Althouse: 6:50 a.m.

February 23, 2021

6:50 a.m.

84 comments:

mezzrow said...: Oh my. That's a keeper.; 2/23/21, 10:52 AM
Joe Smith said...: Really nice one, AA.; 2/23/21, 10:52 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: Orange snow. Not bad.; 2/23/21, 10:59 AM
rehajm said...: Random economic tidbits for the day:

Household disposable income is near all time highs around 9 percent.

Corporate balance sheets have almost $2.2 trillion in cash and short term investments.

Biden's Congress wants to spend nearly $2 Trillion on 'stimulus'

Oil prices are up- near 50 percent increase year over year

The United States is an oil producing nation.; 2/23/21, 11:23 AM
rehajm said...: Kroger took down all their mask signs. Now only one notice to be considerate and keep a reasonable distance from other shoppers....; 2/23/21, 11:25 AM
rhhardin said...: Rush is trying Mr. Positive Attitude today, a new host.

I've reverted to listening to BNSF radio communications instead.; 2/23/21, 11:29 AM
Tomcc said...: Looks like a nice morning in Madison. Also a well-traveled path.; 2/23/21, 11:36 AM
wildswan said...: Smith College has run a liberal named Jodi Shaw out of the college. Yet Seymour Itzkoff continues to use his long association with the college to promote outright racism. In March 2021 Itzkoff is scheduled to publish "Our Unfinished biological Revolution" and the Academic Press website lists his "Credentials" as: "Professor of Education Emeritus, Smith College." This Exciting" new book "offers a bold and highly original new study on the evolution of human intelligence...." This book is an example of "scientific racism" is a direct line with Charles Murray who also has a book scheduled for this spring. Here's how the Academic Press website describes the book: " evolution led to the rise of what intelligence researchers call the general intelligence factor: the human ability to plan ahead and solve problems for which natural selection did not prepare us. The book also argues that humans vary in intelligence (as with all traits shaped by Darwinian evolution), and hence in their propensity to think abstractly and anticipate long-term consequences of their actions. Our Unfinished Biological Revolution explores the social implications of these two factors." This is straight racism right from the Charles Murray playbook.
Smith College has had a long association with eugenics from William Neilson, President 1917-1939 to FH Hankins in the Sociology Department 1922-1946 to George Mair to Seymour Itzkoff 1965-2021 (Emeritus 2000-2021). The fact that Itzkoff (who joined the English Eugenics Society in 1989) still freely associates Smith College with his attack on the black community through his promotion of race-based IQ interpretations while the college is supposedly cleansing the campus by ideological enforcement of attacks on dorm mothers like Jodi Shaw shows the danger of abandoning the free market of ideas. You can only end false ideas by arguing them down; they flourish in the shadows like mold.; 2/23/21, 11:37 AM
chickelit said...: Early thaw; 2/23/21, 11:40 AM
narciso said...: https://mobile.twitter.com/davereaboi/status/1364267258609078276; 2/23/21, 12:07 PM
Kai Akker said...: The "Charles Murray playbook" and its "racism." Aka, inconvenient facts for fantasists.

Here's what is more pressing, IMO, if using this photo thread as a cafe is kosher. Stocks are suddenly getting the fantasies taken out of their prices. There is a huge amount of fantasy in them -- the most ever in our history. If history teaches us anything, there is a large degree of price destruction still ahead for nearly every last one of them. Not a time to be complacent about stocks, the Federal Reserve, or the Biden administration. Count on two of those three to make some bad policy and cause even more damage to the first of them.; 2/23/21, 12:08 PM
mandrewa said...: So who is Jodi Shaw?

From Washington Examiner: Smith College staffer resigns over 'hostile atmosphere' involving race theory

Quote:

Jodi Shaw, a white and now-former employee at Smith College, described herself as a "life-long liberal" who was forced to “participate in racially prejudicial behavior as a condition” of her employment, according to a video she posted online in October.

“I ask that Smith College stop reducing my personhood to a racial category. Stop telling me what I must think and feel about myself,” Shaw said. “Stop presuming to know who I am or what my culture is based upon my skin color. Stop asking me to project stereotypes and assumptions onto others based on their skin color.”

Shaw described the method of conflict resolution at the school as watching "my colleagues manage student conflict through the lens of race, projecting rigid assumptions and stereotypes on students, thereby reducing them to the color of their skin."; 2/23/21, 12:27 PM
chickelit said...: That path is now well trodden.; 2/23/21, 12:35 PM
Browndog said...: Glorious.

