what it means to be human

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stanky
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Re: what it means to be human

Post by stanky »

Admin wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2024 10:10 am
arthwollipot wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2024 10:36 pm Like sickle-cell disease, sure, but I'd argue that it affects populations, not "races". Eh, nitpicking.
I see Wikipedia has an extensive list of diseases affecting different races.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_health

In NZ, the leaders of various racial groups are the ones demanding action.
I didn't read all of it, but it looked like a synopsis of ailments from social stature.
Like, during slavery, there was a spike in black men having scarring on their backs.
Other diseases could be attributed to malnutrition and poverty, though they appeared to be a consequence of race.
We eventually learned that Asians weren't genetically predisposed to small statures; Mexicans weren't lazy; Africans were quite genetically variable, etc.

DNA analysis has done wonders to help us out of the myopia of 'race'.
sparks
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Re: what it means to be human

Post by sparks »

From the linky:

"Over the past 20 years, a consensus has emerged that, while race is partially based on physical similarities within groups, it does not have an inherent physical or biological meaning."

Seems like a great time to shit can the idea of race. Too bad it will never bloody happen. Haters gotta hate, you know.

Once upon a time, I used to look at Humans and think that we're getting better and better. Of late however I just can't see it. I think we're in retrograde. We're headed back to the slime from which we came. Perhaps it's just a socio-cyclic thing the period of which is a bit too long to see in a single human lifetime.

Hope springs eternal. But the facts appear to be against it.
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Admin
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Re: what it means to be human

Post by Admin »

arthwollipot wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2024 11:11 am I'll tell you one thing that really drives home what it means to be human: delivering a eulogy for your best friend.

Fuck I'm a mess right now.
Shit. Life sneaks up on us.
stanky
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Re: what it means to be human

Post by stanky »

Glad it wasn't me.

(still have chores to do.)
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President Bush
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Re: what it means to be human

Post by President Bush »

President Bush wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2024 4:05 pm seems on topic...

"The Android and the Human" ... Philip K Dick

https://sporastudios.org/mark/courses/a ... ndroid.pdf
Long worthwhile article...

You Are Not a Parrot And a chatbot is not a human. And a linguist named Emily M. Bender is very worried what will happen when we forget this.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article ... ender.html
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Admin
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Re: what it means to be human

Post by Admin »

President Bush wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2024 1:09 pm Long worthwhile article...

You Are Not a Parrot And a chatbot is not a human. And a linguist named Emily M. Bender is very worried what will happen when we forget this.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article ... ender.html
Excellent pick, thanks. It sets out why Hawking nominated AI as the biggest threat to us all.
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