5 ms·

Well that's more of a question on what defines "talent" - and if such a thing exists. Genetic predisposition certainly is a thing in sports, and genetics and et

Well that's more of a question on what defines "talent" - and if such a thing exists. Genetic predisposition certainly is a thing in sports, and genetics and ethnicity are obviously closely related. The context we we're talking about was specifically taken in terms of intelligence. Or "potential". If you want to make the argument that intelligence potential is affected by your ethnicity, you are free to do so, though I doubt such ideas will be well received :) This idea of talent being equally distributed may not be factually accurate. But it's something I'd prefer to believe regardless and be wrong about.

iguy 8y ago
> But it's something I'd prefer to believe regardless and be wrong about. This is fine so long as you are judicious about what actions follow from such beliefs. If it motivates you to seek opportunity and encouragement for all, that is wonderful. If it motivates others to run witch-hunts in against fairly meritocratic organisations whose makeup stubbornly refuses to conform to their beliefs, that is less than wonderful.
- deleted 8y ago
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- yathern 8y ago
  > it motivates others to run witch-hunts in against fairly meritocratic organisations whose makeup stubbornly refuses to conform to their beliefs I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about. Can you give a specific example of a witch-hunt like this? I imagine you're talking about something where (for low-stakes example) a video game competition is typically dominated by 20 year old white males. Someone stirs the boat and tries to make changes so that 50 year old hispanic women place better, despite worse objective performance. Obviously that would not be a great thing to do! However, let's not assume the makeup of meritocratic organisations is always as fair as we think. In the video game example, the inconsistency with the makeup is not necessarily because 20 year old males are, by nature since birth, better at video games. But for mostly social reasons, having had more exposure.
seppin 8y ago
> The context we we're talking about was specifically taken in terms of intelligence. Or "potential". If you want to make the argument that intelligence potential is affected by your ethnicity, you are free to do so, though I doubt such ideas will be well received :) The Sam Harris crowd loves this argument
V-2 8y ago
> If you want to make the argument that intelligence potential is affected by your ethnicity, you are free to do so, though I doubt such ideas will be well received :) I'm sure they wouldn't be, but this is not how you disprove an idea.
- yathern 8y ago
  I didn't try to disprove anything. In fact, that may very well be true. The OP was hinting at the idea, and I wanted to explicate it, while acknowledging the controversy of it. I just don't think much is gained by knowing factually that X people have greater intelligence than Y people. In my opinion, that knowledge can only be used to be divisive and destructive. Lets operate off the principle that all people can have great potential, and work from there. Some things are worth being wrong about.

iguy 8y ago

> But it's something I'd prefer to believe regardless and be wrong about. This is fine so long as you are judicious about what actions follow from such beliefs. If it motivates you to seek opportunity and encouragement for all, that is wonderful. If it motivates others to run witch-hunts in against fairly meritocratic organisations whose makeup stubbornly refuses to conform to their beliefs, that is less than wonderful.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
yathern 8y ago
> it motivates others to run witch-hunts in against fairly meritocratic organisations whose makeup stubbornly refuses to conform to their beliefs I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about. Can you give a specific example of a witch-hunt like this? I imagine you're talking about something where (for low-stakes example) a video game competition is typically dominated by 20 year old white males. Someone stirs the boat and tries to make changes so that 50 year old hispanic women place better, despite worse objective performance. Obviously that would not be a great thing to do! However, let's not assume the makeup of meritocratic organisations is always as fair as we think. In the video game example, the inconsistency with the makeup is not necessarily because 20 year old males are, by nature since birth, better at video games. But for mostly social reasons, having had more exposure.

seppin 8y ago

> The context we we're talking about was specifically taken in terms of intelligence. Or "potential". If you want to make the argument that intelligence potential is affected by your ethnicity, you are free to do so, though I doubt such ideas will be well received :) The Sam Harris crowd loves this argument

V-2 8y ago

> If you want to make the argument that intelligence potential is affected by your ethnicity, you are free to do so, though I doubt such ideas will be well received :) I'm sure they wouldn't be, but this is not how you disprove an idea.

yathern 8y ago
I didn't try to disprove anything. In fact, that may very well be true. The OP was hinting at the idea, and I wanted to explicate it, while acknowledging the controversy of it. I just don't think much is gained by knowing factually that X people have greater intelligence than Y people. In my opinion, that knowledge can only be used to be divisive and destructive. Lets operate off the principle that all people can have great potential, and work from there. Some things are worth being wrong about.