Mid-late February is the best time in winter. Sun is high, and typically lots of sun. March is the worst. Teases you, then slams you upside the head with an unpleasant reminder Old Man Winter isn't done yet.

Then comes cabin fever. Then comes the waiting. Mud season, ice out, spring prep. Loved March as a kid-got to play basketball and stuff outside in t-shirts without getting yelled at.

Now, I want it kicked out of the month club. All it does is hold up progress.; 2/23/21, 12:38 PM
Yancey Ward said...: After a dismal and cold morning rain yesterday that I was forced out into to do some babysitting for my sister and her husband, the weather has turned gloriously beautiful since about noon yesterday. Bright sunny skies where you can feel the power of the Sun on your skin, and about 55-60 degrees with a brisk westerly wind. I hope Winter is done here in east Tennessee. I could live with weather like today all year round.; 2/23/21, 12:41 PM
Browndog said...: rehajm said...

Kroger took down all their mask signs. Now only one notice to be considerate and keep a reasonable distance from other shoppers....

Sweet.

The 2-mask thing really opened up a lot of people eyes to what is really going on.; 2/23/21, 12:42 PM
Yancey Ward said...: When I was still running, days like today were the ideal conditions for a 6-10 mile run.; 2/23/21, 12:43 PM
mandrewa said...: wildswan said, "This book is an example of "scientific racism" is a direct line with Charles Murray who also has a book scheduled for this spring. Here's how the Academic Press website describes the book: " evolution led to the rise of what intelligence researchers call the general intelligence factor: the human ability to plan ahead and solve problems for which natural selection did not prepare us. The book also argues that humans vary in intelligence (as with all traits shaped by Darwinian evolution), and hence in their propensity to think abstractly and anticipate long-term consequences of their actions. Our Unfinished Biological Revolution explores the social implications of these two factors." This is straight racism right from the Charles Murray playbook."

Is it you that are saying that, wildswan? Or are you quoting someone else?

I tried to look up Our Unfinished Biological Revolution but it hasn't been published yet. So it seems a bit premature to criticize it.

But is this the next wave? Are we going to stop teaching evolution? Are we going to demonize people that understand biology?

So this has always been a problem for me. It's really no surprise that eugenics happened in the early 20th century at the same time that evolutionary theory began to be understand by at least part of the population. The possibility of different racial groups with different characteristics on average in implicit in biology.

And it's not like people didn't believe this long before we had evolutionary theory. They already did. But evolution puts a pretty solid theoretical foundation under it all.

For a while I thought we were going to be fortunate in our evolutionary history because the origin of the human species is so recent that there seemingly wasn't time for enough large variations between populations to have arisen within the species.

But that's kind of naive for two reasons. First because if there is any difference at all we are guaranteed to make a big deal about it. And second because it turns out human evolution can go really fast in the right circumstances. The European population, for instance, went from being lactose intolerant to lactose tolerant in probably less than a thousand years. That's an amazingly quick change.

And then even that hopeful story collapsed when it turned out that our speciation isn't as recent as it seemed back in the 1990s and now we know that a lot of us have Neanderthal DNA and Denisovan DNA and there are hints of even something else to be discovered.

And this kind of messes up the narrative that we are all the same. But what do we do about that?

Do we just lie? Do we just tell ourselves lies?

Now I think the only good answer to that is to focus on the individual. There are different reasons for that but for one because the variation between individuals is far greater than the differences between groups.

But if you are left-wing and you believe that the group should be what we focus on, then how do you deal with biology except by making racism fundamental to your ideology, aka being a deep and profound racist and seeing everything through a racist lens?; 2/23/21, 12:57 PM
Whiskeybum said...: Orange snow... good?; 2/23/21, 1:00 PM
rhhardin said...: My daily bike ride was pleasant, at 42 degrees out, except for the 36mph west wind. One leg was spin-class fast, the other three were granny-gear grinds into the wind.; 2/23/21, 1:02 PM
mandrewa said...: Jodi Shaw's Request/Manifesto:

- Stop reducing my personhood to a racial category.
- stop telling me what I must think and feel about myself.
- Stop presuming to know who I am or what my culture is based upon my skin color.
- Stop asking me to project stereotypes and assumptions onto others based upon their skin color.
- Stop saying that young women of color have no power or agency in this world and that young white women have power and privilege over everyone else -- neither are true.
- Stop demanding that I acknowledge my white privilege and implicit bias as a condition of my continued employment.
- Stop telling me that as a white person I am especially responsible for dismantling racism.
- Stop emboldening students to act abusive towards staff by refusing to hold them accountable for their own egregious behavior.
- We have a right to work in an environment free from the ever-present terror that any unverified student allegation of racism or any other -ism has the power to crush our reputations, ruin our livelihood and even endanger the physical safety of ourselves or family members.

