tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post2411780881487464462..comments2024-03-22T15:55:34.030-04:00Comments on Evo and Proud: A new startPeter Frosthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04303172060029254340noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-88024588826175007992014-08-21T12:56:16.381-04:002014-08-21T12:56:16.381-04:00"Cats and dogs have no inherent right to life..."Cats and dogs have no inherent right to life..." Science, or simple cultural prejudice (i.e., "speciesism")? The Buddha would have disagreed, and millions of Indians and Chinese with him. Philosophers are aware of the paradigm of the aliens who land on Earth. They are all evolutionarily as far above Einstein, da Vinci and Shakespeare as these three men are above Rin Tin Tin. Would they have the "right" to seize your children and use them in medical experiments, or to eat them? Why or why not?Peter Kilbridgehttp://www.blogger.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-54829284162355446592014-08-20T22:10:53.582-04:002014-08-20T22:10:53.582-04:00Er, meant Evans and Montgomery.Er, meant Evans and Montgomery.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-82875690940179648442014-08-20T22:04:39.498-04:002014-08-20T22:04:39.498-04:00I don't think the alleles in the Rimol study w...I don't think the alleles in the Rimol study were the ones discovered back in 2005 that were found to correlate with brain volume. They were indeed ASPM and MCPH alleles, but not the derived ones.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-77491123713510750682014-07-30T12:32:39.574-04:002014-07-30T12:32:39.574-04:00A major problem of some assumptions of the hbd mov...A major problem of some assumptions of the hbd movement is the idea of biological determinism. I agree and it would be stupid if it not did, we present genetic predispositions. However, life is fluid and use our heritage over time, in different ways and this is special for smarter people and also the most creatives.<br /><br />We are like magic squares, sometimes we are in a way, other times we are the other. Our genetic predispositions are open to change, however small, in the same way that many can gain and lose weight. Our format remains the same, such magic cube, but we adapt to the environment in some way and who is astute to understand the changing environment and adapt to it, be smarter.<br /><br />Sometimes, those who produce our technological toys may not be smart enough to realize the environmental changes and their necessary adjustments.<br /><br />Think of all the technological innovations that the French colonizers brought to Haiti and the result of the Haitian revolution later. We are delighted as our geniuses of technology but we are neglecting our geniuses of real philosophy and you will not find in the academic humanities centers.<br /><br />Regarding iq tests, I summarize the world of cognitive psychology more or less this way, the perfect world ...<br /><br />a bit of the theory of multiple intelligences Howard Gardner<br /> and<br /><br />a little more on traditional intelligence tests<br /><br />Human intelligence is not restricted to the partially superficial technical skills that IQ tests analyze. And based on the logic that the more intelligent types, tend to be cognitively super-specialized. I think Lewis Terman longitudinal study is primarily responsible for this targeting. And the results that we are seeing in schools for the gifted, said to be intelligent managers, who for decades have used arbitrary rules to select their student body such as to replicate the stupid ceiling iq 130 to join the school.Santocultonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-30024381088850122722014-07-29T15:58:50.893-04:002014-07-29T15:58:50.893-04:00Peter said "Research findings will have polit...Peter said "Research findings will have political ramifications".<br /><br />If the political arrangements of societies are based on a theory, a better theory will cause the society be re-ordered on the more rational principles, as a new theory in physics would alter the science. In my opinion the <i>conservative</i> standpoint would be that societies are not constructed on rational principles, and a wholesale overhaul of society to conform it to a theory will be disastrous.<br /><br />The facts about IQ and race according to HBD can't alter the nature of white society.Seannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-53156577697918851422014-07-29T05:00:05.797-04:002014-07-29T05:00:05.797-04:00"there is no telling what that would be like...."there is no telling what that would be like."<br /><br />http://reasontostand.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/aldous-huxley.jpg<br /><br />(I'm just referencing the photo, no idea what the site's standpoint is).<br /><br />"to a more explicit nationalism"<br /><br />et in obscuro?<br /><br />Conservation is good. Not sure this move is a step in that direction. But, buena suerte; que tus tacos estar siempre lleno.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-31703643583152705882014-07-28T11:10:41.828-04:002014-07-28T11:10:41.828-04:00'"HBD" has always been political. It...'"HBD" has always been political. It started with Steve Sailer's writing at National Review in the late 90s. It assumes certain features of American politics, and uses scientific results to marshal support for a particular range of establisheed political positions, from a more neoconservativish, implicit nationalism to a more explicit nationalism. <br /><br />It's not and has never been about pure evolutionary biology, which would allow for politics beyond the range that HBD is interested in.'<br /><br /><br />If we are talking about a politics in which the whole world would cooperating to defeat poverty then Paul Collier is worth listening to (Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University and a former director of Development Research at the World Bank, and author of, among others, the award-winning The Bottom Billion and The Plundered Planet.) Collier says the poor countries are going to be locked into poverty as there is an going to be a massive ever accelerating exodus of the precious educated people leaving for the West. And he thinks the migrants take away only cultural, (ie not genetic) capital.<br /><br />And Collier does not accept that those who will leave poor countries represent irreplaceable genetic capital vitally necessary for economic development. It's going to be every bit as bad as he says in poor countries, probably worse.<br /><br />There will be a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27900638" rel="nofollow">poor white</a> problem in the West, just as there is in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22554709" rel="nofollow">South Africa</a>.<br /><br />Anyway, HBD isn't backed by the Koch brothers. There isn't a single billionare (there are hundreds in the US) who backs HBD. Billionaires want a cold Brazil.Seannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-65442217742385085292014-07-28T07:36:04.137-04:002014-07-28T07:36:04.137-04:00The elephant in the room here is that for studying...The elephant in the room here is that for studying most of what HBD enthusiasts care to talk about, much much better "IQ" tests are needed first. <br /><br />Everything used by professionals right now is terribly unreliable and not particularly valid as a measure of g too. Anyone with halfway competent knowledge of mathematics and statistics can tell that. To be fair, it's not that this research area is that much worse than the rest of psychology and especially social psychology. Just that genetic analysis goes nowhere fast with investigation into phenotypes and techniques that are decades behind what the hard, natural sciences would do.<br /><br />The fact that the modal critic does not address this does not make it untrue nor prevent it from holding back any research people care about. It is a concern to be focused far too much on political debates with ignorant critics, and feeling good about winning those debates over basic empirical facts, rather than on expanding the science.Adamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-17064943594802319062014-07-27T23:34:57.699-04:002014-07-27T23:34:57.699-04:00Luke,
