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What could explain the huge difference in racial demographics when it comes to the NBA ? Will we start preventing black kids from playing basketball at an early

What could explain the huge difference in racial demographics when it comes to the NBA ? Will we start preventing black kids from playing basketball at an early age so whites can catch up? I mean if there is no such thing as differences between peoples, surely the NBA is racist for not accepting barely any Whites huh?

ModernMech 5y ago
Height is well-defined, easily measurable, observable, and highly correlated to the ability to put a ball in a basket that is high off the ground. It is not at all comparable to IQ, which is neither well-understood nor well-defined. Measure height in 10 different ways on 10 different days, and you'll get the same value. Measure IQ 10 different ways on 10 different days and you'll get 10 different values. Do I have the same IQ at 3am after I haven't eaten all day, as I do at noon on a full stomach and a good night's sleep? I guarantee you my score will be different in both scenarios, so does that mean I have two IQs? Sleepy IQ vs. Alert IQ? When measuring IQ, is sleepiness vs. alertness controlled for? Is hunger? Somehow I took a test in 3rd grade that changed the trajectory of my life. What if I didn't eat that morning? No one checked, and the only one to feed me was my mother. What if she didn't feed me? Would my IQ have dropped 10 points on that test and caused my entire life to change? Very possibly, I was on the threshold. I'm quite sure that some people in the room taking the test with me didn't eat that day, maybe not since lunch time the day before, since the test was at 8am. Would it surprise you to know that of the people in my class who were hungry while taking that test that day, most of them were children of color? How do you think the IQ results turn out when a majority of children of color are hungry while taking it, and the majority of white kids are well-fed. At my school it meant that a majority of "gifted" students were white. Actually, come to think of it, all of them were. Not a single minority, despite minorities being represented at a proportionate rate at my school. What's scary to me is that the unstated opinion in some of my social circles is that this situation is the result of whites simply having a higher IQ. As your post seems to imply here. Edit: To the dead comment below me: > IQ is very well defined - it's the grade you get in an IQ test That's called a tautology, so what you're saying is that the tests are not measuring anything except themselves. The rest I will leave dead because it's subjective, so no need to resurrect it, but the way you defined IQ here is a verifiable logical flaw in your argument.
- montblanc 5y ago
  > It is not at all comparable to IQ, which is neither well-understood nor well-defined. IQ is very well defined - it's the grade you get in an IQ test. Sure you can have a bad day when you take the test, which is a shame. But that's the story of life. Whites have bad days too. If I have a bad day on my Google interviews can I ask to retake the test a few days after? No. You wait a year and sometimes you don't even get that - you're done, depending on the company. Black people are not taller than White people afaik, and anyway height is only one quality out of many that a good basketball player needs. There are plenty of tall people (both black and white) that can't become basketball players. And I would assume that going hungry on basketball tryouts or team practices would make you a lousy player: you need to be well fed with good overall health and nutrition. > What's scary to me is that the unstated opinion in some of my social circles is that this situation is the result of whites simply having a higher IQ. As your post seems to imply here. Idk what the big deal is really. Somehow people think we are all gonna massacre each other if you acknowledge reality. Whites having a higher IQ is a known fact. It doesn't mean they are better people, it means though you will see more of them in gifted programs. And let's not act like some silly gifted test on 8 grades really determines someone's future - it doesn't. You get multiple chances where you can prove yourself academically. And yes, people from good homes get the unfair advantage of having parents who provide more tools and push them harder to excel academically, on top of sometimes having a higher IQ. It's extremely unfair as life usually is. But we should be able to make an honest conversation about it.
- FFRefresh 5y ago
  (I'm not here to defend whatever you think your arguing against, more interested in your thought processes here.) It's weird that on one hand you suggest IQ may be a poor, simplistic measure of whether a student is 'gifted', but then on the other hand reduce basketball skill/ability to a simplistic measure such as height. It also seems you are making a number of claims or hypotheses here that I'm personally interested in knowing if there is any data/evidence to support: 1. Taking a test on multiple days produces high enough variance in results, that the test results are not predictive of any sort of ability or future outcomes 2. The majority of 'children of color' are hungry when taking IQ tests ('of color' in popular usage means non-white) 3. The majority of white children are well-fed when taking IQ tests Reading between the lines, it seems you are hinting at the idea that all humans who approach the IQ test are equal in ability that the IQ test is testing for. If there are any disparities in results amongst any groups, it must be the result of other factors like being hungry/tired/etc. Is that a fair characterization? For example, would you say hunger/tiredness is the core reason white children don't all have the same exact scores?