From Jodi Shaw: Dear Smith College: I Have a Few Requests; 2/23/21, 1:14 PM
MadisonMan said...: I will be happy when snow on the north-facing side of my roof is gone. South side is clear.; 2/23/21, 1:33 PM
Achilles said...: Humans like orange and blue.

There is a reason Joe Biden looks like an orange and white raccoon.; 2/23/21, 1:33 PM
YoungHegelian said...: It is now 52 degrees & sunny in the Rockville, MD area, but in this morning's commute, there were accidents everywhere & at least one person died because of black ice on the roads.

Tomorrow, it's supposed to be in the low sixties.

Strange.; 2/23/21, 1:41 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Looks like Tiger Woods has had a car accident in which he broke both legs.; 2/23/21, 1:43 PM
Hey Skipper said...: @mandrewa:

Now I think the only good answer to that is to focus on the individual. There are different reasons for that but for one because the variation between individuals is far greater than the differences between groups.

But if you are left-wing and you believe that the group should be what we focus on, then how do you deal with biology except by making racism fundamental to your ideology, aka being a deep and profound racist and seeing everything through a racist lens?

Great. Now I have to go out and find a stone to engrave that upon.; 2/23/21, 1:54 PM
Nonapod said...: I hear that Tiger just had back surgery too. Maybe he was high on painkillers and fell asleep at the wheel or something?; 2/23/21, 1:57 PM
Tomcc said...: Bad news about Tiger Woods. Single car rollover at 7:00 a.m. I wish him, and his family, well.; 2/23/21, 2:25 PM
Browndog said...: Yancey Ward said...

Looks like Tiger Woods has had a car accident in which he broke both legs.

Sorry to hear that. I just saw he had an accident, and was hospitalized.; 2/23/21, 2:26 PM
Owen said...: Beautiful pic.; 2/23/21, 2:27 PM
wildswan said...: mandrewa said...
wildswan said, "This book is an example of "scientific racism" is a direct line with Charles Murray who also has a book scheduled for this spring. Here's how the Academic Press website describes the book: " evolution led to the rise of what intelligence researchers call the general intelligence factor: the human ability to plan ahead and solve problems for which natural selection did not prepare us. The book also argues that humans vary in intelligence (as with all traits shaped by Darwinian evolution), and hence in their propensity to think abstractly and anticipate long-term consequences of their actions. Our Unfinished Biological Revolution explores the social implications of these two factors." This is straight racism right from the Charles Murray playbook."

Is it you that are saying that, wildswan? Or are you quoting someone else?"

Mandrewa,
in the your quote from my post it distinctly says: "Here's how the Academic Press website describes the book: "evolution led to the rise of what intelligence ..."
So if the publisher is issuing advance blurbs, I think I can comment. I don't have to wait to find out what Seymour Itzkoff is saying since it is consistent with his past statements. And these are in the Bell Curve line of thought. If you are new to Itzkoff I can recommend the Wikipedia article, "Seymour Itzkoff", It gives a lot of information and so far is not a simple hate fest.; 2/23/21, 2:31 PM
narciso said...: This is how their own college regards him

https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/4/resources/1424; 2/23/21, 2:36 PM
Nonapod said...: In Covid news, daily first time vaccinations have slowed to a crawl. Nationwide only around 400k people received their first dose yesterday. This is way down from a high of about 1.3 million first doses in a single day on February 6th.

Also the difference in total doses "adminsitered" versus "delivered" is 82114370 - 65032083 = 17082287. So there's 17 million doses that've been delivered that have yet to be jabbed into arms. That's a lot, and it's a number that seems to only be increasing of late.

