"At the heart of it is the idea that the only person responsible for and capable of securing my own happiness and fulfillment in life, is me. [Ayn Rand] taught me to look at the world as an active agent, not a passive observer; to realize that, while there are many things beyond my control in life, I can still use my mind and my life to be productive, positive, and great in the things that I do. And not only that, I learned to look at other people that way too. That's one reason I started the ALT.NET group -- because I believe that there is greatness in people, and those are the people I want to be around. Another thing her books emphasize is that people are "traders" -- that we give and take, in both material and non-material ways, and this trading is what allows many individuals to act in concert as a society. Its easy to understand this in terms of physical things -- I trade my labor for a paycheck, for example. But we also trade in emotions, encouragement, knowledge, etc. Because Rand views people as heroic, and capable of greatness, she emphasized that when you trade "value for value" with someone, you should always trade your best for their best, realizing that by doing so, you have increased the sheer amount of AWESOME in the world. This is the honest way of living."
@nicholascloud
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Saturday, March 03, 2012
Women and math
In Brain Rules, John Medina talks about differences in male and female brains. Two of the differences he mentioned are relevant to women in technology. As presented here, these are total generalizations, just food for thought.
In school, girls are better at verbal skills. In mixed-gender classrooms, girls speak up more often when verbal topics are studied. The discussion can work well with the girls' cooperative communication style. Boys are behind in elementary school at verbal tasks.
Then in math and science, boys and girls have equal aptitudes. In a topic where there is pretty much one right answer, the boys' competitive communication style dominates. While the boys try to outdo one another, the girls are intimidated into silence. The girls can do it perfectly well, but when the boys turn the classroom into a competition, the girls withdraw.
Those trends may be the beginning of some of the disparities we see in career choices.
Next, there are the genetic differences between boys and girls. One generalization we can't argue with: boys have one X chromosome, and girls two. Many of the genes on the X chromosome affect brain function. In each cell, only one X chromosome is needed, and the other is deactivated. Boys, they're all the same. Girls,determined each cell randomly turns one off. This means girls are sorta the average of two X chromosomes, while boys are defined by one. Maybe this is part of why there are more men at the extremes of intelligence: men are more likely to be retarded, and more likely to be freakishly intelligent.
In school, girls are better at verbal skills. In mixed-gender classrooms, girls speak up more often when verbal topics are studied. The discussion can work well with the girls' cooperative communication style. Boys are behind in elementary school at verbal tasks.
Then in math and science, boys and girls have equal aptitudes. In a topic where there is pretty much one right answer, the boys' competitive communication style dominates. While the boys try to outdo one another, the girls are intimidated into silence. The girls can do it perfectly well, but when the boys turn the classroom into a competition, the girls withdraw.
Those trends may be the beginning of some of the disparities we see in career choices.
Next, there are the genetic differences between boys and girls. One generalization we can't argue with: boys have one X chromosome, and girls two. Many of the genes on the X chromosome affect brain function. In each cell, only one X chromosome is needed, and the other is deactivated. Boys, they're all the same. Girls,determined each cell randomly turns one off. This means girls are sorta the average of two X chromosomes, while boys are defined by one. Maybe this is part of why there are more men at the extremes of intelligence: men are more likely to be retarded, and more likely to be freakishly intelligent.
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