91–100 of 125 posts
I don’t need another biography/blog post fawning about John von Neumann, I need this goddamn series reprinted https://www.amazon.com/John-Von-Neumann-Collected-Works/dp/0... .
At this point we need a weekly John von Neumann thread.
Bizarre that the second to top comment (on the linked page) immediately turned the conversation into one about the commenter's view on racial/sexual supremacy and goes on to say "correspondingly, there are also ethnicities that are less intelligent" (I'm assuming they are implying supremacy of their own group.) It's quite jarring the frequency one comes across white supremacist/misogynist talking points when one trie…
People complain about the target selection and first-mover advantage of Von Neumann, in the same thread which seems to be taken over by collateral damage of polarizing identity politics propaganda, set to target social cohesion of American civilians (which leaks into Western culture) done by the very same adversaries targeted decades back by Von Neumann.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The unfortunate reality is that group level differences in characteristics associated with intelligence are measurable. It is pretty much an open secret in genomics. Additionally, given how regression to the mean works, a small enough endogamous minority will display larger deviations from the mean (positive or negative) than larger ethnic groups that usually constitute the majority. I agree that it is a really trick…
Group level differences in IQ and its components are measurable. As someone not remotely progressive and who simply does not care about their values, I don’t believe any of these things actually amount to a workable definition of intelligence. I base this on my experiences with the very well-sifted meritocrats I encounter daily.
(the deeply rooted nature of protestantism in the pro-science / anti-religion/ Academic community in the US is long discussion I would love to have at some point. I want to be clear that I do not mean it in a derogatory manner. It is an observation. Not a value judgement)
Imagine if grit, intelligence and productivity within a capitalistic system were highly predictable at birth. Then the claim to eliteness that lends these elite institutions power, will suddenly get the appearance of genetic superiority. It quickly starts sounding like old school eugenicists. They/We will become what they claim to hate.
Intelligence is an easier discussion in the east. The floor for the value you bring to society is not based on your intelligence alone. They also don't hide the brutal realities for survival/thriving in a society where you might lack vital skills from birth.
I think everyone on HN would agree that a feudal-class system determined at birth, is not a desirable outcome. As it stands now, ignoring the ground realities has led to us building exactly that. The tabooing of IQ does not serve to stop the creation of this dystopia. It serves to obscure the reality that we might already be living in it.
Razib Khan [1] writes a lot about intelligence from a genetic standpoint (He works in population genomics).
One quote of interest
General intelligence is one of the most predictive psychological measures in existence.
The chestnut of wisdom that ability to test well measures how well you take a test is true but trivial.
The implication that test measurement does not correlate with other aspects of performance is manifestly false.
Those with higher measured IQs have higher incomes, greater educational attainment, and lower crime rates
(this remains true among siblings who differ in IQ).
This is well known within psychological science,
but for various reasons has been obscured and downplayed by broader American culture.
As with the athletically gifted,
the differences in outcomes is most obvious in those who are intellectually gifted at a young age.
The chart below shows the outcomes of 259 children identified as very gifted in their early teens on the SAT:
One out of thirteen of these extremely bright children became tenured professors.
One out of thirty-three wrote a book. Nearly half obtained doctorates.
These are not average kids who simply “test well.”
There is luck in life, but the die is loaded.
Very high intelligence is no guarantee of exceptional achievement,
but it clearly changes the probabilities.
[2] https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> That is the same of saying that there was no reason to suspect that the US would moderate after FDR's death. No, it isn’t. FDR didn’t have tens of millions of people murdered in cold blood.
But he had camps for immigrants. Let's talk about Indian Americans? Again.....adjust for wealth , education, quality of life, etc. The US was really not that moderate if you adjust for the aforementioned conditions. Switch cultures and systems between the US and the USSR...also switch standards of living etc. and the USSR would have been just as "moderate". Perhaps a tad harsher or a tad softer. But humans are humans…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
James Watson had evidence on the subject, he was stripped of his titles and harassed by ideologues who are convinced everyone should be exactly equal. Scientists have realized it's not worth it to sacrifice their career when the general public simply isn't interested in knowing things that might be considered racist.
James Watson made many unfounded racist claims that have been completely discredited. The rhetoric surrounding racist pseudoscience mirrors that of the anti-vaccine and climate change denial movements. They point to a discredited "anti-vaxx" doctor or a discredited "climate change denying" researcher and view the criticism of their work as censorship, rather than as a sign they might not be a credible source.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Group level differences in IQ and its components are measurable. As someone not remotely progressive and who simply does not care about their values, I don’t believe any of these things actually amount to a workable definition of intelligence. I base this on my experiences with the very well-sifted meritocrats I encounter daily.
Unfortunately again, IQ is highly predictive. It obviously clashes with the massive emphasis on merit, grit & educational attainment placed by western liberal ideology. It fundamentally shakes the very foundation of outcome based evaluation of one's protestant/puritanism, especially in American Academia. (the deeply rooted nature of protestantism in the pro-science / anti-religion/ Academic community in the US is lon…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
But he had camps for immigrants. Let's talk about Indian Americans? Again.....adjust for wealth , education, quality of life, etc. The US was really not that moderate if you adjust for the aforementioned conditions. Switch cultures and systems between the US and the USSR...also switch standards of living etc. and the USSR would have been just as "moderate". Perhaps a tad harsher or a tad softer. But humans are humans…
That’s a lot of bullshit to make a moral equivalence between murdering tens of millions of people in cold blood and not murdering tens of millions of people in cold blood.
Had the same circumstances happened in USSR, then the USSR would have gotten the same praise of moderation that you are reserving for the US.
Same goes for East Germany or Greece or Malta or even Macedonia
And so for every instance, you have to adjust for those special circumstances
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hate this. We are trying to look at the worst of someone that did so much for the world. People on HN are trying to cancel Feynman as well. I have nothing but feelings of disdain for you. Even if they did something wrong, I’d rather focus on their positive sides. Please stop this onslaught of taking down the history for some axe to grind.
trying to get a balanced perspective on people who did a lot for the world is not cancel culture. Winston Churchill saved Britain from the Nazis, but he was also pretty racist. That doesn't reduce the meaning of his positive accomplishments, but it does give his character more dimensionality.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately again, IQ is highly predictive. It obviously clashes with the massive emphasis on merit, grit & educational attainment placed by western liberal ideology. It fundamentally shakes the very foundation of outcome based evaluation of one's protestant/puritanism, especially in American Academia. (the deeply rooted nature of protestantism in the pro-science / anti-religion/ Academic community in the US is lon…
The people I speak of have high incomes, high education levels, don’t break the law, can solve logic puzzles very fast, etc. They are also extremely stupid.
I don’t need another biography/blog post fawning about John von Neumann, I need this goddamn series reprinted https://www.amazon.com/John-Von-Neumann-Collected-Works/dp/0... .
