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When two worldviews collide.

rjs330

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Please, pay attention to my question - give me sources that whole cultures or world were without empathy. Not examples of evil in the world.

And again, stop talking about my or your education. Talk to the point.
Those are sources.of entire countries and the world without empathy. You think they were empathetic to the Jews while giving them the gas or experimenting on them? You the the world was empathetic to all the slaves that were treated so badly? You think the US was empathetic to the Native Americans they slaughtered or lied to broke their treaties and treated like garbage? You think the south was empathetic to the blacks during Jim Crow?

Man what do think the lack of empathy leads to?
 
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stevevw

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I'll be honest. I don't need a bunch of studies to show me that men and women, boys and girls are different. And I don't need a bunch of genetic studies to tell me personalities are all different and are certainly not based on nurture more than nature. Having lived almost 65 years, seen rich kids, poor kids abused kids, middle income kids, kids from one parent families and divorced families and intact happy homes and every myriad in between you see kids with all kinds of personalities under all kinds of conditions. Every single kid is born with a certain personality. Now nurture does have an influence upon it. To say it has nothing to do with it is silly. However nature has far more to do with it than nurture. Nurture can exacerbate certain traits or muffle certain ones.

It's patently ridiculous to think otherwise.
There is also environment. Though some may claim environment is more about nurture in creating healthy conditions. But there are many factors including those beyond our control or at least beyond the individuals control that may influence behaviour. For example theres evidence that pollutants like increased estrogen in the environment is reducing Testosterone and causing more males to become feminised. This can effect entire generations over time.

Ironically the increase in Estrogen is partly the result of the Pill and cosmetics which is partly the result womens freedom and the sexual revolution that its so widespread. Its also in plastic products which is about modern consumerism which everyone participates in.

According to Epigenetics the stresses and conditions a parent or even grandparent lived under can influence the expression of genes and thus behaviour like being more anxious. This can happen with entire populations who experience stresses on the body such as famine which can cause higher numbers of people with anxious dispositions.

Then there is individual ability which can come down to how much effort a person puts in to achieve greater heights. Then there is individual agency which is opposed to stereotyping people to being a certain way due to socialization. And all these different influences can also influence each other.

So we have many factors that go into why there are differences between people and genders and the circumstance for who they are in.

But ideologues take a narrow lens where all differences in gender and race are caused by purposeful oppression. It moralises all human behaviour even natural, beyond control and agenic behaviour. This view skews things so that past events are seen only in oppression/victim terms when there were many other factors involved that are ignored. Which also gave us the freedoms to live as we do today.

I think most people are mostly the same, we are rational and moral beings. We all suffer in some ways (the human condition) and we all want a better world. The idea of picking out certain identities and moralizing over their behaviour more than others is religion at its worse. We are all sinners and are unworthy because we have fallen short of Gods standards not humans.
 
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Ana the Ist

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No, not necessarily. Genes code for our bodies' production of proteins. Those proteins then interact with each other, and with other substances, in very complex ways. Not everything that impacts our molecular physiology is genetic, in the sense of, being directly controlled by the proteins our genes code for.

We used to look at genes as 99% "junk dna" without any use. Now we understand that the expression of certain genes happens under certain circumstances.


My premise is a little more complex than that (and I don't think anyone has suggested garlic bread as a contributing factor).

And yet we now have pretty solid data Tylenol causes autism.



If we were so privileged, why didn't we see that reflected in women's life outcomes?

Because privilege (despite whatever politically minded might believe) isn't everything. Privilege can be wasted, ignored, or outright overcome.


Technically, no. Australia occupies a middle ground, legally, where we have no Established (state) church, but we also don't have formal legal separation of church and state.

Well that's a shame...I don't agree with every decision our founders made but early decisions to erect a wall between church and state have allowed the church to continue unimpeded and the state to continue to allow for the church.



I have, but you've dismissed it every time.

You've offered me percentages for arguments you swear you aren't making (senior/uppermost leadership positions) and regardless of that they require a vast amount of mind reading and assumption of bias, or ill intent, or negligent regard.

You can consider that evidence but again....compare it to mine. I offered you a well constructed survey where the people doing the hiring literally admitted to discrimination.

Your evidence requires a giant leap of faith.

My evidence is plain as day requiring no faith at all.


There may not be laws against it, but it does affect how people treat you.

So does everything.

Well, it doesn't particularly matter to me either. But I'm not, for example, on the receiving end of sustained workplace bullying where that's a feature, so...

No one is.


Honestly, Ana, if you're just going to accuse people of lying when they share their personal experience, then you're not really engaging in good faith, and I think this conversation might have reached the point of diminishing return.

