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Do note that The Bell Curve is not considered controversial in general. The part about race and genetics is. Also genes being the sole predictor of IQ is not a
by nialse 1y ago
Do note that The Bell Curve is not considered controversial in general. The part about race and genetics is. Also genes being the sole predictor of IQ is not an accurate description of the book’s premise.
- breakyerself 1y agoNo the whole book is controversial. It's a political argument for dismantling the welfare state disguised as a review of science. They laundered a bunch of work by racial eugenicists along with a bunch of other junk science methodology. https://youtu.be/UBc7qBS1Ujo?si=bzVMwGU4XjPrk4sr https://youtu.be/UBc7qBS1Ujo?si=bzVMwGU4XjPrk4sr
- nialse 1y agoI hear you are invested in this line of thought, and that is okay. I just don’t agree with the analysis, and not with the labeling.
- breakyerself 1y agoIt doesn't rely on work by Eugenicists?
- nialse 1y agoFortunately, science does not rely on the character of its purveyors but on the quality of the evidence.
- breakyerself 1y agoThe quality of the evidence wasn't any better than the character of the purveyors. You're an apologist for bullshit.
- machomaster 1y agoCalling something "controversial" is a total non-argument. The book's science about IQ is solid. In actuality, the content of the book was simply a collection of mainstream scientific consensus ideas at that time, without specific controversial add-ons. It's only after the book was published, the book unexpectedly was attacked by proto-woke people.
- breakyerself 1y agoYeah Nazi aligned eugenicist science is totally mainstream.
- machomaster 1y agoInventing strawman out of thin air in order to drown discussion, to attack individuals and paint them evil, that's literally what Nazis did. How ironic.
- root_axis 1y agoThe controversial part is specifically the policy recommendations that we avoid investing resources in certain racial groups because problems in their communities can be explained by genetics.
- laichzeit0 1y agoSo were their claims falsified?
- root_axis 1y agoYou can't determine someone's IQ based on their race, you need to give them an IQ test to do that, thus the suggestion that we prejudge people based on their race is seen as racist. You might feel that the racism is scientifically justified, but that belief is controversial.
- antegamisou 1y ago> You might feel that the racism is scientifically justified, but that belief is controversial. Sir, this is HN, we love junk science and Sam Altman.
- machomaster 1y agoThis is a clear example of people confusing explanation ("how things are") with recommendation/support ("ought to be").
- root_axis 1y agoThe controversy is with respect to "what ought to be". The fact that there are measurable IQ differences between groups is not in dispute.
- machomaster 1y agoAll the controversy I have seen come from people, who think that even talking about possible differences between groups of people is racist, sexist, whathaveyou.