[ExI] [ieet] Singularity - Non-Gender Specific

Mike Dougherty msd001 at gmail.com
Tue Sep 29 23:45:40 UTC 2009


On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 6:46 PM, Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com> wrote:
> I must have been unclear, again. I was asking what the equivalent is of
> males having appropriated the inherently sex-neutral idea of a technological
> singularity. Is it just the "camera angle of men" and other instances of men
> usually being the speakers? What does it mean to say that singularitarians
> are avoiding "social issues"? The chrysalis figuration is intriguing (it
> reminds me of the feminist "wise crone": as you put it, "it is well-known to
> women as a transformation stage from being fertile, reproductive organism to
> transforming into non-physically reproductive BUT intellectually productive,
> wise organisms") but it seems to imply a teleological pathway--like
> menopause--from where we are to a kind of predetermined transcendence (pupas
> don't *decide* to become butterflies, nor can they choose not to be).

I wonder what percentage of singularitians are MyersBriggs/KBTI
"thinkers" vs "feelers".  I got the impression Natasha was indicating
a lack of empathy or social awakening in discussion of the
Singularity.  Zen of the Singularity sounds like an almost mystic
path.  I think it is difficult to express the idea of 'birth' without
triggering the characteristics we observe from biological imperatives
- but I think the chrysalis notion is fairly succinct.  What Damien
wrote made me think of Niven's Ringworld Pak Protectors as a
post-human state of enlightened goal-centric shepherd or steward of
humanity.  Rather than drug-induced, it's technological enhancement
that begins the transformation.

I reread the original post in this thread.  Now I am more confused
about Natasha's original intent of the phrase "male centric."  The
English language is male-centric, have we attempted to isolate that
distracting noise from observation?  Is our cultural conceptualization
of gender roles insufficient to apply to the Singularity?  Every
participant in the discussion has a bias forced on them by biology.
Should the non-gendered transhumans be tasked with establishing the
proper terminology to remove this bias?

re: "...a more far-reaching notion of the singularity"  Yes, it has
become too effable to instill the requisite awe and wonder to the "The
Singularity."



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