tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post2809375118536632743..comments2024-03-28T00:11:33.489-04:00Comments on bensozia: Links 10 September 2021Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-39123765382129322402021-09-11T08:01:20.763-04:002021-09-11T08:01:20.763-04:00@G.
That's a really clever suggestion about t...@G.<br /><br />That's a really clever suggestion about the Rosetta Stone.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14456987412710878404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-90020174643910538342021-09-10T13:31:46.136-04:002021-09-10T13:31:46.136-04:00Long New Yorker article about Kathryn Paige Harden...<i>Long New Yorker article about Kathryn Paige Harden, a young geneticist who considers herself a leftist but believes genes have a major impact on life outcomes: "Building a commitment to egalitarianism on a belief in our genetic uniformity is building a house on sand."</i><br /><br />Well, of course we can't build egalitarianism on genetics. That should be absurdly obvious to virtually anyone, if they just think about it for two seconds.<br /><br />Consider someone blind from birth because of a genetic defect - they are doomed to live out a much harder life than most because of their condition, and society owes it to them to accommodate their special needs.<br /><br />The same is true of someone with muscular problems in their legs who can't walk; or someone with cognitive problems who can't calculate or use math; or someone who very short who can't reach things at heights most other people can; or someone who is very tall who can't fit in places most other people can; etc, etc, etc.<br /><br />It's insanity to claim that we should treat everyone equally because they are all more or less genetically equal - that's blatantly false, and totally misses the point. Egalitarianism isn't about genetics - it's about morals. Egalitarianism is the notion that despite physical differences in people, they are all still people, and should all be accommodated according to their various needs - all in the name of fairness, justice, and prosperity for all.<br /><br />Far too many people lazily imagine that if they just pretend everyone is the same, that will magically make it so, and then they won't have to bother to do any of the actual hard work of accommodating people with differences. The reality is much harder - we, as a society, need to spend the time, effort, and thought necessary to lift up those who chance and misfortune lay low.<br /><br />And we do some of that already: we build ramps for wheelchairs, we operate schools for the blind, we broadcast visual media with subtitles for the hearing impaired, etc. (Although we always can, and should, do more.)<br /><br />But none of that has anything to do with genetics. We shouldn't try to build our moral philosophy on the false notion that everyone has equivalent genetics, anymore than we should build it on the false notion that everyone comes from equivalent cultural or economic backgrounds, or that everyone has managed to go through life without suffering debilitating physical injury or sickness, etc.<br /><br />The point of Egalitarianism isn't that people are somehow intrinsically equal.<br />The point of Egalitarianism is that we need to <i>make</i> people equal, via uplifting.G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-19868889259452994262021-09-10T13:11:54.897-04:002021-09-10T13:11:54.897-04:00Sadly, the Vinland Map is a 20th-century fake. (He...<i>Sadly, the Vinland Map is a 20th-century fake. (Here's a fun intellectual exercise: come up with a document for which it would be a really big deal if it turned out to be fake. Not counting the Gospels, that's too easy.)</i><br /><br />The Rosetta Stone - that would have some CRAZY implications about language.<br /><br />G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-11390080796143713832021-09-10T13:06:46.462-04:002021-09-10T13:06:46.462-04:00Pet bird trained to go out and look for cash, then...<i>Pet bird trained to go out and look for cash, then bring it home. Not sure how real this is, but still amusing.</i><br /><br />Opened the link, saw that the bird is a myna, and was immediately 100% certain that it's totally real.G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.com