Now some of this could be blamed on last week's weather... perhaps. But all I know is that 400k in a day is pitiful. It will take over a year to get vaccinations to everyone who wants them if that rate keeps up.; 2/23/21, 2:38 PM
tim in vermont said...: It’s the yellow snow that’s bad, not the orange snow.; 2/23/21, 2:50 PM
tim in vermont said...: It’s amazing how certain colors harmonize. You would think that this was an artifact of human perception, except when you look at brightly colored birds, their colors tend to harmonize in ways humans find pleasing too, and sexual select suggests that they also harmonize in ways the birds find pleasing too. Works for fish as well, how many fish have color schemes that clash?; 2/23/21, 2:53 PM
Kai Akker said...: Dow Industrials' 7th high in the mid 31,000s in last 9 trading days.

31510 on 2/10.
31544 on 2/11.

31644 on 2/17.
31653 on 2/22.

31653 twice today.

Have to admit, markets don't usually end so neatly. Maybe there'll be one of those classic overnight futures or options-driven levitations.

But this market is ending.; 2/23/21, 2:54 PM
chickelit said...: But this market is ending.

Only when people figure out a better place to put their money.; 2/23/21, 2:56 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Lots of blue snow in that photo too.; 2/23/21, 2:57 PM
tim in vermont said...: https://twitter.com/loganclarkhall/status/1364277658411032578

I am starting to like Elon Musk; 2/23/21, 3:03 PM
mikee said...: I'd send a picture of snow here in Austin but it is all gone. As is righteous and proper for snow south of the Mason-Dixon line.; 2/23/21, 3:09 PM
Browndog said...: I am starting to like Elon Musk

The only great American inventor-in the tradition of traditional Great American inventors.

Will be the last if we don't change course drastically and immediately.; 2/23/21, 3:52 PM
Tomcc said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/23/21, 3:57 PM
wildswan said...: "In Covid news, daily first time vaccinations have slowed to a crawl. Nationwide only around 400k people received their first dose yesterday. This is way down from a high of about 1.3 million first doses in a single day on February 6th"

But people are coming in for their second doses now and that uses up doses delivered. People have been getting first doses since Nov. 21 when Joe Biden got a shot. Then, on March 1, whole new categories will be eligible. I'm not a fan of Wisconsin Public Health in relation to minority vaccinations but it is distributing every dose it gets to somebody that wants it. And the actual operation is pretty slick and pretty quick - well staffed, well organized.; 2/23/21, 4:12 PM
tim in vermont said...: US has done better than the EU on vaccinations, but you can’t credit Trump for that because reasons.

https://twitter.com/ByronYork/status/1364038526162067459; 2/23/21, 4:22 PM
tim in vermont said...: Imagine if the FDA hadn’t paused the approval process until the day after the election.; 2/23/21, 4:23 PM
Anonymous said...: On Sunday, I made a comment in the cafe that was inappropriate, and used language that is not acceptable for a Law Blog. This has weighed on me, and I need to apologize. This site is free wheeling, but I crossed the line. Mea Culpa.; 2/23/21, 4:27 PM
Browndog said...: In a day or two, I will be going grocery shopping at Meijer for my monthly big shop--30 miles away.

I will not wear a mask. For the first time. I wore one at Costco before any mandate. Been wearing one since, in large public shopping venues ever since. Out of respect.

Done.

I'll wear it when I come in to avoid the hassle. I'll wear it at check-out because I'm standing still.

Say a prayer for the woman, because it's always a woman, a 3-=40 yr. old woman, that tries to scold me and cause a public scene.

Enough.; 2/23/21, 4:29 PM
Kai Akker said...: --- Only when people figure out a better place to put their money. [chickelit]

Unfortunately, that is not how bear markets work. The money disappears.; 2/23/21, 4:30 PM
wildswan said...: "Mandrewa said:
The European population, for instance, went from being lactose intolerant to lactose tolerant in probably less than a thousand years. ... a lot of us have Neanderthal DNA and Denisovan DNA ... And this kind of messes up the narrative that we are all the same."

