Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news.mathworks.com!uunet!bcstec!aw108!sjj9289
From: sjj9289@aw101.iasl.ca.boeing.com (Steven J. Johnson)
Subject: Re: Women
Message-ID: <1995May9.174733.5952@aw101.iasl.ca.boeing.com>
Organization: none
References: <csmsl.15.2FAA10CE@dc.wcape.school.za> <7398@rook.ukc.ac.uk>
Date: Tue, 9 May 1995 17:47:33 GMT
Lines: 59

me3@ukc.ac.uk (M.Escribano-Del-Moral) writes:

>In article <csmsl.15.2FAA10CE@dc.wcape.school.za> csmsl@dc.wcape.school.za writes:
>>Women under the age of 15 (OK, this is a generalisation), 
>>are more immature than males of the same age. Males aren't 
>>as moody and don't take arguments or insults as personally. 
>>I refute the statement that they  are 2 yrs more mature than 
>>us men.
>>I would love to hear someone disagree with me.
>>M
>O.K. Here I am. Although we cannot generlize, I see that boys get mature 
>(if they do :-) in interpersonal relationship with the opposite sex much 
>later than girls do (so, matureness depends on what aspect are we 
>considering). Girls seem to care more for the other person than boys do, 
>girls use to be much more mature in that respect, boys are much more 
>selfish in that. Girls are more sensitive to the other's reaction, to the 
>other's mood, they can predict it in advance and behave accordingly (if 
>they want, of course :->.

What is this doing in comp.ai.philosophy?

The only connection with AI seems to be a negative one.  Both this
posting and most of the ones in AI suffer from extremely confused
terminology.

What do you mean by "mature"?  Physical maturity is easy to define.  
You can have objective  milestones defined by physical changes.  You
can realisticly say "x is more physically mature than y" and most
reasonable people would have to agree with you.

Mental or emotional maturity is much tougher.  You have to define your 
terms.  Both the previous authors seem to have mistaken "maturity" for
"behaviour that I approve of".  

For example, it is a fact, repeatedly confirmed, that many girls suffer a
dramatic loss of self-esteem after reaching puberty.  As a result, they 
frequently become hypersensitive about their appearence and interpersonal
relations.  The result can be mood swings and other "immature"
behaviour.  This is the point of the first poster.  He has chosen it as the 
basis of his definition of "maturity".

On the other hand, it is also a fact that females, in general, exhibit
stronger interpersonal skill then do males of the same age.  They are
capable of greater empathy than are males. This is the point of the 
second poster.

Both are correct, based on their own particular viewpoints.  However, they
will not achieve anything with this discussion.  Their axioms are diffferent
and hence, their arguments are moot.  Until they agree on terminology, the
discussion is pointless.

It is similar in AI.  Many (most?) of the basic terms are undefined, and 
many of the discussions are therefore stale, flat, and unprofitable.   

-- 
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 Steven J. Johnson             | Phone: 206-662-4377
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