For the same reason that evolution, global warming, the historical study of religion, etc. are controversial: it conflicts with popular political beliefs and le

For the same reason that evolution, global warming, the historical study of religion, etc. are controversial: it conflicts with popular political beliefs and leads to taboo discussions. It's taboo to both the left and the right. Both like to pretend differences in innate ability don't exist. The left likes to explain disadvantage exclusively as a socially constructed phenomenon that can be remedied through social engineering. The right likes to chalk it up to laziness or moral corruption, arguing that the disadvantage more or less deserve it. If it's biological to any significant degree, they're both wrong. It's heritable, so no amount of social engineering will fix it, and it's also not a result of chosen moral deficiencies or laziness so it's not a moral failing. Being born with a lower IQ is no more your fault than being born without an arm. It also leads to taboo discussions around wealth distribution. If our success rates are largely a result of our success at winning the genetic lottery, can you morally justify really massive levels of wealth inequality? Is it just that random initial conditions completely dictate outcome? If intellectual ability is largely heritable, then both the left's PC moralizing and the right's Calvinist moralizing are bullshit. I've toyed around with the concept of a kind of transhumanist socialism in which these kinds of enhancements -- both germ-line and for already living people -- would be made universally available to everyone. I wonder to what extent the failure of socialist schemes is the result of their technical inability (or unwillingness) to address the root causes of inequality. Use a progressive income tax not to fund the zero-sum redistribution of wealth, but the positive-sum redistribution of ability. Transform humanity into a "runaway self-improving AI." As far as I know, virtually everyone in every political persuasion or "wing" would be horrified by that concept. Given what garbage pretty much all of today's political discourse is, it kinda makes me think I'm onto something.