Lactose intolerant is one thing; intelligence is another. There's nothing showing that we are smarter than the people of the Stone Age. The English settlers were in direct contact with Stone Age cultures, the various First Nation tribes, whose leaders showed themselves quite as subtle and adept at self-interested treaty-formation as any European culture. For example, here is a contemporary description of the Peqoud tribe in 1637, about ten years after first contact. [They angered] "their neighbors, whose revenge they now began to fear, and not willing to have to deal with too many enemies at once, they imitated the subtlety of the children of Ammon, ... endeavoring to strengthen themselves with alliance of some of those they had formerly provoked, that by their assistance they might defend themselves against the rest, not doubting but to make their part good with their foreign enemies, if they could be reconciled to their Indian neighbors, the Narragansetts; or [to make their part good with their] home-bred enemies, if they could but fortify themselves by a league of friendship with any of their foreign neighbors that were newly come to plant in these parts. To this end they sent messengers with gifts to the Massachusetts ..."
And when peace with the Massachusetts failed the Pequods turned to the Narragansetts and "did at the last by all subtle insinuations and persuasions, try to make their peace with the Narragansetts, using, such arguments as to right reason seemed not only pregnant to the purpose ... That the English were strangers, and began to overspread the country, which would soon be possessed by them to the depriving the ancient inhabitants of their right, if they were not timely prevented; and that the Narragansetts would but make way for their own ruin, by helping to destroy the Pequods; for after themselves were subdued, it would not be long ere the Narragansetts themselves, would in the next place be rooted out likewise .... Machiavel himself if he had sat in council with them could not have insinuated stronger reasons ..."

Or you can read a description of the Carolina rice culture which was carried on using African farming techniques. Michelle Obama is a descendant of these farmers as is Justice Thomas and both embody their strengths.

In other words, history shows that while there may be physical adaptations there is not much cross-cultural variation in intelligence.; 2/23/21, 4:34 PM
iowan2 said...: The Five is doing a full 30 minutes no commercials on Tiger
Compound fracture of a leg, broken ankle no details other than those.

I find the media coverage a huge study of contrast, with Limbaugh passing.

Tiger is lauded as a once in a lifetime phenom.

Rush was right wing disc jockey.

Tiger is a great golfer, he has yet to eclipse others like Nicklaus. Just as good as Snead, playing with wood shafts.

Rush is by far the biggest political voice ever in the media. He has no peers in life, and none in history.

Not that any in the know could not have predicted the dichotomy.; 2/23/21, 4:41 PM
Kai Akker said...: ---Michelle Obama is a descendant of these farmers as is Justice Thomas and both embody their strengths.

The fallacy of your argument couldn't be clearer than in this specious comparison.; 2/23/21, 5:03 PM
iowan2 said...: Gutfeld went off on Geraldo for lionizing a mortal that escaped death in an auto accident.

He is torqued that The Five devoted and entire hour,no commercials, to cover a single vehicle car wreck, when important things are happening in the US and around the world.; 2/23/21, 5:03 PM
Browndog said...: Kai Akker said...

---Michelle Obama is a descendant of these farmers as is Justice Thomas and both embody their strengths.

Barely any of these "descendants" could grow a single tomato, if put to the task.

Farmers.; 2/23/21, 5:10 PM
TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...: "In other words, history shows that while there may be physical adaptations there is not much cross-cultural variation in intelligence."

History shows - and can show - no such thing. The events we have in history, even those that are well-recorded, cannot show differences in innate social/emotional intelligence or other internal qualities to the degree that any sort of scientific judgement can be fairly rendered on them. History is silent on the question of cross-cultural variations in intelligence. That's why racism is endemic to the human mind. Humans could see differences but not measure them, so therefore other reasoning was needed to explain them.

Or as my brothers liked to taunt, "Well if you're so smart then why didn't you think of it?".; 2/23/21, 5:10 PM
Clyde said...: The bad weather across the country has played hell with the nation’s distribution system and that includes vaccines. I work for USPS, and our overnight Express Mail goes through FedEx, whose main hub is Memphis. This ice storm and follow-on snowstorm shut them down this entire week. We normally get Express Mail flights from Memphis on Tuesday through Saturday for same-day delivery. We got ZERO flights last week, although we did get an extra flight this past Sunday morning. I know that Publix here in Florida postponed scheduling vaccination appointments because of vaccine delays. Hopefully this week will get back to normal.; 2/23/21, 5:12 PM
Clyde said...: Also, on a personal note, today marks the 30th anniversary of my starting my career with USPS. Homicide-free! One day at a time on that! 🙂; 2/23/21, 5:15 PM
Ralph L said...: Don't let your children run for President, Clyde.; 2/23/21, 5:22 PM
Browndog said...: Today:

Fauci: “There are things, even if you’re vaccinated, that you’re not going to be able to do in society. For example, indoor dining, theaters, places where people congregate.”; 2/23/21, 5:27 PM
Browndog said...: Clyde said...

