JK Rowling's Thoughts on Some Trans Activism

[marooned]

What gets criminally ignored in the discussion about transsexualism is that it's only the beginning of the body modification movement. One day, perhaps in the late 21st century and in our lifetimes, genetic engineering may be sophisticated enough and commercially viable enough to allow people to alter their anatomies at the cellular level.

What's coming, perhaps trans-tigers, trans-dragons, and trans-mermaids, is going to make gender swapping seem quaint and innocent. We may even see speciation — segregation of humanity into separate breeds that cannot produce fertile offspring with each other.

How long can government and society keep a lid on this sort of thing — 100 years? 10,000? I could be wildly overestimating the human desire for change and novelty, but, viewed from this perspective, opposing transsexualism seems futile. It's still a pretty interesting discussion, though, and a welcome break from Covid-19.....

Part of my ideal future would involve being able to easily alter one's genes. For instance if one wants wings or feathers, they need only come up with a visual design and the genetic science will be so advanced, the design will quickly be translated into a shot (by AI, all automated), so you inject yourself and your transformation is underway. It doesn't change much of who you are just superficial qualities. Of course along with this I would want everyone to be able to do this--no class barriers.

[xerx]

Part of my ideal future would involve being able to easily alter one's genes. For instance if one wants wings or feathers, they need only come up with a visual design and the genetic science will be so advanced, the design will quickly be translated into a shot (by AI, all automated), so you inject yourself and your transformation is underway. It doesn't change much of who you are just superficial qualities. Of course along with this I would want everyone to be able to do this--no class barriers.

The possibilities are intriguing to me too. Imagine a world where everyone has legendary artistic skills and super genius IQ. I don't mean an IQ of 150; more like an IQ of 20,000,000.

[Metamorph]

Part of my ideal future would involve being able to easily alter one's genes. For instance if one wants wings or feathers, they need only come up with a visual design and the genetic science will be so advanced, the design will quickly be translated into a shot (by AI, all automated), so you inject yourself and your transformation is underway. It doesn't change much of who you are just superficial qualities. Of course along with this I would want everyone to be able to do this--no class barriers.

Even if it were free for everyone there would be class barriers. How many people do you know who can 3D print stuff even though there are free 3D printers everywhere? Most people will be stuck with awful genes while all the Adonises flying around with functional wings will be rich people or at least educated people.

The possibilities are intriguing to me too. Imagine a world where everyone has legendary artistic skills and super genius IQ. I don't mean an IQ of 150; more like an IQ of 20,000,000.

An IQ of 150 is already basically the same as an IQ of 20,000,000. IQ tests aren't valid. I'm not saying this because I think everyone is actually equal. I'm saying this because I think IQ tests try to treat people like they're more similar than they are. You see, IQ tests assume that the mean, median, and mode intelligence are actually the same. That's ridiculous and un-empirical. It's fully possible for the average person to be way dumber than average if all the smart people are way smarter than average. If 1 in 20 people were 50 feet tall, the average person would be way shorter than average. I have good reason to believe that smart people are not only a few times smarter than average, but astronomically smarter than the average person. How many people leave behind books like the work of Shakespeare? How many people discover theories like Einstein and Galileo? It really is an astronomically small number of people doing important things. Even someone doing standard professional work like being a doctor or lawyer is probably more than 50 times smarter than an "average" person who just sits around watching the Kardashians and eating fried starch. I don't think there's much of a difference between being "average" and being retarded. Average people, peopel with giantism, and people with dwarfism still live in the same physical world, but brilliant people don't live in the same social world. IQ tests are just consolation for average people, like saying that rich people have $150 and normal people have $100. Excuse me while I laugh.

[xerx]

[/COLOR]An IQ of 150 is already basically the same as an IQ of 20,000,000. IQ tests aren't valid. I'm not saying this because I think everyone is actually equal. I'm saying this because I think IQ tests try to treat people like they're more similar than they are. You see, IQ tests assume that the mean, median, and mode intelligence are actually the same. That's ridiculous and un-empirical. It's fully possible for the average person to be way dumber than average if all the smart people are way smarter than average. If 1 in 20 people were 50 feet tall, the average person would be way shorter than average. I have good reason to believe that smart people are not only a few times smarter than average, but astronomically smarter than the average person. How many people leave behind books like the work of Shakespeare? How many people discover theories like Einstein and Galileo? It really is an astronomically small number of people doing important things. Even someone doing standard professional work like being a doctor or lawyer is probably more than 50 times smarter than an "average" person who just sits around watching the Kardashians and eating fried starch. I don't think there's much of a difference between being "average" and being retarded. Average people, peopel with giantism, and people with dwarfism still live in the same physical world, but brilliant people don't live in the same social world. IQ tests are just consolation for average people, like saying that rich people have $150 and normal people have $100. Excuse me while I laugh.

I was just using IQ as a stand-in for "intelligence". I know that IQ tests are fraught with problems, and a number of psychologists have acknowledged that the scale breaks down past a certain point (was it 120-130 IQ?? I seriously don't remember).