls shortly after birth. The girls are working on communicating with adults, especially about how they feel, mostly with facial expressions. The boys are looking at the construction of the crib, trying to figure out how the latch works, and wanting to write C++ code to control the toy fire engine on the floor! That's right from birth. The boys care about things, tools, strategy, etc., and the girls care about eliciting support from people. That's just the way it is. In simple terms, the girls have plenty of strength for most tool making and for team formation, but mostly they just didn't and don't do it. That's just not what girls are interested in, and there's little promise they will be interested during our knowledge worker society. Girls don't want to think about tricky algorithms; some girls actually can, but still they don't want to. They just don't. "Fools give you reasons; wise men never try." What girls want to do is to gossip as a way to be a member of a group of girls and to attract boys. They like to be asked to do things so that when they do them they can get praise, acceptance, approval, and emotional security.

by mtrimpe 13y ago

PeterisP 13y ago

You may care about how a knowledge worker's society has changed the inherent fitness and gender roles - but all your built-in mechanisms that judge attractiveness of potential mates, evaluate beauty and cause warm fuzzies or disgust - they don't care, and they haven't changed since that time. Mating is a core activity of any lifeform, and our actual behavior preferences for that aren't really chosen by the rational part of your brain, but heavily influenced by much more direct chemistry. If in a future society 100 year old eunuchs with purple skin would be the super-best-fit for life companionship, 30-year old men would still rather feel attracted to 20-year old women unless they're genetically altered.

graycat 13y ago

I didn't mention "physiological differences", say, taller, stronger. I did emphasize tool making. I should also have mentioned team formation for hunting, building, and fighting. E.g., hunting is not nearly all size and strength but heavily understanding how to locate and kill the prey. And if the hunting is with a team, then need to be good at forming teams. So, the women were back in the village concentrating on child care, food, and clothing, and the men were generating fire, tools, wheels, things made of bone, wood, and stone, making progress with metals, ..., a server farm with 20,000 computers. That was men's work, done by men, in ways convenient for men, that used talents of men, apparently from hunting, tool making, team formation, and fighting, that changed the economy, government, and societies. Alas, women mostly didn't participate and mostly still don't. Look, there's a recent study about boys and girls shortly after birth. The girls are working on communicating with adults, especially about how they feel, mostly with facial expressions. The boys are looking at the construction of the crib, trying to figure out how the latch works, and wanting to write C++ code to control the toy fire engine on the floor! That's right from birth. The boys care about things, tools, strategy, etc., and the girls care about eliciting support from people. That's just the way it is. In simple terms, the girls have plenty of strength for most tool making and for team formation, but mostly they just didn't and don't do it. That's just not what girls are interested in, and there's little promise they will be interested during our knowledge worker society. Girls don't want to think about tricky algorithms; some girls actually can, but still they don't want to. They just don't. "Fools give you reasons; wise men never try." What girls want to do is to gossip as a way to be a member of a group of girls and to attract boys. They like to be asked to do things so that when they do them they can get praise, acceptance, approval, and emotional security.