wnoise comments on Undiscriminating Skepticism - Less Wrong

97 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 14 March 2010 11:23PM

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Comment author: DonGeddis 15 March 2010 11:55:17PM 4 points [-]

Do you have the same opinion about gender-linked "genetically-based behavioral variation"?

Not to open a can of worms here, but the pickup-artist (PUA) community is all about how the innate behavior of (generally heterosexual) men and women differ, in dating scenarios. And, in particular, how those real behaviors differ from the behavior that is taught and reinforced by society and culture.

You can have an opinion that all behavior is changeable, and that it is shaped by society and culture. But that would lead you to one model of how men and women act during dating. (In particular, to a mostly gender-neutral model.) The PUA community has a different model of human dating behavior ... and I would say that theirs is a good deal more accurate at predicting actual observed behavior in the field.

Comment author: wnoise 16 March 2010 12:16:20AM 5 points [-]

You can have an opinion that all behavior is changeable, and that it is shaped by society and culture. But that would lead you to one model of how men and women act during dating. (In particular, to a mostly gender-neutral model.)

That only follows if the societal pressures on men and women are mostly gender-neutral. This does not appear to be the case.

Comment author: jimmy 16 March 2010 04:00:51AM 0 points [-]

That's completely true, but you gotta wonder where the asymmetry comes from in the first place.