It doesn't sound like the sort of thing I've ever heard anyone say in over 25 years of work. Never heard a woman say it happened....never heard a man say it or claim to have....and that's across a wide variety of jobs and positions.





(You know the kicker with that particular incident? After I returned that gentleman's unwanted gift, and explained that it was inappropriate, he wrote to my boss to formally complain about my rudeness).

Surely you kept some evidence of the encounter. What was the gift for? Your birthday?

And you can't imagine that things you don't see, don't actually happen?

I'm not saying it's impossible....but it's so bizarre and out of the ordinary I don't know why you even think it's relevant. This doesn't happen to most women....I doubt it happens to even a tiny minority of women.


You've never witnessed a rape, so it doesn't happen? Never seen an incident of domestic violence, so they're making it up?

What you described was neither. You described some guy sending you lingerie as a gift...


Here's a thought: maybe your own little bubble, isn't the sum total of human experience.

Never claimed it was.



Part of the value of a forum like this, could be the ability to gain insight into situations you yourself will never face.

How many people do you think are getting inappropriate gifts of lingerie?
 
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Ana the Ist

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There is also environment. Though some may claim environment is more about nurture in creating health conditions there are many factors including those beyond our control or at least beyond the individuals control that may influence behaviour. For example theres evidence that pollutants like increased estrogen in the environment is reducing Testosterone and causing more males to become feminised.

Accoreding to Epigenetics the stresses and conditions a parent or even grandparent lived under can influence the expression of genes and thus behaviour like being more anxious. This can happen with entire populations who experience stresses on the body such as famine which influences many.

Actually that's all a lie told by social theorists. Look up the occupation of people spouting that nonsense and you'll find 2 things...


1. None are epigeneticists, geneticists, or molecular biologists.

2. They ascribe to a rather goofy sort of leftist doctrine.

If stress could be "passed down" our species would only become more enfeebled and pathetic with each passing century. It's a patently absurd premise no one in genetics believes.
 
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trophy33

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Those are sources.of entire countries and the world without empathy. You think they were empathetic to the Jews while giving them the gas or experimenting on them? You the the world was empathetic to all the slaves that were treated so badly? You think the US was empathetic to the Native Americans they slaughtered or lied to broke their treaties and treated like garbage? You think the south was empathetic to the blacks during Jim Crow?

Man what do think the lack of empathy leads to?
While some individual Nazis were sadists and/or lacked empathy, the majority of Germans still had for example families or friends they cared for, similarly with Americans - some individual colonists, slavers or soldiers could be sadists or psychopats without empathy.

However, do you have sources that the general American or German population lacked empathy and did not understand what others feel? Or even the whole world, as you also claimed.
 
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Paidiske

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We used to look at genes as 99% "junk dna" without any use. Now we understand that the expression of certain genes happens under certain circumstances.
Sure. That doesn't change the fact that our genes, and their expression, are only one part of a much more complex picture.
Because privilege (despite whatever politically minded might believe) isn't everything. Privilege can be wasted, ignored, or outright overcome.
I see. So your argument is that women have had significant privilege which has... not actually demonstrably benefitted them. That's a smidge implausible.

Your evidence requires a giant leap of faith.

Or not. We can find measurable bias, eg. here: Committees with implicit biases promote fewer women when they do not believe gender bias exists - Nature Human Behaviour

And now there's AI to consider, too: Entry barriers for women are amplified by AI in recruitment algorithms, study finds

The point in this one is worth highlighting: "Recent studies show that gender bias affects student grading, professional hiring, mentoring, tenure, promotion, respect, grant proposal success, and pay." (This shows that this is something that can affect women at every stage of their careers).

(This is starting to feel like my head hitting a brick wall, but I haven't quite given up on presenting reality just yet).

It doesn't sound like the sort of thing I've ever heard anyone say in over 25 years of work. Never heard a woman say it happened....never heard a man say it or claim to have....and that's across a wide variety of jobs and positions.
Well, now you have.
Surely you kept some evidence of the encounter.
There's probably an entry or two in my journal. But so what?
What was the gift for? Your birthday?
No particular reason that I recall, but there's no occasion for which it would have been appropriate, so I can't see how that matters.
I'm not saying it's impossible....but it's so bizarre and out of the ordinary I don't know why you even think it's relevant. This doesn't happen to most women....I doubt it happens to even a tiny minority of women.
This exact incident, probably not. But while prevalence estimates vary, many women experience sexual harassment in the workplace. One of the more reliable sources I can find estimates about one in three, and that's on the low side of the numbers being reported. That's not a tiny minority.
What you described was neither. You described some guy sending you lingerie as a gift...
Yes. But my point stands. Your having witnessed something is not a reliable measure of whether it happens.

