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- Path: sparky!uunet!pipex!warwick!mrccrc!doc.ic.ac.uk!agate!darkstar.UCSC.EDU!arapaho!kevvy
- From: kevvy@arapaho.ucsc.edu (Kevin Montgomery)
- Newsgroups: alt.personals
- Subject: Re: QUICK QUESTION
- Date: 11 Nov 1992 04:50:04 GMT
- Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz
- Lines: 57
- Distribution: world
- Message-ID: <1dq3dtINN1vm@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>
- References: <Bx83Hn.M3z@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> <P!A=fC@engin.umich.edu> <1992Nov10.190003.2238@borland.com>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: arapaho.ucsc.edu
- Keywords: causation; homosexuality; neurosci; lies, damn lies, and statistics
-
- In article <1992Nov10.190003.2238@borland.com>, garnet@borland.com (Garnet Chaney) writes:
- |> [...]
- |> seem to be due to wiring differences. Could it be possible that these
- |> wiring differences could affect sexual orientation and preferences? Perhaps
- |> there is more going on than simple exploitation by the porn industry.
-
- Garnet (cool name, btw),
- please remember that in studies like this you're seeing a correllation,
- not a causation effect. It sounds like you're implying that BECAUSE someone's
- brain is 'wired' a certain way, THEN they will exhibit certain behaviours.
- The human nervous system is very dynamic- when you see that the brain is
- 'wired' a certain way, it is 'wired' that way because of genetic (to be sure)
- BUT ALSO environmental influences.
-
- For example, if you are the child of artists and are raised in
- that environment, then you will develop more in those areas. If someone
- subsequently looks for the level of development of those areas in your brain
- (radioactive glucose use over time, etc), they will see an increase in
- development. Does this mean that you're carrying some gene that makes your
- brain more developed in that area? Hey- you're more developed there, your
- father is more developed there- why not? But it's the environmental
- influences that muck up the experiment.
-
- I don't know of any studies looking at neonatal neurophysiology as it
- relates to _definitively_CAUSING_ things like later sexual orientation. While
- it is true that there are sometimes (but rarely) predispositions toward some
- conditions (alcoholism, perhaps, etc), these are so heavily overshadowed by
- environmental influences that they're often not significant.
-
- Anyway, sorry for the diversion from us all getting cuddly and personal
- and all and I hope no one takes this as a flame (cuz a.p is already at big in
- that department- swell.). It's just that we all have to keep our eyes open
- when we hear this pop sound-bite science stuff...
-
-
- kevin
-
- ps: this is the first time I've read this group and I've noticed a few
- (imho) amusing things:
- 1) realistically, about 40% of the group are flames of one kind or
- another.
- 2) about 40% of the other postings are direct "Begging for Boinking"
- posts from guys that are so specific about what they want
- that they actually specify the person's GENDER *AND* SPECIES!
- (intended sarcastically- c'mon guys, be a little more specific
- than "needs to be female and at least remotely human" :) What
- is it that's important to you? Do you prefer MOTAS to be more
- independent, or are looks more important, or is being intel-
- ligent a preference, or someone that's athletic, or someone
- financially self-sufficient? Figure out what you want and
- ask for it, but be prepared for it to take some time. It does
- beat dating someone that you're not compatible with.
- 3) it's the other 20% that's interesting discussion, posts, etc. that
- keep my hope of finding something interesting alive. So, I
- give this group a 20/80 signal-to-noise ratio. All in all,
- it's still higher than some usenet groups, though...
-
-