Author: Nelson Hernandez
Date: 00:53:03 12/10/98
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On December 10, 1998 at 02:53:50, Georg Langrath wrote: > >On December 09, 1998 at 22:44:57, Micheal Cummings wrote: > >>Since the time I have been a member here I cannot recall ever seeing a Female, >>woman or Lady ever post here. Are there any female members, and if there are, >>then were are they ? >> >>Or is this just a boys Club :-) > >Actally this subject was discussed before in CCC. Yes computerchess seems to be >a nearly pure boy-affair. But why? I think nobody has a good answer on that >question. > >Georg I say this tongue-in-cheek, so don't flame me... Chess is a time-consuming, highly analytical game with spatial elements. All of these are overwhelmingly areas where men have a natural superiority. There are many exceptions, of course, but it is like comparing top tennis players in each gender. Among players rated above 2000, what is the ratio of males to females? I daresay it is high, and it gets progressively higher the further up the ladder you go. Computers likewise favor the male, particularly an anti-social, highly intellectual male. Many exceptions. But in general, the same thing: there aren't too many women willing to consistently spend 14-15 hours a day in front of a terminal, like I do. (Most of that work-related.) They prefer human-human interaction over human-machine or, in our case, machine-machine. Combine the two, and what do you get? A pursuit that is, for all intents, exclusively male. There may be exceptions. But damned few, and I have never seen any! Tell a typical woman all about the enjoyment you get pitting computer programs against each other in tournaments, and throw in some jargon about CPU speeds, hash tables, opening books, the SSDF and auto232 file controversies, and she is very likely to start looking at you with puzzlement and perhaps even consternation. "An obvious sociopath," will be her conclusion, though she may be too polite to say it! All the same, I wouldn't have it any other way.
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