But the point I was originally making by sharing that anecdote, was that gender does shape our interactions beyond simply whether or not we discriminate or have bias against someone.
 
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stevevw

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Actually that's all a lie told by social theorists. Look up the occupation of people spouting that nonsense and you'll find 2 things...


1. None are epigeneticists, geneticists, or molecular biologists.

2. They ascribe to a rather goofy sort of leftist doctrine.

If stress could be "passed down" our species would only become more enfeebled and pathetic with each passing century. It's a patently absurd premise no one in genetics believes.
I am not sure what you are saying. Can you elaborate.
 
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stevevw

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Very well. What might contribute to women having less desire to lead, other than biology? In your balanced and open view?
Theres plenty of factors. Of course as you have been saying theres the denial and freedom to basic Rights. There is also environmental factors, family upbringing, individual personal experiences, trauma physical and mental/psychological, education, geography, politics, religion, physical health, diseases, diet, pathogens which all effect wellbeing and therefore can influence self worth, esteem, motivation ect.

Even the weather funny enough. Research shows that in nations like England where the weather is often grey, wet and cold can contribute to feeling dreary. For someone with depression that may compound their misery. Notice how peoples mood can change and we say "its a full moon" and people are acting up or going a bit silly. I believe there is something to this which is hard to define yet has an element of truth more than just environment or nature. Theres a lot we don't understand.
Sure, there are lots of papers that talk about links between genetics and behaviour. There are very few, if any, that establish a direct causative relationship, though.
But nothing really has a direct causative relation even social conditioning. Thats the point. Feminist and other ideologues make oppression and power the cause of all differences by ignoring the many indirect factors that go into behaviour and why we end up with the society we have.
Yes, there are genetic influences on all of these things. But while (for example), your genetics might influence your satiety signalling (and therefore how you manage your weight) what your genes don't do is control your diet, exercise and other health behaviours directly. Taking obesity, the eating patterns you learn in childhood are likely to have a far greater impact on your weight over your lifetime, than genes to do with how you experience hunger.
I don't think we fully know. Its still somethng we are learning. But there is a fair amount of evdence from genetics that increase a persons supceptibility to metabolic syndrome. Even epigenetics which shows that famines and pathogens/toxins in the past can effect future generations regarding disoders and disease of the endocrine and digestive systems making people more supceptible to weight issues.

Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance of Obesity Susceptibility

GENETIC AND EPIGENETIC CAUSES OF OBESITY

It may be that this current generation of obesity in the West will be encoded and expressed in future generations to some extent. Its not the entire contribution as people can overcome these issues by changing their lifestyle. But its an important factor in tailoring support which considers all contributing factors rather than assuming its a case of someone being more lazy compared to someone who may not have this perpensity.
I understand it. I understand that many claims for what is "genetic" are often significantly overstating the role our genes play.
Yes and the same with the narrow view that all differences are caused by social constructions for which ideologues push on society. Thats the whole point that a narrow one deeimension view deistorts reality. That is the main reason people object, not that all the factors play a role but that people take things to the extreme one way or the other.
And you don't think hormones or the nervous system, for example, are in any way impacted by environment and experience (nurture)?
Yes of course but the question is which behaviours are or not. The question of nature and nurture is always under debate. Anyone who makes claims only one cause or even over emphasises one cause is seeing things unreal. There are many theories for natural and socially conditioned influences on behaviour and we are still working this out.

An interesting new area is associated with the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) as opposed to the Standard theory. This has a bunch of sub theories relating to how human behaviour and culture interlates with evolution such as Developmental Bias and Developmental Plasticity, Niche Construction and Inclusive Inherentance. In fact it sort of emphasises the role of the individual, family environment and culture as contributing to adaptive and heritable changes.

How living creatures are not just passive objects subject to environmental influences but also active participants in a reciprical way that alter environments and ecosystems. So it seems new inter reslationships discovered which mesh nature and nurture.
Biological influences are not just genetic, and are often about how our nurture - environment and experience - impacts and shapes our biology.
Yes its an interesting combination. I think there are levels of influence which all need to be considered.

Like a simple example being our natural instinct for food. We can't really change that and its the fundemental driving force for survival. But from that can come physiological and psychological influences that come upon people for a variety of reasons which influence behaviour. Upbringing, culture, disease, psychological disorders ect and in turn these changes in behaviour can then influence each other.

It seems we have these basic instincts that get in and out of whack for a variety of reasons.
I hate to break it to you, but as a geneticist I regard evolutionary psychology as less of a science and more science-adjacent, at best. Because it's a completely theoretical field often based on assumptions rather than evidence. One might even call it more ideological than evidence based.
I think that comes from a lack of understanding both evolution and psychology. In some ways evolution is based on ideologies and assumptions even science itself. It seems each domain is skeptical of the other and have different paradigms of beliefs, assumptions, language and criteria.
Why isn't everyone an evolutionary psychologist?
Why isn't everyone an evolutionary psychologist?

