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I’m far from a blank slatist or a socialist, but as someone who is generally considered “untalented” on the HN scale of things please continue. What is objectio

I’m far from a blank slatist or a socialist, but as someone who is generally considered “untalented” on the HN scale of things please continue. What is objectionable about this viewpoint?

thrower123 7y ago
To be honest, I find the blank slate model just cruel, because it shifts blame for failure to achieve results onto either a personal failure to work hard enough, or some ill-defined societal boogieman of oppression or structural isms. Which tends to need massive amounts of money or power in the hands of someone to try to rectify. In reality, you just can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit, no matter how hard you try.
- akhilcacharya 7y ago
  > In reality, you just can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit This is one of the most disgusting things I've seen on this website. Am I "chicken shit" to you?
  - thrower123 7y ago
    I don't know anything about you. Who are you again? I grew up in bumfuck Appalachia, and there's a lot of people there that are so inbred and unfortunate that they can barely chew gum and walk at the same time. You can put people through years and years of education and spend all the money in the world on them, but you're not going to ever get them to understand calculus or read on grade-level. Acknowledging people's individual abilities and limits is far more humane than pie-in-the-sky optimism.
  - mav3rick 7y ago
    He clearly used a generic phrase not aimed at you. What is it with deliberately taking things personally ?
haihaibye 7y ago
It's not true. Some countries have higher IQ populations than others. Eg South Korea was poorer than many African countries in the 60s, now they make smartphones. This would have been hard to predict given a blank slate talent is everywhere thesis, but not if you know they have one of the highest IQs in the world. Same with Singapore. Of course a really bad government (North Korea) can screw you up.
- akhilcacharya 7y ago
  > Some countries have higher IQ populations than others. Are you saying I'm inherently inferior due to the country my parents were born in?
  - haihaibye 7y ago
    No, these things work in distributions. It's perfectly possible for very smart people to come from very low average IQ populations, it's just less likely than from higher average IQ ones. Many countries also have very high IQ subpopulations eg India, Nigeria and Iran off the top of my head.

I’m far from a blank slatist or a socialist, but as someone who is generally considered “untalented” on the HN scale of things please continue. What is objectionable about this viewpoint?

thrower123 7y ago

To be honest, I find the blank slate model just cruel, because it shifts blame for failure to achieve results onto either a personal failure to work hard enough, or some ill-defined societal boogieman of oppression or structural isms. Which tends to need massive amounts of money or power in the hands of someone to try to rectify. In reality, you just can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit, no matter how hard you try.

akhilcacharya 7y ago
> In reality, you just can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit This is one of the most disgusting things I've seen on this website. Am I "chicken shit" to you?
- thrower123 7y ago
  I don't know anything about you. Who are you again? I grew up in bumfuck Appalachia, and there's a lot of people there that are so inbred and unfortunate that they can barely chew gum and walk at the same time. You can put people through years and years of education and spend all the money in the world on them, but you're not going to ever get them to understand calculus or read on grade-level. Acknowledging people's individual abilities and limits is far more humane than pie-in-the-sky optimism.
- mav3rick 7y ago
  He clearly used a generic phrase not aimed at you. What is it with deliberately taking things personally ?

haihaibye 7y ago

It's not true. Some countries have higher IQ populations than others. Eg South Korea was poorer than many African countries in the 60s, now they make smartphones. This would have been hard to predict given a blank slate talent is everywhere thesis, but not if you know they have one of the highest IQs in the world. Same with Singapore. Of course a really bad government (North Korea) can screw you up.

akhilcacharya 7y ago
> Some countries have higher IQ populations than others. Are you saying I'm inherently inferior due to the country my parents were born in?
- haihaibye 7y ago
  No, these things work in distributions. It's perfectly possible for very smart people to come from very low average IQ populations, it's just less likely than from higher average IQ ones. Many countries also have very high IQ subpopulations eg India, Nigeria and Iran off the top of my head.