ModernMech 5y ago

Height is well-defined, easily measurable, observable, and highly correlated to the ability to put a ball in a basket that is high off the ground. It is not at all comparable to IQ, which is neither well-understood nor well-defined. Measure height in 10 different ways on 10 different days, and you'll get the same value. Measure IQ 10 different ways on 10 different days and you'll get 10 different values. Do I have the same IQ at 3am after I haven't eaten all day, as I do at noon on a full stomach and a good night's sleep? I guarantee you my score will be different in both scenarios, so does that mean I have two IQs? Sleepy IQ vs. Alert IQ? When measuring IQ, is sleepiness vs. alertness controlled for? Is hunger? Somehow I took a test in 3rd grade that changed the trajectory of my life. What if I didn't eat that morning? No one checked, and the only one to feed me was my mother. What if she didn't feed me? Would my IQ have dropped 10 points on that test and caused my entire life to change? Very possibly, I was on the threshold. I'm quite sure that some people in the room taking the test with me didn't eat that day, maybe not since lunch time the day before, since the test was at 8am. Would it surprise you to know that of the people in my class who were hungry while taking that test that day, most of them were children of color? How do you think the IQ results turn out when a majority of children of color are hungry while taking it, and the majority of white kids are well-fed. At my school it meant that a majority of "gifted" students were white. Actually, come to think of it, all of them were. Not a single minority, despite minorities being represented at a proportionate rate at my school. What's scary to me is that the unstated opinion in some of my social circles is that this situation is the result of whites simply having a higher IQ. As your post seems to imply here. Edit: To the dead comment below me: > IQ is very well defined - it's the grade you get in an IQ test That's called a tautology, so what you're saying is that the tests are not measuring anything except themselves. The rest I will leave dead because it's subjective, so no need to resurrect it, but the way you defined IQ here is a verifiable logical flaw in your argument.

montblanc 5y ago
> It is not at all comparable to IQ, which is neither well-understood nor well-defined. IQ is very well defined - it's the grade you get in an IQ test. Sure you can have a bad day when you take the test, which is a shame. But that's the story of life. Whites have bad days too. If I have a bad day on my Google interviews can I ask to retake the test a few days after? No. You wait a year and sometimes you don't even get that - you're done, depending on the company. Black people are not taller than White people afaik, and anyway height is only one quality out of many that a good basketball player needs. There are plenty of tall people (both black and white) that can't become basketball players. And I would assume that going hungry on basketball tryouts or team practices would make you a lousy player: you need to be well fed with good overall health and nutrition. > What's scary to me is that the unstated opinion in some of my social circles is that this situation is the result of whites simply having a higher IQ. As your post seems to imply here. Idk what the big deal is really. Somehow people think we are all gonna massacre each other if you acknowledge reality. Whites having a higher IQ is a known fact. It doesn't mean they are better people, it means though you will see more of them in gifted programs. And let's not act like some silly gifted test on 8 grades really determines someone's future - it doesn't. You get multiple chances where you can prove yourself academically. And yes, people from good homes get the unfair advantage of having parents who provide more tools and push them harder to excel academically, on top of sometimes having a higher IQ. It's extremely unfair as life usually is. But we should be able to make an honest conversation about it.
FFRefresh 5y ago
(I'm not here to defend whatever you think your arguing against, more interested in your thought processes here.) It's weird that on one hand you suggest IQ may be a poor, simplistic measure of whether a student is 'gifted', but then on the other hand reduce basketball skill/ability to a simplistic measure such as height. It also seems you are making a number of claims or hypotheses here that I'm personally interested in knowing if there is any data/evidence to support: 1. Taking a test on multiple days produces high enough variance in results, that the test results are not predictive of any sort of ability or future outcomes 2. The majority of 'children of color' are hungry when taking IQ tests ('of color' in popular usage means non-white) 3. The majority of white children are well-fed when taking IQ tests Reading between the lines, it seems you are hinting at the idea that all humans who approach the IQ test are equal in ability that the IQ test is testing for. If there are any disparities in results amongst any groups, it must be the result of other factors like being hungry/tired/etc. Is that a fair characterization? For example, would you say hunger/tiredness is the core reason white children don't all have the same exact scores?