But just a simple and logical view shows that if we evolved the biological evolution has to interconnect with genetics and cognition (psychology). They are not independent areas. Evolution must have evolved certain cognitions that benefited humans. Otherwise this just wipes out all the theories of mind such as Bowlby and Ainsworths Attachment theory, Piaget's theory of cognitive development, Maslows Hierarchy of Needs and may other theories that have been well tested including wiping out applied psychology which is based on science through direct observations.

How Evolutionary Psychology Explains Human Behavior
Evolutionary Perspective in Psychology: Principles and Examples

Evolutionary perspectives on human sex differences and their discontents

As to your papers, sure, there are traits which (on average) differ by sex. But having a stronger or weaker capability at spatial reasoning or verbal communication is not a behaviour.
But it influences behaviour. If your better or weaker at something this is going to influence whether or not you relate or desire to engage in that behaviour.
And it's also not capacity for leadership, which involves a complex interplay of multiple traits. (Your link claiming high heritability of leadership doesn't even define what they mean by leadership, or how it is measured).
Yes traits like leadership are a mixture of factors and thats why we need to take a big picture view and base things on merit as well rather than oppression being the only reason. This includes understand some of the natural drives and individual motivations as well as the social systems that deny opportunity. Tell me do you think males are more competitive than females in general. If so why, if not why not.

Its not that there is a gene for leadership but rather a combination of evolutionary influences that contributed (form the basis) to certain behaviours that benefits the sexes. These are then enhanced or repressed through culture. I don't really think there is much behaviour that humans made up out of nothing and then chose to inject that into humans. There is usually some basis for why humans act the way they do. We then take those and refine them even exaggerating them through socialization and culture.

Sex and Care: The Evolutionary Psychological Explanations for Sex Differences in Formal Care Occupations
Sex and Care: The Evolutionary Psychological Explanations for Sex Differences in Formal Care Occupations
 
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Paidiske

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Theres plenty of factors. Of course as you have been saying theres the denial and freedom to basic Rights.
Good. I'm glad you can see that. Are you then willing that we should address that in any way? Or are you wanting to kind of hand-wave it all away as "oh, but women have less desire to lead, therefore there's no problem"?
But nothing really has a direct causative relation even social conditioning.
The point, however, is that you can't sleet behaviour home to genetics in a straightforward way.
But there is a fair amount of evdence from genetics that increase a persons supceptibility to metabolic syndrome.
Sure. But there's not a straight line from what genes you have, to saying that men have an "instinct to lead" and therefore gender roles are natural and not a social construction (which is where this particular line of discussion stemmed from).
Yes and the same with the narrow view that all differences are caused by social constructions for which ideologues push on society.
Again, you're misrepresenting their arguments rather badly there.
Yes of course but the question is which behaviours are or not.
It's not that some behaviours are and some aren't (impacted by the environment). Behaviour is always a complex interplay of many factors. Now there will be biological and even genetic factors in play, but - if we think of all the factors that go into shaping behaviour as being like the sound of an orchestra, a many-layered, complex harmony with interplay of different rhythms and so on in different sections - perhaps you could think of the genetic level as being like the double basses. They provide that deep level, often not even really noticed foundation, but then everything else is layered on top to provide the music the ear hears (or the behaviour that the watcher observes). Sure, the genetic level is there, but to look at it and say, "that means the behaviour is natural" is to ignore every other instrument in the orchestra.
I think that comes from a lack of understanding both evolution and psychology.
Said to the person who's studied both at a tertiary level... :rolleyes:
But just a simple and logical view shows that if we evolved the biological evolution has to interconnect with genetics and cognition (psychology).
Sure. That's not the same thing as evolutionary psychology, though; which tries to explain contemporary psychological phenomena by reference to a (hypothetical and untestable) evolutionary past.
But it influences behaviour. If your better or weaker at something this is going to influence whether or not you relate or desire to engage in that behaviour.
Sure, capability influences behaviour. But to go from "some traits differ slightly, on average, by sex," to "therefore it's natural that men should lead," is unsupportable.
Yes traits like leadership are a mixture of factors and thats why we need to take a big picture view and base things on merit as well rather than oppression being the only reason.
You do realise this just comes across as arguing that women have less merit, so there's no problem with them being excluded, right? Without even questioning what has shaped your concept of "merit."
Tell me do you think males are more competitive than females in general. If so why, if not why not.
I suspect that it depends how you measure competitiveness, and that women are less likely to compete in stereotypically masculine ways (so their competitiveness may be less well recognised by studies premised on masculine norms). This is an interesting read (it's worth downloading the full PDF).
Heres a paper on sex differences that may help. Its not that is a gene for leadership but rather a combination of evolutionary influences that contributed to certain behaviours that benefits the sexes which are then enhanced or repressed through culture.
Again, I basically view evolutionary psychology as pseudoscientific waffle. The only bit of that I'm even slightly interested in is the acknowledgement of behaviours being "enhanced or repressed through culture."
 
