This is a great essay; balanced and hugely informative. But....."relevance for many contemporary debates about systemic racism" . The thing is there aren't really any debates - not real debates - about 'systemic racism' in the 21st c. West. Holding a right-on opinion on 'systemic racism' is a look-at-how-good (and sophisticated)- person-I-am fashion accessory badge to wear. Debate doesn't come into it.
As Saul Bellow put it “a great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.”
This is all well argued except for the culture point, which is probably true only in a far softer sense than is argued here. One only has to witness the amazing elasticity that cultures have displayed since the advent of globalisation. This would also follow given how far down the chain of derivative products culture is from genetics.
I suspect that part of the furor over The Bell Curve is to obscure its central thesis; that the economy, and society in general, is stratifying by intelligence. We have gotten better at identifying talent wherever it may be. Intelligent people increasingly live in bubbles of little to no contact with the rest of the country.
I don’t know how that squares with my notion that old money families are attempting to suppress the creation of new fortunes, which are generally made by disrupting existing businesses.
This is a great essay; balanced and hugely informative. But....."relevance for many contemporary debates about systemic racism" . The thing is there aren't really any debates - not real debates - about 'systemic racism' in the 21st c. West. Holding a right-on opinion on 'systemic racism' is a look-at-how-good (and sophisticated)- person-I-am fashion accessory badge to wear. Debate doesn't come into it.
As Saul Bellow put it “a great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.”
I'll definitely be reading Nicholas Wade this summer. You sold me on that book!
Man I *really* appreciate you providing audio on these long articles. I rarely have time to sit and read but have a ton of drive time.
This is all well argued except for the culture point, which is probably true only in a far softer sense than is argued here. One only has to witness the amazing elasticity that cultures have displayed since the advent of globalisation. This would also follow given how far down the chain of derivative products culture is from genetics.
I suspect that part of the furor over The Bell Curve is to obscure its central thesis; that the economy, and society in general, is stratifying by intelligence. We have gotten better at identifying talent wherever it may be. Intelligent people increasingly live in bubbles of little to no contact with the rest of the country.
I don’t know how that squares with my notion that old money families are attempting to suppress the creation of new fortunes, which are generally made by disrupting existing businesses.
Check your citation links, a lot of them are broken with "chrome-extension" or something in front of them.