What is rationality? A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I thought that rationality was just another way to evaluate and sift reality, and there were many others that were preferable--or at least, just as good.

Since then, I've gotten a lot smarter, a lot more educated, and a lot more intelligent. I've become an avowedly rational person. It's difficult not to do so when you spend years in mathematical/scientific training. Rationality quickly takes over your ways of thinking simply because rationality *works*. I am no longer as gullible as I once was. And yet the weirdest thing happened to me today which made me realize that I am not, in fact, as rational as I believed.

My flatmates and I are considering moving. Just considering, really; we're on a month-to-month lease, and we like our current place. But we think it might be nice to have a yard and my one roommate needs to get knee surgery sometime in the next six months or so, and would like to not have to go up stairs. On general arguments of propinquity and serendipity, we went to see a house today. We spent time outside it earlier. It's very very cute, and it has great gardening space which gets sun almost all day long. It met all our stated criteria for a cool place to live. It was priced reasonably. I really liked the outdoors space.

Rationally, there was nothing wrong with the interior either. I know that this is a great deal, a good place to live and all that stuff. And yet the moment I walked in the door I wanted to leave. I didn't like it. I didn't like it at all. There was nothing wrong with the house, except it felt all wrong.

And as soon as we walked out, my housemates and I extolled its virtues, half heartedly, and then Kim and I exchanged glances and we both said, "I can't live there; it feels bad."

Now, how's that for rational? And yet now that I think about it, I do this kind of stuff all the time. There are some people who I meet and I instantly like them. And I'm never wrong. My best friend (and my other housemate, Lucas) I met and I liked instantly. He didn't like me right off, so I spent the first few months of our acquaintance teasing him until he figured out that I was really cool and decided to be friends with me. And I was right; he was cool and it was more than worth it. There's other people who I meet who make me feel weird and uncomfortable. Is it a bad thing to make snap judgements? Are my judgements always "right" through some sort of placebo effect, or even through sheer dogged stubbornness on my part?

Or is there some rational explanation for what appears to be irrationality on my part? What is the true worth of rationality, and should there be bounds to its applications?

So, one of the things I say a great deal is: "X is the joy of life!" My friends regularly slag me off for this. But life has a lot of joy and I don't see why I shouldn't appreciate it.

Here is an incomplete list of the great joys of life:

• Good friends.
• Warm places to sleep.
• Yummy bread.
• Tea. Oolong is quite nice.
• Laughter.
• Books.
• Learning something new.
• Taking over the world.
• Linux.
• My new laptop.
• Silliness.

(Note that some of the great joys of life can be constructed by combining items on the above list, like "My new laptop" + "Warm places to sleep" + " "Learning something new" --> working on cool things in bed via wireless network). Then there's things other people want that leave me completely baffled:

• A plethora of shoes
• Diamond engagement rings.
• Money
• Power
• Prestige
• Social status (aside from slashdot karma, which is all important).

What do you want? Why?

So... A while back, I stupidly posted this rant. I say "stupidly" because first of all, I just posted when I was ticked without really thinking things through. And there were a bunch of really smarmy replies, some of which you can see in the original thread, and some I got through e-mail. I don't think I'm ever going to do that again.

Now, I realize most /. people are reasonably decent. But there seems to be a rather vocal minority out there that honestly believe that women are technophobes and that they are less capable mathematically and scientifically (dear God, and some of these people really believe that it's for physical reasons, too).

Now, I've been sheltered in my ivory tower for a good long while now. I haven't had anyone think me unworthy or incapable because of my gender in a long time. Even though I'm in an area of chemistry/physics which is heavily male, I've never felt like anything other than another scientist.

But just reading comments here occasionally gives me pause, and makes me feel uncomfortable. What gives on slashdot? Does anyone have an idea what's going on? Or are the sexists just idiots? Why do some people think that gender has anything to do with science, coding ability, or intelligence?

Keep in mind, please, that I'm not trying to attack you personally. If the shoe doesn't fit, don't try to jam it on your foot. Yes, yes, I know most people here are quite reasonable. I'm sure you are, too. But I'm curious if anyone who's reading this--which is likely to be nobody--has any ideas here.