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Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

ourworldindata.org

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Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#201

Post by swamp40 »

StingyJelly wrote: post #101
wincy wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean in an interview Steven Pinker himself said there’s some things that we may not want to know, because if the parameter is wholly outside of human control it’d just contribute to racism and serve no useful purpose. Also even if a study found parameters like that, it would never be published as the scientists career would absolutely be ruined.

Steven Pinker is right in this regard and so was Plato: … The doings of Cronus, and the sufferings which in turn his son inflicted upon him, even if they were true, ought certainly not to be lightly told to young and thoughtless persons … they are stories not to be repeated in our State …

I had always thought Plato's argument was a reductio ad absurdum.

Looking at it now, it seems he WAS actually arguing FOR censoring stories of the bad behavior of the gods AND FOR censoring Homer's Odyssey.

Sigh.

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#202

Post by 908B64B197 »

tzs wrote: post #24

I can't give a cite for the following I read it in either a newspaper or magazine probably 30+ years ago. There was a school district in a small town that for the first time gave IQ tests to all of the children in some younger age group, I think around 7 or 8. The results showed a several point difference between the white kids and the Black kids. The district wrote this off as due to cultural bias in the tests. One…

No post body was provided.

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#203

Post by twofornone »

l33t2328 wrote: post #188
twofornone wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So far there has not been identified single parameter that explains White/Black gap and not for the lack of trying. Actually there has been, we're just not allowed to apply the components of the explanation to this context, so we continue on a fruitless search in every other direction, spending money, contorting society, and increasingly tearing down achievers in a misguided attempt to bring up the underperformers.…

Your claims seem to be both racist and unfounded.

Whether you think a fact is "racist" has no bearing on whether it is true. Do you deny that there are measurable, meaningful genetic differences between groups of people? How can you justify the belief that adaptation to drastically different environments over thousands of generations after leaving Africa magically stopped above the shoulders?

What about geographically isolated interbreeding with other homonids? Those genes are also unevenly distributed; why would these genes not influence cognition?

One striking example is the so called warrior gene, which completely alters the metabolism of monoamines, like dopamine and serotonin, which have direct influences over reward seeking, mood, and behavior. This mutation is nearly absent in many populations. There are plenty of other such unevenly distributed variations.

Note that this does not imply that all people from group X are Y. But it does neatly explain, at least in part, multimodal statistical distributions like those we see consistently reflected IQ and crime frequency.

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#204

Post by patja »

Unklejoe wrote: post #73

Every time I hear "lead poisoning" mentioned, I have flashbacks to myself as a child playing with my Dad's lead fishing weights like an idiot.

I think of the hours my friends and I spent handling lead we were using as strategic ballast in our Cub Scout Pinewood Derby cars.

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#205

Post by ip26 »

aaronblohowiak wrote: post #120
gruez wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now instead of lazily explaining differences with "there must be some testing bias, black kids are just as smart as white kids", we're lazily explaining differences with "it must be systemic oppression, black kids are more oppressed than white kids".

Living in lead-rich environments is an example of systemic oppression, iiuc. There is a lot of nuance lost in any generality but in this case I do not believe it is a misattribution as much as it is an incomplete descriptor

It would be if politicians opted not to fix the problem because of who lived there. But doesn’t oppression generally require action/choice by some party? Or are we inferring that a choice simply “must” have been made not to help?

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#207

Post by Thetawaves »

fer wrote: post #153
Thetawaves wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just not true. The vast majority of hours flown (and fuel burned) are for commercial purposes. These are real money-making enterprises, not some rich persons play thing.

I think you've misread me.

Avgas utilizing planes are not simply rich people's play thing. The vast majority of hours flown in these planes are for commercial, money making purposes. They are operated by real businesses that earn profits and should be able to afford the transition to non leaded gas.

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#208

Post by [deleted] »

908B64B197 wrote: post #202
tzs wrote: post #24

I can't give a cite for the following I read it in either a newspaper or magazine probably 30+ years ago. There was a school district in a small town that for the first time gave IQ tests to all of the children in some younger age group, I think around 7 or 8. The results showed a several point difference between the white kids and the Black kids. The district wrote this off as due to cultural bias in the tests. One…

Quoted post unavailable.

[deleted]

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#209

Post by thematrixturtle »

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #194
hunter2_ wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a hell of a minefield, but I'll bite: might a few more generations in our increasingly globalized world (airplane travel, etc.) cause a "melting pot" where pedigree devolves into a homogenous blend that puts everyone on the same playing field? Hard to predict, and it's kind of scary (enjoying the cuisines and other cultural differences is quite special) but the equity would be fascinating.

It's going to take a lot of generations interracial couples are not particularly common.

It will happen eventually though, because you can't unmix races. Which is why the Nazis, the KKK etc were/are so worked up about miscegenation, "the annihilation of the white race", etc.

Re: Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning

#210

Post by throwawaylinux »

ruined wrote: post #136
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't there an IQ gap between poor people and wealthy? Isn't a large chunck of that attributable to healthcare, nutricion, schooling, stress, pollution, etc, etc.? Aren't those same factors going to show up in racial differences?

yes, yes, yes. stress in particular has a measurable impact on cognition, behavior, and motor development. even prenatal maternal stress. https://www.nber.org/papers/w18422 parental leave, cash and food support, and other assistance during pregnancy and childhood, are probably one of the easiest policy wins towards improving outcomes for a huge segment of the population. better schools with smaller class sizes and in…

Having it repeatedly drilled into you your entire life from birth that you'll never succeed without the pity and generosity of a few benevolent saviors among a sea of hateful racists who are this this all-powerful/privileged alien race that surrounds you (assuming you manage to dodge all the police bullets flying at you) because the system has been created to keep you down, and therefore any success you do have you owe to those people, would be extremely stressful and demoralizing.

You could be on to something here. I've seen many other factors like education and wealth being adjusted for but not this. I wonder if anyone has attempted to quantify the damage this causes.

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