[ExI] Singularity - Non-Gender Specific

Wed Sep 30 02:24:02 UTC 2009

>Not what I am saying -- rather, for the same product you
need to 

>fine-tune the message to sell to men or to women. Come
on, any 

>advertising professional knows that. God knows how much
money they 

>spend in gender-related studies, surveys and tests. 

> * H+ movements often started as informal (almost
entirely 

> Internet-based) associations, and have grown largely
through social 

> connections, rather than through formal recruitment
processes. 

A few days ago i switched my facebook setting for gender to
"female", and what a difference it made!  Instead of commercials for t-shirts, sex
related ads, "see who is searching for you" messages, instead i now
get commercials for nursing degrees, marriages, online games, and donations to philanthropic
organizations.   

Clearly gender identity and the notion of "masculine" and "faminie is a product of social conditioning - which
hasnt gone away. A touch of difference in the brain's of males and females is a
reality however, but one which shows that there’s less difference instead of
more. There’s more then 20 or 30 ways the brain could be "feminized"
or "masculineized" in that the brains between men and women are a
little different dimorphicly on a macro scale. (see Rosario ,
276-278) Mainly the agreed apon difference is in the INAH-3 region of the
brain.  However there may be many reasons
for the difference, mainly neural plasticity and environmental effects. 

see     

http://vrosario.bol.ucla.edu/CV/GLQ15.2_06_Rosario.pdf   

ok, so the white-male problem its probably not because of
genetics or innate differences when it comes to taking up technology as a
passion. 

If the H+ and Singularity community is in fact more
associated with white men it is not only because of advertising, but many other
environmental and societal reasons as well. 
Patricia Hill Collins coined the term "the Matrix of
Domination" which explains how power is distributed in our society (btw,
we can already see how H+ and Singularity theories are playing into power in
society by greedy people, but we also know that the result of H+ and the
concept of a Singularity at least will probably decrease power of the greedy individual
because of information accessibility enhanced brains, etc.)   

"The Matrix of Domination is a sociological theory that
explains issues of oppression that deal with race, class, and gender, though
recognized as different social classifications, which are all interconnected.
Other forms of classification, such as sexual orientation, religion, or age,
apply to this theory as well. Patricia Hill Collins is credited with
introducing the theory in her work entitled Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge,
Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. 

As the term implies, there are many different ways one might
experience domination, facing many different challenges in which one obstacle,
such as race, may overlap with other sociological features. Such things as
race, age, and sex, may affect an individual in extremely different ways, in
such simple cases as varying geography, socioeconomic status, or simply
throughout time. Many feminist authors have contributed a great deal of
research toward the understanding and application of domination models in many
realms of society." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_of_Domination)

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/252.html 

So, if we go along with the notion of "the Matrix of
Domination" we can conclude that it stems from race, class, gender, and a
history of inequality.  The history of
capitalism, slavery, western colonialism, sexism etc. is to blame hands
down.  Remember it’s still only 2009, our society is still vastly effected by
past and present oppression.  

Think about the history of science fiction, technological
inventions, women in science, and the history of sexism and social constructs
of reality.  We need to figure out how to
rid our society of such oppression…  can
this happen before the singularity or widespread H+ transition?  If it doesn’t what will that mean?  How can we increase awareness of H+ issues
among womyn?  Check out this amazing article from Nature about womyn in science:http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v8/n11/full/7401109.html

http://www.womeninscience.co.uk/index.php

http://www.newscientist.com/special/women-in-science-2009-intro

http://www.now.org/issues/economic/factsheet.html 

--- On Tue, 9/29/09, Dave Sill <sparge at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Dave Sill <sparge at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [ExI] Singularity - Non-Gender Specific
To: "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 10:12 PM

On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 5:45 PM,  <natasha at natasha.cc> wrote:
> Quoting Dave Sill <sparge at gmail.com>:
>
>> 2009/9/29 Natasha Vita-More <natasha at natasha.cc>
>>>
>>> Because the Singularity is so male-dominated...
>>
>> I haven't noticed that. Can you explain what you mean or cite some
>> examples?
>
> Dave, have you ever been to a Singularity event?  Have you ever posted on
> the Singularity email list?  Have you attended the Singularity Institute's
> Summits?

No, no, and no.

> Have you read references and bibliographies on papers, articles
> and books concerning the Singularity?

I've read articles and books about the singularity. I don't know
exactly what the distinction is between singularity and Singularity.

> Certainly, I do not need to gather this material for you.  It is readily
> available.

OK, then... I guess this is just over my head.

> This issue is not male vs. female. It is an topical issue.  One could say
> "Where is the Zen of the Singularity?"  That might bring it home to some who
> don't grok the chrysalis metaphor.  But, nonetheless, it is an important
> metaphor. It seems that the Singularity is "driven" nowadays.  I remember
> talking to Vernor about if we could steer or drive the Singularity and he
> said it might not be possible.  Nevertheless, I realize that the driving
> force behind the Singularity is male-directed.  I am not saying this is good
> or bad.  I am saying that it MIGHT be wise to rethink it.

