Sweden, Larry Summers, and brains
Two articles from Sweden of interest to the Crimson Storm over Larry Summers:
1) A Swedish columnist blasts the Swedish government for having decided that, scientifically speaking, there’s no biological difference between the brains of men and women.
In one respect Sweden’s government is unique in the world. It has a definite opinion about a scientific controversy: whether women’s and man’s brains are different, or not. The first time i realised that the government had involved itself in neurobiology, was when gender equality minister [! - ed] Jens Orback in a speech about sexual deviations and living with horses [!!! - ed], affirmed:
- The government considers female and male as social constructions, that means gender patterns are created by upbringing, culture, economical conditions, power structures and political ideology.
Apart from taking a position on this scientific question, the government has deiced to side with the most extreme researchers: gene theoreticians who for ideological reasons state that biology can not have any saying in explaining why male and female behaviour differs.
This reminds me about the Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko. Lysenko was by Stalin proclaimed a scientific genius and his “creative darwinism” was hailed as a huge step forward for genetic research. Lysenko argued that learned traits could be inherited and that by manipulating the environment one could easily cause fundamental changes in plants and animals. Career hungry politicians loved him. Ideology meant everything, experiment and science nothing.
The real scientists, who protested, were cleaned out (and executed).
Maybe the non-difference is the result of Intelligent Design?
2) Sweden’s by far most influential op-ed page, daily Dagens Nyheter, has published an article in which professor of neurology Germund Hesslow argues that the current pursuit for sameness between the sexes is both undesirable and hopeless.
In sum, Sweden is having a more open and interesting mainstream debate about differences than the sexes than America. Fucking unbelievable. If I’d been a total twit it would’ve made me black out and vomit.
