applied transhumanism

http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/a-commitment-pill/
"A Commitment Pill?"
by Olivia Judson
September 16, 2008
The New York Times

"In humans, the vasopressin receptor 1a gene comes in a number of forms. In the Swedish study, men who had two copies of one particular form of the gene — the variant known as RS3 334 — were less likely to be married, and more likely to report difficulties in their relationships, than other men. Their partners were also more likely to report relationship difficulties.
An experiment suggests itself. It would be fascinating to see whether inserting a “regular” vasopressin receptor gene into the brains of men who have two copies of the “difficulties” variant would ameliorate their problems, insofar as they have them. It would be fascinating to test the extent to which different forms of a single gene affect a man’s behavior."

One of many dissatisfied commenters remarks:

"A pill to promote male bonding behavior? A chemical solution to an ancient psycho-social conundrum? Please."

I mean, if anyone's got a better solution, now's the time.

On the other hand, it is worth pointing out that one could put this pill to a lot of questionable uses. It could be deployed as social policy: a way of ensuring that people not only toed a certain line, but wanted to toe the line. And that's more than a little scary. (But hey, the Party managed it without any fancy chemical tools). Equally, it could find surreptitious use in individual relationships.

What I think is wrong with these uses - what makes them the wrong application - is that they are not based on the choices and values of the individual. In other words, it would be reasonable of me, if I really believed in being very monagamous, and if I were male, and if I had reason to suspect that I was at risk of straying, to apply this method to myself (if you know your Parfit, this is meant to recall the Russian Nobleman). One interesting thought - maybe I'm just in love with the idea of monogamy? Maybe my deliberations have gone wrong already? This is why I say that scientific advances alone won't make us better people. This is another way of saying that the same things that can be wrong with using such a tool on another person could be wrong with using it on oneself.

patty hearst

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200809/patty-hearst/
"Girl, Interrupted"
by Caitlin Flanagan
September 2008
The Atlantic

The first page of this article is the most interesting - it discusses how the Hearst kidnapping symbolized a conflict that was taking place all across America at the time: parents trying to hold onto "model" daughters, who were pulled away by a different lifestyle (the underlying theme: sex). What is interesting in the way it portrays the family's abandonment of these formerly perfect children, once they had fallen. My thoughts: this indicates that the parents were in love, not with their child, but with a particular image of their child; they could not accept them as who they are. (I don't mean to say anything more than precisely that). There are probably more detailed-oriented and interesting things to be said on the subject, but I don't have the relevant expertise / knowledge.

The rest of the article discusses Hearst in more detail, and is less interesting, except for the following bit of analysis (and a good number of hilarious lines):

"And then she even found a way to stop the rapes, at least some of them. She did it not by resisting the sex, but by falling in love with one of the men who was performing it. In its way, that was a powerful thing to do—to transform the nature of an act by changing the way you think about it. "

Interesting stuff, that is.

love

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200812/twilight-vampires
The Atlantic
"What Girls Want"
December 2008
by Caitlin Flanagan

Somehow I find this article disheartening. It presents a vision of love that I find really annoying. Is this all we can hope for? Of course, it's explicitly about adolescent love, specifically female (American middle-class female?) love. But is even that image the image we should be selling to our children? Can't we tell a better story about how two adults can come to love one another? (Moreover, why is the theme of sex as defilment so compelling to teenage girls?)

Another way of putting what I find distasteful or disheartening is exemplified in the remark that nobody reads like young girls read. I find this somewhat insulting. I want to say, about this and many other claims: Yes it's true, but is it necessarily true? Do we want it to be true? How can we change things?

On a more constructive note:

I'm still trying to work out what love is - what it is for adults to come to love one another. I want to write about love in such a way that Sophocles' comment (that he is glad to be rid of his sexual desires) is not applicable: I want to write about how two self- and other-respecting individuals can fall in love, and what that sort of love would be. Love is not madness.

(I want to say some things about gender also, but they're better said in a coming post about (racial) stereotypes).