From 574f1f4d06c2180f6fa415b6cee721796389afb0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "M. Taylor Saotome-Westlake" Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2018 12:45:17 -0800 Subject: [PATCH] outline support for "Categories Were Made ... to Make Predictions" --- ...de-for-man-in-order-to-make-predictions.md | 101 ++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 101 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/drafts/categories-were-made-for-man-in-order-to-make-predictions.md diff --git a/content/drafts/categories-were-made-for-man-in-order-to-make-predictions.md b/content/drafts/categories-were-made-for-man-in-order-to-make-predictions.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e4b59a --- /dev/null +++ b/content/drafts/categories-were-made-for-man-in-order-to-make-predictions.md @@ -0,0 +1,101 @@ +Title: Categories Were Made for Man in Order to Make Predictions +Date: 2018-03-01 5:00 +Category: commentary +Tags: epistemology, Scott Alexander +Status: draft + +OUTLINE— + + * First, the basic point is obviously correct. + * Things become muddier when we get to the section about national borders: + it's true that countries may agree that their borders work in this + noncontiguous way, and that matters for some purposes, but these legal + fictions don't always capture what people actually mean when they talk about + being in a country. + * During my Facebook meltdown, an acquaintance of mine gave some really + solid examples that I should ask him if I can borrow (with or without + attribution). + * An attempted clarification (Scott does address this, but I want to + emphasize/rephrase it?): categories are value-laden because they're grouping + things together on the basis of the predictions that are decision-relevant + to what you care about. But this should be distinguished from the categories + themselves being _arbitrarily_ value-laden. + * Scott Alexander understands this, but the bottom 50% of _Slate Star + Codex_ readers do not. + * An important subtlety: in the case of countries and gender but _not_ + whales/fish, we're not just classifying things that exist, but also making a + political decision of how we're going to organize ourselves. It's not that + trans women and nonbinaries already exist in fixed proportions, and we're + trying to decide how to parse them: that we have socially-recognized + transition as a thing creates an affordance for people to make the choice to + transition (linky ["Lesser Known..."](/2017/Dec/lesser-known-demand-curves/)) + * The argumentation in section IV is _uncharacteristically_ weak for Scott: + basically just "We've established that categories are neither true nor + false, so if you care about transgender people, then you should use their + categories"?! + * To do better: let's _discuss in detail_ the detailed consequences of + different ways of drawing gender categories, and analyze the conflicts + that different people have. + * The case for using identified gender rather than biological sex is + strongest for binary trans people who actually pass. + * The tack where you show a picture of Buck Angel and say, "You're not + really going to call this person a woman, are you?" makes a good point + * It's less strong for ... + * People who don't pass + * Passing is a continuum rather than a binary and is also + observer-dependent, which is inconvenient from the perspective of + categorization, which tends to stick to bright-lines and Schelling + points + * Re observer dependence: quote Serano (do I rely/pick on Serano too + much?) or someone about how it's actually _harder_ to pass in urban + areas because people have a higher prior + * Ref-to-rebut Zinnia Jones on "passing is subjective, therefore it's + bullshit" + * "nonbinary people" + * Normies don't have nonbinary gender in their ontology; at least + acknowledge that you're making a political demand when you want + them to adapt + * What are the decision criteria for nonbinary, anyway? People can + still _tell_ + * Rundown of social consequences of different criteria— + * When you have people who are _identifiably_ distinct from natal-sex + people _and_ not drawn from the same psychological distribution, it + becomes socially profitable for people to notice and adjust their + expectations; you can't stop them from doing this + * separate post "Stereotypes, Models, and Cognition" + * People are making probabilistic inferences all the time whether + they realize it or not + * Being drawn from a different psychological distribution but _not_ + identifiably (AGPs who pass really well) doesn't hurt the dynamics + as much + * AGPs aren't drawn from the same psychological distribution as cis + women. (Briefly explain the typology, but refer to external sources + for justification. For a more hard-facts empirical justification of + "not drawn from the same dist'n", cite data on sexual orientation (and + [constrast](https://twitter.com/SteveStuWill/status/905572666332987392)) + and crime rates.) + * Making it not-OK for people to _talk_ about the categories that they + internally use to make sense of the world is bad + * experiences in LWish spaces with lots of trans women: if you + doctrinairely call everyone women, my brain rebels and wants to + say, "That's not what I meant and _you fucking know it_." And + honestly? (And I think they do, in fact, fucking know it.) + * The inability to have women's clothing swaps is a _real loss_ + * Negotiation-structure: we've been using this word to refer to this + thing for the past 200,000 years since the invention of language; + if you want us to stop, you need to offer us something we value + (and you have nothing to trade with); threatening to kill yourself + is easily (if callously) countered with "We don't negotiate with + terrorists" + * For crime/medical statistics, you need natal sex or third-category. + + * The case of Emperor Norton looks cute at first glance, but + ostensibly-benevolent gaslighting is still problematic (we call it + _hugboxing_). + * I've been crazy (link "Memoirs"), and I'm glad my friends patiently told + me why I was wrong rather than saying "That's nice dear" (maybe quote + care email). + * Tell a story about what this could have been like for Norton beginning to + doubt the reality of his reign. + * Link to Maria Catt's "Baby Jessica" essay (maybe write her fan mail and + ask her to put it back up again) -- 2.17.1