Congrats-

Haven't heard abut anyone going postal in a long, long, time-

In no small part, thanks to you!; 2/23/21, 5:31 PM
Arturo Ui said...: Oh no, another Antifa infiltrator at the Capitol, busted again:

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/retired-nypd-cop-once-assigned-to-secure-city-hall-charged-in-pipe-attack-on-capitol-police-officials/2904889/; 2/23/21, 5:34 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: If anyone can save Fox News, I put my money on Greg Gutfeld. He’s one of their last real conservative stars and I think the Mgmt realizes that.; 2/23/21, 5:41 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Clyde: I think the postal service is destroying itself due to its absymal service. Mass Career suicide if you will reply to my theory?; 2/23/21, 5:44 PM
mandrewa said...: "Lactose intolerant is one thing; intelligence is another. There's nothing showing that we are smarter than the people of the Stone Age."

There's no rational reason to think that intelligence is not affected by the different genes that people inherit. In fact there are a long list of genes which when the wrong version is present are known to cause low intelligence. One example would be Down's Syndrome which is caused by having a third copy of Chromosome 21. That's not a different gene exactly but it's the same kind of explanation. I suspect that if I went and looked I could literally find a hundred genetic variants, that are very rare, and are not controversial, that are known to correlate with low intelligence. They aren't controversial because they are rare and obvious genetic errors.

What most people don't know is that there have been discoveries lately about many genes that are not uncommon and in fact are widespread and are known to affect intelligence. Now you are not going to hear about these things. The people doing this kind of research decided it was too controversial and they have been self-censoring for over ten years now. And I'm not up-to-date on any of this. I just know it's been happening. This isn't even a matter of speculation anymore. Things are starting to get very concrete.

As for intelligence of people from the Stone Age, well it's possible they may be more intelligent than we are. I've read that comment from people working with Papua New Guineans, some of whom still are in the stone age. Or at least that is the researchers subjective sense of these people's raw intelligence. And it would make sense biologically if it were true.

But it's hard to test Stone Age tribesman because most intelligence tests depend on the ability to read and write and take a test and follow instructions. But there are a huge number of different intelligence tests and the amazing thing is the way they cross-correlate. So you can give someone an intelligence test which is nothing more than pattern recognition and another test that is nothing more than solving verbal puzzles and the surprising thing is that if a person scores high on one then they probably score high on the other.

One of the simplest intelligence tests that I've heard of consists of playing a simple video game where the test takes just 15 minutes and one gets a high score for doing it fast. And guess what? That test, assuming the person has never taken it before, and that's an important qualification, has a 60% correlation with the mean of all the other intelligence tests.

This hints that there is something really basic about what researchers call g, where g stands for general intelligence, and who knows but that maybe g is nothing more than how fast your synapses fire. But the consequences of high g are quite profound. People with high g can do things that people with low g simply can't.

When people say that there is a variation in intelligence in people that is not based on observations from history but on people here and now that we can give a variety of tests to -- hundreds of different ones if you really wanted to -- and we can see this common factor across these different tests appearing again and again. And we call that factor intelligence.; 2/23/21, 5:50 PM
walter said...: Did you know John Kasich's Dad worked for USPS!?; 2/23/21, 5:53 PM
Original Mike said...: USPS: They have lost 2 book shipments sent to me in the last two months.; 2/23/21, 5:55 PM
Narr said...: The thing about cross-cultural or cross-racial IQ comparisons (assuming IQ to be a real thing, and that we can so easily define "culture" and "race" as the banter suggests) is that in any human system those with higher IQ will have an edge, other things being equal.

That leaders of "primitive" or "savage" or "barbaric" peoples are often an intellectual match
for the proconsuls of empire should surprise nobody, but it proves bugger-all about group distributions and attributes IMO.

Whatever the eu- or dys-genecists make of their science, no serious historian that I know of has argued the old-fashioned racist case of stupid natives vs enlightened colonizers in many decades.

Narr
Quite the opposite, in fact; 2/23/21, 5:57 PM
Browndog said...: walter said...

Did you know John Kasich's Dad worked for USPS!?

No kidding?

With that kind of pedigree he could parlay that into a political career...if he ever so choose to.; 2/23/21, 6:04 PM
tim in vermont said...: "that in any human system those with higher IQ will have an edge, other things being equal.”

