Rumi Nations

I think 90 percent of males will side with Dawkins in this. And 90 percent females will agree with Rebecca. That seems to be just the nature of this particular debate. This incident has sort of exposed some sort of a seismic fault-line in ho w males and females look at certain events. To summarize the events as far as I know: 1) Rebecca had an awkward experience in an elevator and shared it with the world. She advised men that this is not how one should go about this. I am wondering if Rebecca is a relationship expert or does she proffer relationship advice on her blog? But since it's her blog, she is free to share her personal experiences. 2) Now Dawkins picks up Rebbeca's anecdote and belittles it. Clearly, he burnt his finger in doing so. Dawkins' take on Rebecca's experience is interpreted by males and females. This is where all sorts of complexities enter into the picture. When females talk about Rebecca's experience, they are also speaking fro...

Here’s the substance and sequence of events as I see it. • Rebecca Watson had an elevator encounter that she felt uncomfortable with. She talked about it on her blog. She has every right to do so. • PZ Myers picked it up on his blog. Thus far, this is like a conversation about dating techniques. • Dawkins decides to get into this debate. He equates Watson’s experience with the great amount of suffering that women face in various countries including threats to their lives. Dawkins trivializes Watson’s experience as ‘zero-bad.’ • On the face of it, it seems like these are two distinct and unrelated issues and there’s no reason for anyone to compare these two experiences. Or is it? • One is aware of problems such as date rape and various forms of sexual crimes which take place on campuses. Problems that are unique to the so-called advanced nations. Backward nations meanwhile are faced with the age-old issues: everything from killing female fetuses to killing female infants...

When household robots are around in the future, I wonder how they will be designed. Suppose, you want to have water. You can get it on your own. Suppose you are busy and want someone else to bring it for you. You would request someone in your family to bring it -- Johnny, can you get me a glass of water, please? You will not say -- hey, fucker, why don't you move your ass and get me some freaking water? I would imagine Johnny won't be so pleased (and worse if it was your wife that you were addressing and not Johnny) if you adopted the second tone. Now imagine you have that household robot. Would the robot be designed to respond the same way no matter how politely or impolitely you asked it for water? Or, may be, Hitachi or Honda will program it in such a manner that if you ask it for water in an impolite manner, it will coolly bring the water (hot) and splash it on your face.