Re: THEORY: Language for a Multi-Species Society: Non-SexBased Gender Among AIs

Hello, Rodlox, and others.  Thanks for writing.
I will try to finish the reply I couldn't finish before.
--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Rodlox R <rodlox@H...> wrote:
> >From: tomhchappell <tomhchappell@Y...>
> >Reply-To: Constructed Languages List <CONLANG@l...>
> >To: CONLANG@l...
> >Subject: Re: THEORY: Language for a Multi-Species Society: Non-
SexBased
> >Gender Among AIs
> >Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 22:26:03 -0000
> [snip]
> >The main subgender will be Feminine,
> which will apply to all entities
> >which can "bear" young.  This will include asexually-reproducing
> >organisms, and machines that can copy themselves.
> >There will also be a subgender of Masculine,
> which will apply to any
> >entity that can "fertilize" a Feminine entity
>
> what about parasitic wasps?
(In Larry Niven's stories, the "Puppeteers" have two "male" sexes.
Each implants genetic information in a "female", and out of that,
a young Puppeteer is born.
The "females" produce by a collateral method;
they are not properly of the Puppeteers' species at all.)

Here's how my "conlang" would handle it.
The hosts -- the "females" of the Puppeteers,
or the caterpillars parasitized by the wasps --
do not pass on any genetic information to the offspring,
which does not resemble them.
Therefore these hosts are not "mothers" of those offspring,
by my definition,
and could not qualify for "Feminine" subgender as a consequence of
being so parasitized.
The actual parents of the parasitical offspring --
the wasps, or the puppeteers --
are likely to have unequal roles in contributing to the offspring.
Of course, if there is only one parent,
it is the "mother" of its offspring, and has Feminine subgender.
If there are more than one,
the one that contributes the most in energy, biosubstance, or risk;
or the one the offspring most resembles;
(chances are these are the same parent);
will be the "mother" of the offspring;
and will thus be of "Feminine", or at least [+F] subgender;
the other co-parent will be (the or) a "father" of the offspring,
and will thus be of "Masculine", or at least [+M], subgender.
(In case an individual wasp could take either role,
it will be [+FM] "Hermaphrodite" subgender.)

> >(cause/assist "her"
> >to "bear" "young" that will then "resemble" both "her" and "him".)
>
> the wasps lay eggs in living animals, and when the infant finishes
eating,
> it emerges from the host - though it only looks like the egg-layer.
Right.
So my conlang doesn't call the "host" a "mother" of that offspring.

> >contain Feminine entities; whereas, any entity that can reproduce
> >itself without the help of another will be Feminine.
>
> parthenogesis
Yes.  Purely parthenogenetic species will be all Feminine.

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I thought of another group of specialists who would want to use
"Husbandsmen's Register" when talking about Rational entities.

Heralds -- that is, the kind of people who can
speak and understand and read and write blazon --
and people who write books like
"Peerage" and "The Four Hundred" and "The Social Register".

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Thanks for writing.

Tom H.C. in MI