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If you meant unborn children or fetuses you should've said that, because the most obvious interpretation of your original words is that you meant postnatal chil

If you meant unborn children or fetuses you should've said that, because the most obvious interpretation of your original words is that you meant postnatal children. That is typically how the word "Child" is defined: "A person between birth and puberty"[1] - not a person before birth. Nevertheless, what you cited and attacked is uncontroversial. IQ is heritable, whether it's due to genetics or prenatal nutrition or some combination. You then turned such a scientifically uncontroversial statement into an emotional straw-man attack. [1] https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Child https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Child

astrange 6y ago
All children start off as fetuses and inherit things that affected them before they were children. > IQ is heritable, whether it's due to genetics or prenatal nutrition or some combination. Yes, and I said it wasn't genetic. A "heritable" effect can only last one generation - all you have to do is invest in lead abatement. In fact, even if it is genetic it can still be treated. Phenylketonurics have a "genetic condition that reduces intelligence" that affects them when they drink Coke, and the treatment is to not do that. People who discuss this in SSC and marginalrevolution comments don't care about this - what they want is to have secret knowledge that society won't acknowledge that says they're morally superior to Mexicans so they can complain about immigration.
- hntrader 6y ago
  > All children start off as fetuses and inherit things Right, but you said "Children exist in the same environment", which is present-tense. If you said "Children existed in the same environment", then it would've come across as you intended. > I said it wasn't genetic Source/rationale? That's a rather strong claim. > even if it is genetic it can still be treated. Potentially correct, but it doesn't mean it can be treated well given current knowledge. There's lots of genetic problems where our treatments currently suck, and you can't claim to know when/if those treatments will get better for some specific genetic problem. > People who discuss this in SSC and marginalrevolution comments don't care about this Who would argue against lead abatement resulting in higher IQ levels? Who would argue that prenatal nutrition isn't part of the picture? I mean sure, you can find one nutjob in the comments section anywhere. But that's hardly an argument against anything.
  - rhfkfld 6y ago
    Heritable doesn't imply genetic determinism. It's not a strong claim, it's just not what that word means
    - hntrader 6y ago
      Of course not, this is a strawman. I was disputing the positive claim that it isn't genetic, I was not claiming that heritability implies genetic determinism.

astrange 6y ago

All children start off as fetuses and inherit things that affected them before they were children. > IQ is heritable, whether it's due to genetics or prenatal nutrition or some combination. Yes, and I said it wasn't genetic. A "heritable" effect can only last one generation - all you have to do is invest in lead abatement. In fact, even if it is genetic it can still be treated. Phenylketonurics have a "genetic condition that reduces intelligence" that affects them when they drink Coke, and the treatment is to not do that. People who discuss this in SSC and marginalrevolution comments don't care about this - what they want is to have secret knowledge that society won't acknowledge that says they're morally superior to Mexicans so they can complain about immigration.

hntrader 6y ago
> All children start off as fetuses and inherit things Right, but you said "Children exist in the same environment", which is present-tense. If you said "Children existed in the same environment", then it would've come across as you intended. > I said it wasn't genetic Source/rationale? That's a rather strong claim. > even if it is genetic it can still be treated. Potentially correct, but it doesn't mean it can be treated well given current knowledge. There's lots of genetic problems where our treatments currently suck, and you can't claim to know when/if those treatments will get better for some specific genetic problem. > People who discuss this in SSC and marginalrevolution comments don't care about this Who would argue against lead abatement resulting in higher IQ levels? Who would argue that prenatal nutrition isn't part of the picture? I mean sure, you can find one nutjob in the comments section anywhere. But that's hardly an argument against anything.
- rhfkfld 6y ago
  Heritable doesn't imply genetic determinism. It's not a strong claim, it's just not what that word means
  - hntrader 6y ago
    Of course not, this is a strawman. I was disputing the positive claim that it isn't genetic, I was not claiming that heritability implies genetic determinism.