----- Original Message -----
From: "Dominic Fox" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2005 10:40 AM
Subject: Hardware
> It seems to me that "hard-wiring" is a taboo concept among
> "humanities" people: mention of the notion always seems to excite a
> stronger reaction than it merits.
>
> I would suggest that "humanities" people systematically overrate the
> power of culture, not only because they esteem cultural activities
> very highly, but also because they have a nagging fear that the value
> of culture is in fact rather insecure, that there are other,
> implacably malevolent, forces that threaten to devalue it. The trouble
> is that it is difficult to say what the foundations of cultural value
> are. The worry is that they may fall under suspicion of circularity:
> culture determines the value of culture, according to criteria that
> are not easily demonstrated not to be arbitrary. What makes an
> "expert" in the arts an expert?
>
> There is among scientists a good deal of debate about the degree and
> nature of the "hard-wiring" of behavioural/psychological traits in
> human and other animals, and I shouldn't imagine that there are many
> scientists who wouldn't lament or at least want to qualify the term
> itself. Still, they seem to think it's worth debating. But it's true
> that "hard-wiring" seems an odd way to talk about traits and
> predispositions that, even if indisputably present, would by virtue of
> the complexity of the systems in which they were embedded be subject
> to very considerable variations in expression. Human beings are
> fortunately very good at thwarting, diverting or inverting their
> instincts. However, this aptitude would be of no account if we didn't
> have instincts to thwart, divert and invert.
>
> Many of the objections people raise to the idea that human brains can
> be relatively "male" or "female" seem to me to be based on a wilful
> refusal to understand the meaning of statistics. Mind you, that is
> also true of much of the excitement other people seem to have about
> the same idea.
>
> Dominic
>
After reading Simon Baron-Cohen's latest thoughts on the hardwiring of
male/female brains I will be on the lookout for his next book. I think his
current book is on autism as very much a male problem and autism hasnt
really caught my interest before. When I was reading his thoughts last week
he stressed that some males had female-type brains and vice versa without
affecting their sexual disposition.
|