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The ugliest moments in history started with a "genetics matter"stance. Not worth repeating.

ItsMattyG 8y ago
Like those moments where we cured previously incurable genetic diseases, and understood evolution as one of the most important advances in biology?
- matchagaucho 8y ago
  Twisted... that's not what the OP is suggesting. The article says don't practice or work harder... your talent may be enough.
  - pochamago 8y ago
    It very explicitly does not say that. It says that practice without talent will not make you the expert you want to be.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
Anything can be taken to extremes. Ultimately one cannot deny the reality that genetics really do actually matter.
SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
I get that eugenics is ugly, and shouldn't be accepted, but are you telling me those 4'8" basketball players aren't in the NBA because they just don't want it enough?
- GVIrish 8y ago
  The problem with this article is that it makes a huge logical leap from saying a short person is highly unlikely to become one of the best 400 basketball players on earth, to then say resources shouldn't be wasted on kids that are perceived as slow in primary school. Height is an easily observable phenotype, cognition is massively more complex and dependent on many genes that are not well understood. Furthermore, cognitive ability is heavily dependent on upbringing, and cognitive ability develops at different rates for different people. Not to say that the school system should be cookie cutter, but we in no way have enough knowledge about human cognition to determine a child's career path because of their performance in kindergarten.
- diminoten 8y ago
  There are a handful of truly short players who've demonstrated it's possible to play in the league without being tall. Is there a material difference between 4'8" and 5'3" when your opponents are 6'11"+? At that point, probably not. Assuming a person is healthy, there's nothing that makes playing in the NBA literally impossible.
  - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
    > Assuming a person is healthy, there's nothing that makes playing in the NBA literally impossible. Well no, but there's a reason that those short people made it to the NBA, they had other potential that got them there. Mugsy was incredibly fast. If it was all about heart we'd see an equal distribution, unless somehow being taller means you have more heart.
    - diminoten 8y ago
      Mugsy was fast because he worked hard to be fast, not because he was born with "fastness".
      - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
        So it was only one short guy who wanted it and a bunch of tall ones?
        diminoten 8y ago
        One? No. There are other short players in the NBA.
        SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
        You're right, there have been 25 guys 5'9" and under. There are 494 players in the opening day roster for 2018-2019. I guess the little guys just lack the desire to get in there.
- kthejoker2 8y ago
  Form follows function. Basketball's rules favor taller people. If the national sport was limbo or hide and seek, we'd have different stars. Conflating a sport's popularity with moral approval of eugenicism, even obliquely in "JAQ" sense is ... Troubling.

Like those moments where we cured previously incurable genetic diseases, and understood evolution as one of the most important advances in biology?

matchagaucho 8y ago
Twisted... that's not what the OP is suggesting. The article says don't practice or work harder... your talent may be enough.
- pochamago 8y ago
  It very explicitly does not say that. It says that practice without talent will not make you the expert you want to be.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago

Anything can be taken to extremes. Ultimately one cannot deny the reality that genetics really do actually matter.

SketchySeaBeast 8y ago

I get that eugenics is ugly, and shouldn't be accepted, but are you telling me those 4'8" basketball players aren't in the NBA because they just don't want it enough?

GVIrish 8y ago
The problem with this article is that it makes a huge logical leap from saying a short person is highly unlikely to become one of the best 400 basketball players on earth, to then say resources shouldn't be wasted on kids that are perceived as slow in primary school. Height is an easily observable phenotype, cognition is massively more complex and dependent on many genes that are not well understood. Furthermore, cognitive ability is heavily dependent on upbringing, and cognitive ability develops at different rates for different people. Not to say that the school system should be cookie cutter, but we in no way have enough knowledge about human cognition to determine a child's career path because of their performance in kindergarten.
diminoten 8y ago
There are a handful of truly short players who've demonstrated it's possible to play in the league without being tall. Is there a material difference between 4'8" and 5'3" when your opponents are 6'11"+? At that point, probably not. Assuming a person is healthy, there's nothing that makes playing in the NBA literally impossible.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
  > Assuming a person is healthy, there's nothing that makes playing in the NBA literally impossible. Well no, but there's a reason that those short people made it to the NBA, they had other potential that got them there. Mugsy was incredibly fast. If it was all about heart we'd see an equal distribution, unless somehow being taller means you have more heart.
  - diminoten 8y ago
    Mugsy was fast because he worked hard to be fast, not because he was born with "fastness".
    - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
      So it was only one short guy who wanted it and a bunch of tall ones?
      - diminoten 8y ago
        One? No. There are other short players in the NBA.
        SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
        You're right, there have been 25 guys 5'9" and under. There are 494 players in the opening day roster for 2018-2019. I guess the little guys just lack the desire to get in there.
kthejoker2 8y ago
Form follows function. Basketball's rules favor taller people. If the national sport was limbo or hide and seek, we'd have different stars. Conflating a sport's popularity with moral approval of eugenicism, even obliquely in "JAQ" sense is ... Troubling.