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MehGuy

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While some individual Nazis were sadists and/or lacked empathy, the majority of Germans still had for example families or friends they cared for, similarly with Americans - some individual colonists, slavers or soldiers could be sadists or psychopats without empathy.

However, do you have sources that the general American or German population lacked empathy and did not understand what others feel? Or even the whole world, as you also claimed.

Yeah, and even some of the really cruel Nazis still had family members they cared about. Not to mention things like sadism are probably just a different expression of empathy. Paul Bloom has interesting lectures about empathy and it's problems. A German psychologist has similar and in my mind darker things to say about empathy too, but I forget his name.
 
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Ana the Ist

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Sure. That doesn't change the fact that our genes, and their expression, are only one part of a much more complex picture.

Well that's a far cry from genetics don't matter.

I see. So your argument is that women have had significant privilege which has

That's not my argument. That's a fact. Positive attributes are more often ascribed to women who are total strangers than men who are total strangers. This is true in both the work setting and regardless of traditional gender roles.


... not actually demonstrably benefitted them. That's a smidge implausible.

No....it's only implausible if you ascribe to certain political theories that ascribe outcomes to privilege over things like merit.

If you think merit, ability, choice, or any other number of factors matter....privilege is easily overcome. In fact, it easily outperforms privilege the vast majority of the time.



Implicit bias has long since been debunked. It's not measurable.




What's the assertion here....that AI isn't ranking women correctly? Or that it is, and women are learning they aren't so amazing as they imagined?



The point in this one is worth highlighting: "Recent studies show that gender bias affects student grading, professional hiring, mentoring, tenure, promotion, respect, grant proposal success, and pay." (This shows that this is something that can affect women at every stage of their careers).

How do they measure "gender bias"?



There's probably an entry or two in my journal. But so what?

Exactly....so what?

No particular reason that I recall

You were sent a gift.....for no particular reason?

Can we be clear why that's such a ridiculous thing to me....

1. I've never received a gift for no particular reason. Ever. I can't imagine how privileged one needs to be to be receiving gifts for no particular reason and think that's normal.

2. I've never, ever known a man, who sends women gifts (that he's not in a relationship with) for no particular reason....ever.

This exact incident, probably not.

So why bring it up?

Yes. But my point stands. Your having witnessed something is not a reliable measure of whether it happens.

Your having witnessed something isn't a reliable measure of whether it happens.


But the point I was originally making by sharing that anecdote, was that gender does shape our interactions beyond simply whether or not we discriminate or have bias against someone.

And how does that relate to the issues at hand?
 
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Ana the Ist

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I am not sure what you are saying. Can you elaborate.

There's a psychopathologist suggesting that "cultural trauma" can lead to certain outcomes in certain underperforming communities.
 
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MehGuy

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Maybe someday us anti feminists men will see the light. That treating women like perpetual victims always in need of saving and being incredibly stoic about our own issues or flat out denying them somehow fights gender roles, lol.

Kind of weird how these "cultural influences" live in both conservative and progressive circles. Almost makes one think there is something more ingrained going on.

Most of my reasons why I reject feminism are the same reasons I rejected what I was taught about men and women growing up in a socially conservative household.
 
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rjs330

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While some individual Nazis were sadists and/or lacked empathy, the majority of Germans still had for example families or friends they cared for, similarly with Americans - some individual colonists, slavers or soldiers could be sadists or psychopats without empathy.

However, do you have sources that the general American or German population lacked empathy and did not understand what others feel? Or even the whole world, as you also claimed.
I told you. History books. That's all you need. There's a lot of people in Germany that had no empathy. They were turning the Jews in.

The Mayans were sacrificing people. What the Chinese are doing right now to a group in their nation. What the Vikings did to people. How the Natives Americans tortured and enslaved each other.

Geez man wake up. Empathy is a terrible source for morality. Yes people can be empathetic. I'm not saying empathy doesn't exist. But empathy is not the source of morality. Because they rough out history people found it very moral to do terrible things to each other. You don't need some special book or special source. You just have to look at history. That tells you enough. So stop asking for things I've already given you.
 