Yes, it's definitely out of my league because I don't see what
attempting to drive the Singularity has to do with gender.

Sorry for wasting your time.

-Dave
_______________________________________________
extropy-chat mailing list
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
--- On Tue, 9/29/09, natasha at natasha.cc <natasha at natasha.cc> wrote:

From: natasha at natasha.cc <natasha at natasha.cc>
Subject: Re: [ieet] [ExI] Singularity - Non-Gender Specific
To: "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>, jameschoate at austin.rr.com
Cc:
"'World Transhumanist Association Discussion List'"
<wta-talk at transhumanism.org>, "ExI chat list"
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>, singularity at v2.listbox.com,
"'Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies'" <ieet at ieet.org>
Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 6:04 PM

Somebody, please wake me up from this nightmare scenario below!

Quoting jameschoate at austin.rr.com:

>
Men and women are not the same, obviously. The belief that they  should
represent in anything equally, other than civil  representation is just
silly if not ignorant.
> 
>
Women do not represent in these sorts of things because their 
fundamental psychological architecture is not based on  confrontational
discovery. It's not that women can't, they just in  general don't want
to. Totally different head. This is probably the  most
socially/self-destructive meme that has come out of the women's  rights
efforts.
> 
> ---- Natasha Vita-More <natasha at natasha.cc> wrote:
>> I will be in Lisbon the second weekend of October speaking at the [INSIDE]
>> conference.  This is a transdisciplinary event which addresses the sciences
>> and arts of human-machine interfaces.  My talk will cover a
 transhumanist
>> perspective of human enhancement as aiming for radical extension of personal
>> existence, and which includes issues of the Singularity.  Of concern, and
>> this was addressed on the IEET blog, why the Singularity appears to be
>> male-centric.  I simply cannot shed any light on this phenomenon.  If anyone
>> has psychological or theoretical pointers as to why this phonemic has
>> happened, please let me know.  (That it is technological and women are not
>> technological;.mathematical oriented is simply not a good enough defense
>> because it is not true.)  There must be another reason.  Misogyny?  Does it
>> trickle down from the top?
>> 
>> Do you all think that could be the beginnings of another hijacking of terms,
>> such as with "cyborg"?  With cyborg, which we all know was Manfred
 Clyne's
>> description of a man-machine adaptive, self-regulating system for the
>> purposes of space exploration.  Years later, Donna Haraway popularized the
>> term cyborg to reflect a feminist theory.  Now the term is deeply engrained
>> in academic and public sector as being attached to a feminist worldview.  I
>> spoke to Clynes about this and he was quite certain that the feminist use of
>> cyborg was wrong.
>> 
>> Because the Singularity has a type of inference of chrysalises, it could a
>> metaphor for the human species reaching a type of maturity in merging with
>> AGI.  Because chrysalis is, on one hand, the life stage of some insects
>> undergoing transformation; on the other hand 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.
>> 
>> "For some women, menopause can transform their lives with the same power and
>> force as a volcano. A woman may be radically different in now she lives and
>> moves in the world, and this transformation affects all hose around her."...
>> Usually this means that a woman (whose instincts are to nurture and protect
>> offspring), now reaching outside the body to nurture and protect life.  As
>> with Rachel Carson, a scientist, whose chrysalis brought her deeper into the
>> rigor of scientific study.
>> 
>> Because the Singularity is so male-dominated, I wonder if it is not almost
>> stirring up what might later be a larger issue of gender misappropriation
>> now, which could lead to a strong gender appropriation.
>> 
>> I think this
 is a darn good quesiton to pose to Vernor ... I'll get back to
>> you all after I talk with him about it.
>> 
>> 
>> Nlogo1.tif  <http://www.natasha.cc/> Natasha Vita-More
>> 
>> 
> 
> --
>  -- -- -- --
> Venimus, Vidimus, Dolavimus
> 
> James Choate
> jameschoate at austin.rr.com
> james.choate at twcable.com
> 512-657-1279
> www.ssz.com
> http://www.twine.com/twine/1128gqhxn-dwr/solar-soyuz-zaibatsu
> http://www.twine.com/twine/1178v3j0v-76w/confusion-research-center
> 
> Adapt,
 Adopt, Improvise
>  -- -- -- --
> _______________________________________________
> extropy-chat mailing list
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
> 

_______________________________________________
ieet mailing list
ieet at ieet.org
http://www.transhumanism.org/mailman/listinfo/ieet

-----Inline Attachment Follows-----

_______________________________________________
ieet mailing list
ieet at ieet.org
http://www.transhumanism.org/mailman/listinfo/ieet

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20090929/5b2a9b7b/attachment.html>