For Whom the Bell Curve Tolls

"nobody knows what will come next" A good Father always deals with his childrens' behvior.

Ya'll do realize that in short order, the genetically disadvantaged will be the new victim group? Ya'll also should realize that there will be a new oppressor group.....the genetically privledged?

The facts are perfectly obvious to any dispassionate observer. But who dares to be dispassionate?

What are they going to do for underage, multi wife, first cousin marriages? We might have some more extreme Americans out Utah way who might be interested in the outcome of such discussions (sans first cousin marriage).

A comprehensive list of 'major scientific and technological breakthroughs in equatorial Africa', is a one page pamphlet, with all blank pages. Clearly, this must have been caused by white supremacists, not by any lack of development of scientific knowledge, industry or native intelligence, no pun intended. /s off, if you need that. I have not the slightest desire to oppress anyone at all on the basis of the color of their skin. But, I also know that you don't breed race horses from draft horses. But, that which is considered obvious in animals, is forbidden to say, or even think, in our modern brainless, brainwashed society.

I listened to Harden's interview on Sean Carroll's Mindscape podcast and it provides a good overview of her research as described in her book. She views it as anti-eugenics because she doesn't try to imply IQ or any specific metric could ever be definitive in determining success in life. At the same time she has developed a very extensive metric called the "polygenic score". It starts with a statistical exercise in correlation called a genome wide association study (GWAS). That takes many hundreds of thousands of people with similar genetic ancestry and measures tiny genetic differences – of which there are millions – scattered throughout their entire DNA sequences. It then looks to see which of those variants correlates with their number of years of schooling. We then take the results and – for a new person’s genetic sequence – add up that information to produce a single number, a polygenic score, that predicts how far they will go in school. The metric seems to provide a good prediction of academic success even when people's grades and early school attainments are comparable. This is not as controversial as Murray's Bell Curve analysis of racial differences in IQ but it still seems to fall into the trap that genes determine destiny. This is just way too simple an explanation. The world needs PhDs and people that can fix leaky toilets, pick crops, and run restaurants. These skills are practical and not a function of formal schooling. Unfortunately, they are less valued financially which may be Harden's real point. Outcomes matter.

#2, didn't unctuous, creep ex-MO Rep Dick Gephardt basically say that many years back. Or maybe someone he claimed to know said that **wink**

If the genetically disadvantaged will be the new victim group, why are people so gung ho to kill off babies in utero who happen to have Down Syndrome? Iceland now brags that there is no DS in their country - not because they have defeated the birth defect, but because they have aborted all of the unborn who had it.

As an undergrad at Sacramento State I took a course in psych testing. One morning I volunteered to be the guinea pig for a test of one. It was oral. I was in the center of the group I answered the first three questions well (something about bananas and trees). I was then asked to explain the Apocalypse. The professor could not have knows that I had read an explanation of the apocalypse the night before. I want on for about 10 minutes, after which the prof said "That's enough." He never called on me again.

Anyone who actually read The Bell Curve should be aware that the author spent a great deal of time discussing our modern system's penchant for sieving out all of the higher intelligence folks and channeling them towards college, something that wasn't done up until, about WW2. A "college boy" in 1920 was just as likely to be a dimbulb wealthy kid as an intelligent person, and pretty unlikely to be middle class. Frankly, we still and will always need plenty of extra bright plumbers, heavy equipment operators, electricians and loggers, too. I noted that in the first episode of Mike Rowe's "How America Works", for each of the various members of the logging team, there was a very brief bio popped up in the corner of the screen, too short to spend much time reading, unfortunately. But the boom boat operator had a BS in Advertising.....which got a smile from me. His job is dangerous, difficult and requires a lot of skill. And he has a college degree which is of exactly zero value to him in his job, at which he was quite skilled. It looked like he enjoyed the job, too. Taking all bright folks and trying to make them into college-educated leftists who hate America isn't a good thing. Fortunately, a lot of bright folks just don't want to go to college, want to work, and some want to work with their hands. And they understand the real world, not the phony world that is found in many departments in universities.

The clever title alone should be reason to have a look at this article. James Flynn - like William Shockley and others before him - took a lot of "flack" for placing real science above political correctness. It is what it is, and we are who we are, but .. .. the good news is that with determination and effort: as individuals we can move up the bell curve to "overachieve" the mean value associated with our genetic makeup. Thus the many successes among "genetically disadvantaged" communities when given the liberty and having the faith and discipline to do the hard work.

Anyone with a brain watching pro football can see racial differences after big plays. Some players flex muscles and beat their chests àfter a sack or touchdown. I've seen behavior before...you can guess where.

It is a little dismaying to encounter this evidence of genetic inequality. I had hoped that differences in outcome ("success") were solely attributable to cultural disparities, which can be corrected. However, we must keep in mind that the evidence applies to the mean (average) for various genetic groups. As a teacher and scholar, I have encountered too many brilliant minds of unlikely "race" or family background to judge anyone's potential a priori on that basis. Though the mean of a group may be a bit lower, there are always many outliers. Nobody's potential should be discounted on genetic grounds, but on the other hand, attempts to adjust things like college admission and grading standards by applying different standards to different "races" (or families) may need to be re-examined in the light of these findings.

#13, never fear, there is huge overlap in racial groups. And my two favorite commentators and essayists are both black men, both extremely smart economists that I have learned much from. And one of the greatest brain surgeons ever, lifted himself up from single mom inner city ghetto poverty to save many, many lives with is superior intelligence and skills. These men are Thomas Sowell, the late Walter Williams and Ben Carson. Race is no guarantee of anything, good or bad. The averages are there, they are real, but they say nothing about what a determined individual might accomplish. But on the average.....