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rjs330

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They've never been able to measure bias. It's totally unscientific. What they are doing is assuming something. Often these things when repeated have totally different outcomes. They are not measurable. They are unscientific and have been proven so. Yet the bias teachers still believe in them. I'm particularly talking about unconscious bias.

People can be biased. Racists are biased against a certain race. I'm biased against a certain vegetable. Some are biased against evangelicals. Others are biased against white heterosexual men. But they know it. It's not some unconscious amorphous thing they had no idea was there. That cannot be measured in any way.
 
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MehGuy

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The reality is that both men and women face biases.

I wouldn't be surprised if men are taken more seriously when it comes to leadership positions. The thing is... and the immaturity I find in feminism... this bias in favor of men doesn't come for free. When it comes to a leader you want someone who is going to face more accountability, someone who is going to be able to handle themselves. It's hard to have this mindset with a segment of the population that you feel you need to have greater protection and safety for.

As an egalitarian I try to be as rough with women as with men. Because... that's the real reason we take men more seriously. If you want to argue for treating men and women different... I'm open ears.. but you have to be realistic about how this is going to result in different outcomes for both men and women.. and gasp.. sometimes men will benefit over women.

Are we going to treat women and men equal? Even when it comes to things like the Russian/Ukrainian War with men having to stay and fight and women not. If not.. then shutup when it comes to disparities....

I'm a guy who thinks women should have been forced to fight.. and I think it would actually help them earn real respect with men in the world.. I'm certainly not one scared of challenging gender roles.
 
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Paidiske

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Well that's a far cry from genetics don't matter.
I didn't say they don't matter. I said it's not a matter of a direct causal relationship between genetics and behaviour.
That's not my argument. That's a fact. Positive attributes are more often ascribed to women who are total strangers than men who are total strangers. This is true in both the work setting and regardless of traditional gender roles.
Perhaps... but those aren't the positive attributes which people tend to associate with, for example, leadership. They're more the positive attributes people tend to associate with mothers and carers.
No....it's only implausible if you ascribe to certain political theories that ascribe outcomes to privilege over things like merit.
Both are in play, but it's true that I think privilege significantly amplifies the benefits of merit. And every study I can find, suggests that a meritocracy is an illusion; our society is structured by various layers of privilege (financial, cultural, social, and so on).
Implicit bias has long since been debunked. It's not measurable.
It might be difficult to measure, but it's very real.
What's the assertion here....that AI isn't ranking women correctly? Or that it is, and women are learning they aren't so amazing as they imagined?
That AI is learning from the sexism embedded in its source material and therefore its algorithms are producing sexist outcomes.
How do they measure "gender bias"?
Given they're summarising many other studies for that statement, you'd have to go read the cited papers.
Exactly....so what?
This is a discussion on a forum. I don't have to prove this to you.
You were sent a gift.....for no particular reason?

Can we be clear why that's such a ridiculous thing to me....

1. I've never received a gift for no particular reason. Ever. I can't imagine how privileged one needs to be to be receiving gifts for no particular reason and think that's normal.

2. I've never, ever known a man, who sends women gifts (that he's not in a relationship with) for no particular reason....ever.

So why bring it up?
My point was that this was behaviour which was inappropriate because of our respective genders and therefore the loaded meaning behind it. I can just about imagine a scenario in which a female friend could send me such a gift with a laugh and a wink about how hubby would appreciate it. But from a man? The unspoken message is, "I'm thinking of you sexually," in a relationship and setting where that's just not appropriate.

That's nothing to do with discrimination or bias, but demonstrates how gender does shape our social interactions.

That said, no, it's not privileged to be the target of sexual harassment (because let's be clear, that's what unwanted gifts of lingerie from a man in one's workplace amount to).
Your having witnessed something isn't a reliable measure of whether it happens.
If one of us has witnessed it, it happens. If one of us hasn't witnessed it, it may or may not happen, but we would have to look further for evidence.
And how does that relate to the issues at hand?
You were claiming, back some pages now, that gender doesn't or shouldn't shape how we interact. I gave an example of the way it does, because many of our interactions are culturally freighted in gendered ways.

As for holding leaders accountable, absolutely men and women in leadership roles should be held accountable to the same standard. We don't need to protect women leaders from the consequences of poor leadership; that serves no one.
 
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Bradskii

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Yeah, and even some of the really cruel Nazis still had family members they cared about. Not to mention things like sadism are probably just a different expression of empathy. Paul Bloom has interesting lectures about empathy and it's problems. A German psychologist has similar and in my mind darker things to say about empathy too, but I forget his name.
Excellent discussion with Bloom here which explains his view on empathy:


I tend to agree with him in that empathy focuses our attention on the individual. We can't feel empathy for a group, or a nation. And it's well known in charitable organisations that if you put out an advert that says 'thousands are dying of starvation - we need your help' it will receive less attention than one that shows a picture of a young girl and says 'This is Nia. She is starving to death. She needs your help'.