Look at Medieval Europe, it was all about brawn, might made right, and issues of right and wrong were settled by combat. Dueling culture lived on well after.; 2/23/21, 6:12 PM
Michael K said...: Blogger Browndog said...
Today:

Fauci: “There are things, even if you’re vaccinated, that you’re not going to be able to do in society. For example, indoor dining, theaters, places where people congregate.”

In California, governed by Gavin Hair Gel, we had an indoor dinner for ten last Sunday evening. Fauci has been a bureaucrat far too long.; 2/23/21, 6:23 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Yep - mailed W-2 to an employee 800 miles away in Chicago on 1/20/21. She got it yesterday on 2/22/21. It was even postmarked 1/20/21. Though Ive noticed lately fewer items show a postmark-its like the USPS workers don't want any evidence that proves they suck at their jobs. I don't think its the carriers at fault- I think its the govt slackers who work in the regional sorting shops.; 2/23/21, 6:31 PM
Roughcoat said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/23/21, 6:32 PM
Roughcoat said...: mandrewa, Narr, et. al:

Let's ask J. Farmer for his opinion on the subject. I'm sure he has one.; 2/23/21, 6:34 PM
Original Mike said...: "Let's ask J. Farmer for his opinion on the subject. I'm sure he has one."

I don't think you have to ask.; 2/23/21, 6:41 PM
WK said...: Fauci: “There are things, even if you’re vaccinated, that you’re not going to be able to do in society. For example, indoor dining, theaters, places where people congregate.”

Are people not doing those things? Been to the movie theater twice since the holidays. Gym 5 days a week (yesterday there was a 5 on 5 basketball game and 10 people waiting to play). Stopped at Kroger on the way home from the gym and decided to grab dinner (Eating in the restaurant). Other than masks in and out of places - life goes on.

Local schools announced coming return to in person teaching. HS senior daughter wants us to push to keep her remote. She is taking a few classes through local college (remote), has a job and increased her outside school sports activities. Feels it is a waste to go back in person for 6 hours a day and is making better use of her time. Interesting to see how things will change as we go forward.; 2/23/21, 6:45 PM
Mr Wibble said...: Look at Medieval Europe, it was all about brawn, might made right, and issues of right and wrong were settled by combat. Dueling culture lived on well after.

Is this sarcasm?; 2/23/21, 6:49 PM
wildswan said...: "no serious historian that I know of has argued the old-fashioned racist case of stupid natives vs enlightened colonizers in many decades."

Richard Lynn, Satoshi Kanazawa - both connected with eugenics and the Pioneer Fund. My point, however, was that Smith College was persecuting Jodi Shaw while Smith College Professor Emeritus Seymour Itzkoff was about to put out a book along the lines of the Bell Curve of Charles Murray. To me, the Bell Curve and its descendants is old-fashioned eugenic wrongness. And needs to be challenged intellectually. But the Smith College wokies are being mean to dorm moms like Jodi Shaw while followers of Seymour Itzkoff never get challenged on a college level.; 2/23/21, 7:50 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne aka Doug Emhoff's Pimp Hand said...: I'm Full of Soup said...

Yep - mailed W-2 to an employee 800 miles away in Chicago on 1/20/21. She got it yesterday on 2/22/21. It was even postmarked 1/20/21.

Back in December, post Christmas, I sent a letter 2-Day Priority from AZ to NJ, it took two weeks to get there.; 2/23/21, 7:53 PM
mandrewa said...: "To me, the Bell Curve and its descendants is old-fashioned eugenic wrongness. And needs to be challenged intellectually."

I've read The Bell Curve. Have you read it? It was dismaying. I imagined myself as a young black man reading it. And it is rough. Of course most of the book is not about comparing black and white people but part of it is.

So I was motivated to found an effective criticism of it. I thought about it and tried to come up with a counter-argument on my own. But really I wasn't successful.

A few years later I tried to find good criticism from other people. Couldn't find it. No what I found was a host of credentialed academics making innumerate arguments that don't make sense. I did a better job on my own of criticizing it.

It is 26 years now. If there were good arguments against this, you would already know them. I would probably already know them.

