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First of all, this isn't a throw-away account. I have been browsing HackerNews for a while, but only recently started commenting myself. > People who make this

First of all, this isn't a throw-away account. I have been browsing HackerNews for a while, but only recently started commenting myself. > People who make this statement always, always, always use the thoroughly debunked "IQ Map" (https://iq-research.info/en/page/average-iq-by-country https://iq-research.info/en/page/average-iq-by-country) as their source. It is based on data fabricated by Lynn and Vanhanen and jotted down in their book IQ and the Wealth of Nations. In terms of the debunked "IQ Map", that's not really what I was referring to. The Bell Curve is also a (admittedly controversial) source. I would like to know how that map is "debunked", you simply assert that it is. > Even if we assume that is true (which it isn't -- 972 medals were awarded at the 2016 Summer Olympics and only a fraction of them went to (really) "black people"), I'm confused by your qualification of "(really)" black people. Of course "race" is a bit arbitrary, what I really mean is genetic populations, which certainly exist in a scientific sense. >why on earth would domination of most sports imply low IQ? What? That's not what I was saying at all. We are talking about the inequality between races. There is an overrepresentation of black people in the most popular professional sports in the US, namely basketball and football. It is less the case with baseball, and there are very few black people who play hockey. So I was trying to figure out why we see this inequality of representation of whites in basketball and football, despite there being plenty of them in high school. Ultimately what I was getting at was that races (genetic populations) aren't perfectly equal in every way. I honestly don't see why that is a particularly controversial thing to say. Are heights uniform across countries through all the world? Humans have lot of different populations that only recently have been interacting in meaningful ways, and even with that there are still lots of places that are largely racially homogenous. I'm an individualist, so I don't really think that you should pre-judge a person as being dumb or smart simply based on race. But we do have statistics that can help us understand the world as it is, along with trends. This can also help us make the world a better place. IQ seems to be largely genetic, but there are certainly environmental factors that play a role. Malnutrition being a very large one, considering how much energy the brain takes. I shouldn't say I'm surprised at how hostile you are being, as I said in my comment before, I was aware of the minefield I was walking into. I do find it unfortunate how you simply assume the worst intentions about people. I think you might want to take a look inside yourself, consider how you deal with other people, and determine if it is productive.

bjourne 9y ago
That you didn't even know that Lynn and Vanhanen's research have been debunked means it is useless wasting time on you. Because if you were really interested in the topic of IQ and genetics you would have known that already! That kind of selective understanding is the hallmark of alt-righters everywhere. The book The Bell Curve that you references doesn't make any definite inferences regarding IQ and race. It does not claim that IQ differences between races do exist. I know your defense is that you are not "actually" claiming that blacks are inferior intellectually to whites, you are "merely" asking the questions. Which is a bullshit defense since your questions are based upon faulty research that you have accepted without even doing the most basic research. > What? That's not what I was saying at all. We are talking about the inequality between races. There is an overrepresentation of black people in the most popular professional sports in the US There is an over representation of tall people too. There is an over representation of men... If you think I'm being hostile, it is because your arguments are so incredibly lame. I'm not a geneticist, but even I can refute them without much effort just by reading a few Wikipedia articles. Like why even reference The Bell Curve when that book was written a quarter of a century ago? It tells us nothing about modern genetic research. Edit: You can have the last word if you want -- I'm not going to reply. I'm not interested in debating IQ and race. My reason for replying in the first place was to show that it is not true that people with your opinions are being downvoted/ignored/silenced/censured/disrespected/shunned by the media or whatever. There is no global SJW conspiracy. It's just that this "blacks have low IQ" trope have been pushed a whole lot. Try googling for "hacker news iq race" to see for yourself. It gets boring beating a dead horse.
- supreme_sublime 9y ago
  > The book The Bell Curve that you references doesn't make any definite inferences regarding IQ and race. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Curve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Curve > Herrnstein and Murray report that Asian Americans have a higher mean IQ than white Americans, who in turn outscore black Americans. The book argues that the black-white gap is not due to test bias, noting that IQ tests do not tend to underpredict the school or job performance of black individuals and that the gap is larger on apparently culturally neutral test items than on more culturally loaded items. The authors also note that adjusting for socioeconomic status does not eliminate the black-white IQ gap. However, they argue that the gap is narrowing. >I know your defense is that you are not "actually" claiming that blacks are inferior intellectually to whites, you are "merely" asking the questions. I'm not "merely asking questions" I have a thesis. That is, races (defined as geographically based populations) are different from one another in more ways than just their skin color. Of course, there is lots of overlap because we are all human. >If you think I'm being hostile, it is because your arguments are so incredibly lame. I'm not a geneticist, but even I can refute them You honestly aren't doing a very good job.

bjourne 9y ago

That you didn't even know that Lynn and Vanhanen's research have been debunked means it is useless wasting time on you. Because if you were really interested in the topic of IQ and genetics you would have known that already! That kind of selective understanding is the hallmark of alt-righters everywhere. The book The Bell Curve that you references doesn't make any definite inferences regarding IQ and race. It does not claim that IQ differences between races do exist. I know your defense is that you are not "actually" claiming that blacks are inferior intellectually to whites, you are "merely" asking the questions. Which is a bullshit defense since your questions are based upon faulty research that you have accepted without even doing the most basic research. > What? That's not what I was saying at all. We are talking about the inequality between races. There is an overrepresentation of black people in the most popular professional sports in the US There is an over representation of tall people too. There is an over representation of men... If you think I'm being hostile, it is because your arguments are so incredibly lame. I'm not a geneticist, but even I can refute them without much effort just by reading a few Wikipedia articles. Like why even reference The Bell Curve when that book was written a quarter of a century ago? It tells us nothing about modern genetic research. Edit: You can have the last word if you want -- I'm not going to reply. I'm not interested in debating IQ and race. My reason for replying in the first place was to show that it is not true that people with your opinions are being downvoted/ignored/silenced/censured/disrespected/shunned by the media or whatever. There is no global SJW conspiracy. It's just that this "blacks have low IQ" trope have been pushed a whole lot. Try googling for "hacker news iq race" to see for yourself. It gets boring beating a dead horse.

supreme_sublime 9y ago
> The book The Bell Curve that you references doesn't make any definite inferences regarding IQ and race. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Curve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Curve > Herrnstein and Murray report that Asian Americans have a higher mean IQ than white Americans, who in turn outscore black Americans. The book argues that the black-white gap is not due to test bias, noting that IQ tests do not tend to underpredict the school or job performance of black individuals and that the gap is larger on apparently culturally neutral test items than on more culturally loaded items. The authors also note that adjusting for socioeconomic status does not eliminate the black-white IQ gap. However, they argue that the gap is narrowing. >I know your defense is that you are not "actually" claiming that blacks are inferior intellectually to whites, you are "merely" asking the questions. I'm not "merely asking questions" I have a thesis. That is, races (defined as geographically based populations) are different from one another in more ways than just their skin color. Of course, there is lots of overlap because we are all human. >If you think I'm being hostile, it is because your arguments are so incredibly lame. I'm not a geneticist, but even I can refute them You honestly aren't doing a very good job.