As Stalin said 'One death is a tragedy. A million is a statistic'.
 
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Ana the Ist

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Maybe someday us anti feminists men will see the light. That treating women like perpetual victims always in need of saving and being incredibly stoic about our own issues or flat out denying them somehow fights gender roles, lol.

Kind of weird how these "cultural influences" live in both conservative and progressive circles. Almost makes one think there is something more ingrained going on.

Most of my reasons why I reject feminism are the same reasons I rejected what I was taught about men and women growing up in a socially conservative household.

Hmmm...


Well put. Largely, I can agree upon equal rights....but equal rights means equal rights, no more favoritism.

I don't think feminism actually represents itself honestly anymore. It's lying to women and denying that the possibility of choosing to stay at home, raise children, and keep a home can be a completely valid choice and there's no wrong in choosing it. There's a considerable amount of disdain for women who decide to stay home and raise children. There's been something of a lie in telling women that they'll be more satisfied with some sort of career.
It's as if they don't know the vast majority of jobs and careers aren't exactly fun, satisfying, or meaningful...of course, it's entirely possible that they don't realize these jobs exist. That would make a rather easy explanation for the vast number of insta- ***** and girls on OF. Suddenly, as if out of the blue, the term "sex worker" appeared and we're told this is something respectable. It's not....that's just a woman who decided not to flip burgers or push a broom.

If feminism were honest it would tell women they have about 15 years post adulthood to coast on their looks in their job of preference and after that...if they've failed to develop any talent, competence, or ability...they aren't likely to be setting the world on fire and if they aren't cool with dying alone, every passing year will increasingly limit their options and a cat will increasingly be the closest thing to a constant companion they'll be able to lock down.

Assuming it's not an outdoor cat.

Other than that...feminism should probably let them know the internet won't reflect reality in dating or romantic relationships.

It's not just a blatantly dishonest movement anymore....it's flatly insulting. Imagine any dedicated feminist activist or advocate's reaction to me telling them what the proper way to be "feminine" is.....

And now consider that literally every discussion about the "patriarchy" or "toxic masculinity" is a woman telling you how to be a man or properly be masculine. It's not only something that they don't understand nor should imagine that they have a valid opinion on...

It's something as ridiculous as me writing a book for women about how they'll feel going through menopause.
 
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Ana the Ist

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I didn't say they don't matter. I said it's not a matter of a direct causal relationship between genetics and behaviour.

Here's the thing, though; most of the time, what they find is that there isn't much biological and genetic basis for behaviour.

We're done with your original statement then....right? We've gone from genetics don't really affect behavior to genetics are part of a complex set of factors that affect behavior.

Perhaps... but those aren't the positive attributes which people tend to associate with, for example, leadership. They're more the positive attributes people tend to associate with mothers and carers.

They're positive attributes even when women are described as occupying or engaging in non-traditional gender roles. Read the link I provided for that...it makes it quite clear that regardless of setting, occupation, or conformity to traditional gender roles. Women ascribe these attributes to women more often than they do to men....and so do men. It's a huge unearned privilege every woman just gets at birth.

The other link I provided is one of the only things that I've seen has any significant impact upon it. Apparently, if society continues to move towards egalitarianism....the privilege diminishes. The more we tell boys and girls they're equals...the less privilege women enjoy.

You literally linked a survey that rated women higher across the board on basically every trait associated with leadership. That's so statistically unlikely to be true that I suggested it was a result of the WAWE. Now you're telling me that despite the fact that there's an extreme bias in favor of women, even in the workplace, even in non-traditional gender roles, somehow....leadership is the one exception. I've seen nothing about the WAWE that suggests that's true. I've seen plenty that suggests it's false.


Both are in play, but it's true that I think privilege significantly amplifies the benefits of merit.

I think privilege needs to be more clearly defined. I don't think any distinguishes between the idea of privilege and resources....for example. I've heard people describe "wealth privilege" but the reality is we're describing something entirely different from a "privilege" we're describing someone who has more resources than someone else.



And every study I can find, suggests that a meritocracy is an illusion;

You've never found any study suggesting meritocracy is an illusion. You have, at best, found studies suggesting merit isn't a perfectly assessable trait....and that makes sense in that it's a somewhat abstract concept.

You want pilots who earned their seat by merit....you want surgeons you earned their credentials by merit...even your cook at a restaurant is someone you want to have merit. Nobody wants these occupations filled with people who imagine their biological sex, race, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation or any other superficial characteristics are accomplishments that outweigh merit.

