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Tuesday, August 28, 2018

IQ meritocracy

Based on my admittedly cursory knowledge of the alt-right, they classify Jews and Asians as the smartest races, Caucasians as the next smartest race, while blacks and Latinos fall below that. They also believe the bell curve should figure in our immigration policy. 

I think those comparisons are vitiated by equivocation at multiple levels, but let's play along with the claim for discussion purposes. 

1. I think atheists tend to idolize genius because they don't believe in God, so human genius is the next best thing.

2. By contrast, Christians are in the forefront of protecting people with low IQ, viz. people with senile dementia or Down Syndrome. 

This also figures in the abortion debate. Peter Singer thinks chimpanzees are smarter than human babies. He uses that to defend animal rights and infanticide. 

And even if we bracket the comparison with animals, it's generally the case that children are less intelligent than adults. Does that mean they're entitled to fewer protections–or greater protections?

Of course, this is one reason the alt-right despises Christianity. 

3. Consider an IQ meritocracy. A futuristic society in which the ruling class represents the top 0.5 % of the bell curve. Even if that was overrepresented by Asians, Jews, and whites, most whites wouldn't make the cut. Conversely, the ruling class would include Latino brainiacs, viz. Juan Maldacena, Matias Zaldarriaga, Eduardo Saverin. So some minorities would be ruling over most whites. In addition, there'd be Muslim brainiacs, viz. Ahmed Zewail, Nima Arkani-Hamed, Mohammad Abdus Salam.

4. Some bright guys just aren't cut out to be cubicle people. They like working with their hands. They like working out of doors. Intellectually, they have what it takes to be über geeks, but they're not temperamentally suited to that line of work. 

19 comments:

  1. I appreciate your stance here and elsewhere regarding the IQ issue being simplistic. You and others have unravelled much of the simplicity very well.

    Of course, the 'alt-right' is a very mixed bag. There are different groups within the 'alt-right' that have entirely different agendas based on entirely different outlooks.

    Take those on the 'alt-right' who believe in 'white supremacy,' 'group identity' in general, and 'the Jewish conspiracy' (which manifests itself in a barely disguised loathing of Jews, or 'zionists.') This 'wing' of the 'alt-right' appears to share more in common with many on the left* than it would with the traditional right.

    The 'alt-right' seems to me to be an absurd, ever-shifting label that is utterly inadequate given the diverse groups that fall within.

    *Of course, 'white supremacy' would not be a shared goal with the liberal-left, but at least would be a point of agreement in terms of its existence, and only encourages the deranged liberal-left in its paranoia.

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  2. Of course, many among the alt-right are anti-Semitic. I guess the alt-right have a love-hate relationship with Jews!

    Also, many among the alt-right distinguish between East Asians and "jungle" Asians. They regard "jungle" Asians as intellectually inferior.

    Perhaps this is merely coincidence, but several prominent alt-righters seem to have dated or married Asian women (e.g. Richard Spencer, Andrew Anglin, Mike Cernovich, Kyle Chapman, John Derbyshire).

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    1. Likewise Jared Taylor spent over a decade living in Japan.

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    2. In fact, if I recall, Taylor was a missionary kid. His parents were Christian missionaries to Japan.

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    3. Taylor's wife is of English descent. Cernovich - who is not a race realist - is married to an Iranian woman.

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    4. Taylor lived in Japan, and speaks and writes Japanese. I can't imagine he never tried to date a Japanese girl.

      Didn't Cernovich use to date an Asian girl prior to his (second) wife? Maybe I'm wrong. To be fair, Cernovich sounds like it's less about being part of the alt-right crowd and more about being embittered against women and liberals in general due to his first wife.

      Another is Charles Murray who used to have an Asian wife, though I don't think I'd consider Murray alt-right.

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  3. I prefer reading Vox Day when it comes to learning what the alt-right believes. He's a Christian, and he does discuss IQ, especially when it comes to the claim that Jews are the most intelligent of the bunch. He's not the most spot-on Christian theologian given that he believes in free-will, among other things. However, I think he's a better representative of the alt-right than white-supremacists. His writing persuaded me to ditch the label of conservative altogether.

    I strongly recommend his blog: voxday dot blogspot dot com.

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  4. Groups like these observed from Europe are bizarre isotisms.

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  5. The person who apparently coined the phrase "alternative right" was Paul Gottfried, who is Jewish. He said he has never voted for a "pro choice" candidate. He attends Christian services.


    It's a fact that groups differ in intelligence. It is most likely a fact that there are genetic differences in this. Do you want to bet the next mortage payment that Australian Aborigines are just as bright as Ashkenazi Jews?

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    1. We've been over this ground before.

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    2. Steve Jackson

      For example:

      http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2018/07/biracialism-in-scripture.html
      http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2018/07/freakasaurus.html
      http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-bell-curve.html

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    3. "Do you want to bet the next mortage payment that Australian Aborigines are just as bright as Ashkenazi Jews?"

      David Unaipon was smarter than Roseanne Barr.

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  6. Steve, could you provide some names and quotes from alt-right thinkers who take the positions that you claim they do?

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    1. As I recall, alt-right commenters on Tblog have made statements like that. Likewise, I think I've quoted sources on the generally secular nature of the alt-right.

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  7. 3. Consider an IQ meritocracy. A futuristic society in which the ruling class represents the top 0.5 % of the bell curve. Even if that was overrepresented by Asians, Jews, and whites, most whites wouldn't make the cut. Conversely, the ruling class would include Latino brainiacs, viz. Juan Maldacena, Matias Zaldarriaga, Eduardo Saverin. So some minorities would be ruling over most whites. In addition, there'd be Muslim brainiacs, viz. Ahmed Zewail, Nima Arkani-Hamed, Mohammad Abdus Salam."


    I have never heard of these people.


    There are more Polish Nobel prizes in science than all of Africans and Latin Americans combined.

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    1. The fact that you've never heard of them says more about you than them.

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    2. There is no correlation and much less causality between the number of Nobel Prize winners and the average IQ of a people.

      In other words, the cause for this difference you have to find in factors other than IQ.

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  8. Its a sad day when some liberal ideas and arguments seem quite useful against nutcases...

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    1. Which liberal ideas and arguments are you referring to?

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