4 ms·

Thanks for sharing that reference. I started out being intrigued, but he totally lost me with some pretty unsubstantiated absolutist statements, e.g. "anyone s

Thanks for sharing that reference. I started out being intrigued, but he totally lost me with some pretty unsubstantiated absolutist statements, e.g. "anyone smart and independent-minded will have views on race and sex well outside the liberal mainstream" and "men are sure to be a disproportionate share of leaders for biological reasons". The first statement is categorically false or otherwise implies the author's engaging in "no true Scotsman" fallacy; and, in the second quote, how he can disentangle biological from cultural and social causes with such absolute conviction is mystifying. Stating opinions as facts in such a way is a kind of sophistry, and ironically this tendency limits one's ability to reach deeper truth.

operatingthetan 4y ago
The photo of Aella in a bra with the caption "The rare rationalist female" wasn't a red flag? More seriously, yes that piece is dripping with sexism. >Women will never make up a significant portion of self-made billionaires or outstanding philosophers, but they can get a majority of BAs. Academia practices affirmative action in everything from admissions to journal submissions and citations practices, artificially reducing the natural male advantage at higher levels of ability.
- elmomle 4y ago
  Yeah, that was also a massive red flag once I got to it, but I wanted to give a more considered critique.
yanderekko 4y ago
>how he can disentangle biological from cultural and social causes with such absolute conviction is mystifying. He doesn't have to disentangle the two completely, he just strongly believes that there's a non-trivial biological contribution to these outcomes. Which already puts his views "well outside the liberal mainstream".
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
  He didn't comment on (just) his views being "well outside the liberal mainstream"; he claimed that "anyone smart and independent-minded will [ ... ]
  - operatingthetan 4y ago
    >; he claimed that "anyone smart and independent-minded will [ ... ] How does this kind of talk not set of fallacy alarm bells for everyone? Claiming someone is smart and therefore right is like sophistry 101.

operatingthetan 4y ago

The photo of Aella in a bra with the caption "The rare rationalist female" wasn't a red flag? More seriously, yes that piece is dripping with sexism. >Women will never make up a significant portion of self-made billionaires or outstanding philosophers, but they can get a majority of BAs. Academia practices affirmative action in everything from admissions to journal submissions and citations practices, artificially reducing the natural male advantage at higher levels of ability.

elmomle 4y ago
Yeah, that was also a massive red flag once I got to it, but I wanted to give a more considered critique.

yanderekko 4y ago

>how he can disentangle biological from cultural and social causes with such absolute conviction is mystifying. He doesn't have to disentangle the two completely, he just strongly believes that there's a non-trivial biological contribution to these outcomes. Which already puts his views "well outside the liberal mainstream".

PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
He didn't comment on (just) his views being "well outside the liberal mainstream"; he claimed that "anyone smart and independent-minded will [ ... ]
- operatingthetan 4y ago
  >; he claimed that "anyone smart and independent-minded will [ ... ] How does this kind of talk not set of fallacy alarm bells for everyone? Claiming someone is smart and therefore right is like sophistry 101.