The prevalent idea is that an allele with l...Luke,<br /><br />The prevalent idea is that an allele with large effect will probably have undesirable side effects as well. That would be the case with the Tay-Sachs allele.<br /><br />Sean,<br /><br />Collaboration doesn't mean groupthink. It means collegiality, a willingness to work together despite differences of opinion.<br /><br />Anon, Sean, and others,<br /><br />It would be difficult to focus only on science. Scientists are also citizens, and citizens have a duty to participate in policy making. Right now, policy is being made by the wealthy. Is that a desirable thing?<br /><br />At present, HBD is generating a lot of intellectual ferment, but this ferment is not translating into research, let alone research findings. One reason is the hostile academic climate, but a bigger reason lies with HBD writers themselves (including myself). We lack the practical skills for making things happen in the real world, e.g., writing up research proposals, creating a bank of friendly researchers and friendly research centres, looking for funding sources, etc.<br /><br />Research findings will have political ramifications, and why not? I'm not a eugenicist with fantasies of creating a high-IQ elite. I'm a conservationist, and I see nothing wrong with that. I'm not among those who are seeking radical, irrevocable change. My aims are more modest: I want to create an alternative to the nutty globalism that now dominates the political scene from the right to the left.<br /><br />Peter Fros_noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-48120576751339965472014-07-27T16:26:58.815-04:002014-07-27T16:26:58.815-04:00"HBD" has always been political. It star...<br />"HBD" has always been political. It started with Steve Sailer's writing at National Review in the late 90s. It assumes certain features of American politics, and uses scientific results to marshal support for a particular range of establisheed political positions, from a more neoconservativish, implicit nationalism to a more explicit nationalism. <br /><br />It's not and has never been about pure evolutionary biology, which would allow for politics beyond the range that HBD is interested in. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-84341143140804852912014-07-27T15:16:48.813-04:002014-07-27T15:16:48.813-04:00I agree with anon, Peter is most interesting when ...I agree with anon, Peter is most interesting when he is marching away from the HBD campfire into the frozen wastes. Like with his ideas about skin colour having not being due to vitamin D, no one else thought that possible and everything was against it just a decade ago.<br /><br />A lot of what people were calling social Darwinism in the mid 20th century was a post hoc economic justification for big business having established monopolies. The 'HBD viewpoint', would create consolidated organised labour power in western countries, and business intolerance of organised labour is total. I believe it has been shown that mergers rarely succeed, but big business just keeps getting bigger. They want access to <i>atomised</i> labour within nation states (for what can't be outsourced).<br /><br />The finance industry believes in hypercapitalism: that money can be created out of nothing. Not too different from the idea that effort and encouragement can create high IQ, which is actually commonest among the rich and successful, hmmm. <br /><br />Difficult see how the West will become unattractive to immigrants, who can't be refused on the grounds that their genetic IQ will be lost to their homelands, because no one in power professes to believe that. I suppose education will become a fast track to becoming a migrant and the poor countries will become worse though a brain drain.<br /><br />I'm dubious about the prospect of a super-IQ uber elite being created by science, in the West at least, because the existing elite in the West are the very ones who won't countenance the idea.<br /><br />If people really understood that you get outdone in life because of your genetically limited IQ, which will be passed on to your children; there is no telling what that would be like.<br /><br />From my (admittedly very limited) experience people <i>never</i> think like that. There is something unhealthy about thinking that way, you have to be alienated.Seannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-64738645078052080742014-07-27T10:36:21.049-04:002014-07-27T10:36:21.049-04:00"I hope to reach a bigger audience and bring ..."I hope to reach a bigger audience and bring myself closer to other writers in the area of human biodiversity... When people work together, or simply alongside each other, minor differences can be ironed out and major differences narrowed or at least accepted good-naturedly....Working together also creates synergy. It becomes easier to identify research priorities"<br /><br />I had been hoping that HBDers would do just the opposite and set up a site like Edge.org focussing only on science and with each blogger free to give their own individual viewpoint on the same article or topical question. What seems to be happening is the reverse of this process with bloggers presenting a single 'HBD viewpoint', with evident political undertones but masquerading as pure science, (and being rather rude to anyone who wishes to engage in healthy debate). <br /><br />Human biology is a public good and should be accessible to everyone and with no political angle to it.<br /><br />The area of IQ research could end up treating intelligence much as the finance industry has treated money. In other words, the concept of a 'society' could break down and, the removal of wealth to off-shore accounts combined with the creation of a super-IQ elite, could leave a mass of poor people unable to get themselves out of poverty.<br /><br />But I nevertheless wish Peter all the very best of luck in his endeavours. Thank you for many interesting hours reading.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-7890219508826561322014-07-26T15:09:10.113-04:002014-07-26T15:09:10.113-04:00re: Tay Sachs and IQ Does that finding suggest ...re: Tay Sachs and IQ Does that finding suggest that this single allel might boost IQ by five points? If so, that would go against the prevalent idea that no such genes exist.Luke Leahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11290760894780619646noreply@blogger.com