But just in case I missed something, all it takes is a link.; 2/23/21, 8:15 PM
Lurker21 said...: Tiger seems to have bumped everything else off the news for hours this afternoon. CNN, though, was still carrying on with the hate Trump stuff more than the other networks. I wonder how much is a LA thing. If somebody gets into an accident anywhere else there isn't much video and the story takes up about five minutes. In LA with all the helicopters and freelancers you get all the video you can stomach.; 2/23/21, 8:50 PM
J. Farmer said...: @wildswan:

There's nothing showing that we are smarter than the people of the Stone Age.
...
In other words, history shows that while there may be physical adaptations there is not much cross-cultural variation in intelligence.

One of the debates in physical anthropology is the relationship between so called "anatomically modern humans" and "behaviorally modern humans." It used to be widely believed that behavioral modernity arose quite a bit later than anatomical modernity. The argument relied mainly on the archaeological evidence from the upper paleolithic (e.g. cave paintings, small figurines, evidence for ritualized burial, etc. Of course, this could just be a reflection of the paucity of evidence.

I'll grant your premise about no "smarter than the people of the Stone Age." Still, "smarter" did not mean the same thing for kin-based nomadic hunter-gatherers as it does for citizens of highly complex industrialized nation-states that are highly stratified along economic lines. Michael Young predicted in the 1950s what Murray described in the The Bell Curve. Its title, The Rise of the Meritocracy, coined the term. Instead of relying on hereditary and aristocratic arrangements to staff elite institutions, we'd use standardized testing and psychometrics to filter kids into elite universities, regular universities, and trade schools. It's also worth remembering that Young coined the term "meritocracy" to describe a dystopian future.

Intelligence is at best a folk concept. It's one of those terms like "life" that has a popular, generally understood meaning. There are numerous attempts at standardize its meaning, but they always run into definitional problems at the boundaries. It's fair to assume that psychometric data has identified some quality that humans possess, regardless of how we choose to label this quality. We see phenotypic variation among humans that are clustered along continental lines as a result of humans breeding in geographic isolation from each other. Following the industrial revolution, human development is highest among northeast Asians, northwestern Europeans, and Ashkenazi Jews and is lowest among sub-Saharan Africans and Native Americans. African-Americans and Latinos occupy various points between Europeans, Natives, and Africans. America's racial stratification is just a microcosm of global racial stratification.; 2/23/21, 9:10 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Roughcoat:

Let's ask J. Farmer for his opinion on the subject. I'm sure he has one.

Always happy to oblige a friend.; 2/23/21, 9:11 PM
Jersey Fled said...: Per the CDC, the 7 day average of new covid cases is down 68.9% over the last 5 weeks. And it is down pretty much everywhere. There is no plausible explanation for this other than that we are approaching herd immunity driven by widespread immunization. 60 million doses have now been administered with that total increasing daily by 1.6 million doses.

Mask usage has not gone up. Social distancing has not become more prevalent. So what's left but more people vaccinated?

Sometimes I think we get stuck in the minutia of how many masks to wear and miss the obvious. We are like the weather forecaster who does everything but look out the window.; 2/23/21, 9:15 PM
Anonymous said...: Clyde- "Also, on a personal note, today marks the 30th anniversary of my starting my career with USPS. Homicide-free! One day at a time on that"

Got hired at USPS in 1976. Started as a Full time Regular. You know what that means. Lasted 3 years. Drove my car thru the loading dock doors, just because. Got suspended, but nobody gets fired. Well, except my Supervisor was caught stealing from the Registered Mail. He was a straight arrow who got hooked up with a girl who liked cocaine. And then he took a liking to cocaine. As Rick James said, "Cocaine is a horrible drug".

I even was a shop steward.

Anyway, Congrats on 30 years. If I stayed another year, all bets were off as to homicide-free.; 2/23/21, 9:22 PM
Narr said...: wildswan, neither Lynn nor Kanazawa are historians; perhaps they make historical claims, I just don't know. My point is that historians no longer make the sort of essentialist racial or cultural arguments outlined in order to explain outcomes, and the best ones never did.

Groups could differ in bell-curve distribution of IQ (tm) but still field astute, wily, and intelligent elites, especially for things as important as dealing with powerful neighbors.
The power differential is more likely a result of factors other than innate IQ of the populations anyway IMO.

Nothing proven either way, of course, just trying to establish some distance between historians and psychologists/psychometricians, and their respective concerns and explanations.

Narr
That's my story and I'm sticking to it; 2/23/21, 10:06 PM