Identity politics treats these things as accomplishments or otherwise deserved of special consideration....but they aren't.




It might be difficult to measure, but it's very real.

It's not a matter of difficult to measure....

1. The "implicit bias test" measures response times....and it doesn't do so consistently. It's not a scientifically valid. It's not even necessarily measuring implicit bias.

2. No test has ever shown a valid connection between implicit biases and behaviour. To put it lightly the amount of research connection the influence of genetics to behaviour is vast....the research proving a connection to implicit bias and behaviour is basically nonexistent.

I know this was something that got really overhyped because it created a politically convenient narrative that allowed some rather dim people to assume police were racist without evidence but hundreds and hundreds of attempts to refine the test to a degree of validity have failed and measurements of implicit bias haven't been successful in predicting behaviour at all.

That AI is learning from the sexism embedded in its source material

Why would sexism be embedded in its source material?

Claims of racist AI were pretty loud but rather easily explained. AI was used for content moderation early on....by noting the usage of things like racial slurs...for example the n-word. Turned out, black people online were using the n-word far more often than white people so obviously when evaluating which group was more racist....it kept spitting out the answer of black people.

That led to shouts of the AI being racist despite the fact that we're literally living in a time where it's considered socially acceptable to be racist against white people. The assumption of about half the population is that obviously white people are more racist....or the only ones capable of being racist. The AI mods were altered to look harder at context and only flag usage of the n-word when used in a derogatory fashion.

And the results? Black people and liberals in general were still being evaluated as more racist. Despite insisting that black people use the word as a term of endearment....turns out that black people also frequently use it in a derogatory fashion. Even worse...the social acceptance of racism towards whites meant it evaluated liberals as more racist than conservatives.

Here's the thing...you can encode AI to assess everyone according to the same standards (we call this equality) or you can rig it to assess according to double standards and unequal baselines based upon those superficial shallow and rather unimportant factors of those wedded to identity politics (we call this inequality)....and even then, you may not get the results you like.

I don't see how an AI encoded to assess as equals is somehow sexist if the outcomes are unequal. You need to consider that AI simply doesn't have your biases....like the women are wonderful effect....and it's actually assessing men and women accurately.

AI moderation literally forced racist black people to invent creative new spellings for white people such as whypeeple, whytes, y-pple, and others I can't even remember so they could continue their racist rants and tirades on social media without automatically getting banned.

and therefore its algorithms are producing sexist outcomes.

Do you expect if AI evaluated men and women equally....you'd see equal results?

Given they're summarising many other studies for that statement, you'd have to go read the cited papers.

If I pointed out the methodological errors in those papers....would you stop believing AI was sexist regardless of how women were evaluated?

It's interesting that when you cite a study showing men and women rating women higher in different leadership traits.....you don't assume any sort of sexism is at play. Yet, when a completely unbiased algorithmic AI model evaluates women lower...well suddenly it must be because the mathematical algorithms suddenly spawned a consciousness that happens to also be sexist.



This is a discussion on a forum. I don't have to prove this to you.

Then quit acting offended when I don't believe every claim you make. If you don't need to prove it, I certainly don't need to believe it.

My point was *snip*

I said I don't believe you. You said you don't care to prove it. I erased everything else about whatever point you thought was relevant because it's not. I don't believe you....and you aren't able or capable or willing to provide evidence to convince me.



That's nothing to do with discrimination or bias, but demonstrates how gender does shape our social interactions.

Everything shapes social interactions. The fact that I ate recently can shape social interactions I have. This is why behaviorists seem to be faking their data to get published.

That said, no, it's not privileged to be the target of sexual harassment (because let's be clear, that's what unwanted gifts of lingerie from a man in one's workplace amount to).

You believe he sent you the gift to harass you? He spent money to make you upset, angry, anxious, frustrated, or traumatize you?

No offense, but it doesn't seem like that was his intention at all....and that's going by your words.


If one of us has witnessed it, it happens.

If it happened to you, that's not a reason to imagine it's happening to anyone else.

You were claiming, back some pages now, that gender doesn't or shouldn't shape how we interact.

I was claiming it wasn't in itself an obstacle or something akin to discrimination if I remember the context correctly. Biological sex clearly shapes interactions for some in some contexts. The claim that it amounts to a net negative for women isn't apparent....at least not in the sense that you mean.


I gave an example of the way it does, because many of our interactions are culturally freighted in gendered ways.

As for holding leaders accountable, absolutely men and women in leadership roles should be held accountable to the same standard. We don't need to protect women leaders from the consequences of poor leadership; that serves no one.

Perhaps we don't. Perhaps that's exactly why we see less women in senior leadership positions.
 
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