But it still seems to imply that I'm morally at fault for making the best hypothesis I could from what little data I had at the time.
Moral fault isn't the issue here. Accuracy is.
In fact, I'm brewing up a discussion post on that very topic, because I have seen the difference between an honest mistake based on imprefect heuristics, and a willful misinterpretation of the facts, being the source of much unnecessary conflict.
Sure, I make honest mistakes based on imperfect heuristics. That Blue over there? They engage in willful misinterpretations of the facts.
And another topic that has me baffled is the very existence of racists, sexists, and other such sorts. The sort that would say to women engineering students "it's fine if you've come here because you wish to marry an engineer, it's a good plan, but don't ever expect to become engineers on your own; women shouldn't become engineers" (this actually happened to one of my teachers). What motivates them? How do they think?
So first, it is noteworthy that Imm hasn't said anything like that at all. But more to the point, if you can't understand some group's motivation, does that not cause you to doubt more whether a given individual is in that group?
As to sexism, there are a variety of different motivations. One motivation is thinking that intrinsically there are differences between men and women that matter in some context, and that those differences are so large that they cannot be overcome in the relevant context. That's a factual question. In your example, you and I think they are factually wrong, but that's a statement about the universe we live in. And there are conceivable universes where that isn't the case. Second, there are motivations extending from values. These values can range from thinking that whatever is traditional should continue, to thinking that division of labor is a good thing, to simple cultural holdovers of earlier values that actually made sense at one point. That's complicated by the common failure to distinguish carefully between terminal and goal-oriented values. But this has little to do with the actual issue at hand. that you are making claims about Imm's values and beliefs that are not justified by the evidence.
One more-- this is a theory which I think explains a lot, but I'm not sure I'm right.
There seems to be a fairly large proportion of heterosexual men who don't like being around women, especially women who aren't family members or potential sexual partners.
Have an evo-psych explanation, for what little that's worth. If men improve their reproductive chances by succeeding in competition with other men, what good does it do them to double the number of potential competitors?
Now, it is said we all here pride ourselves on our intelligence, rationality, and moral sense. It is also said, however, that we are a fiercely independent bunch, and that we can let this pride of ours get the better of us. There have also been comments that the live communities that appear at meetups provide much more positive interactions than what goes on on this site's discussions; this might merit further investigation.
My point is; we've done a lot of research on how to do proper ethical and metaethical calculations, and on how to achieve self-empowerment and deal with our own akrasia, which is awesome. We've also done some work on matters of gender equality, which is very positive as well. But I haven't seen us do anything about the basic details of human interaction, what one would call "politeness" and "basic human decency". And I think it might be useful if we started tackling these, for our own sakes, that of those who surround us, and that of easing our mission along, which is, as I understand it so far, to save the world (from existential risk (at the hands of (unfriendly and self-modifying) artificial intelligence))).
What inspired me to propose this post was a video I just saw from Hank Green of the famed and fabled vlogbrothers. I hold these two individuals in very high esteem, and I would expect many here to share my feelings about them, on account of their values and sensibilities largely overlapping with ours; namely the sense that intelligence, knowledge and curiosity are awesome, and that intellectuals ought to use their power to help improve themselves and the world around them.
Here it is; I hope you enjoy it