But Harris was defending Murray's work. He says "The purpose of the podcast was to set the record straight. Because I find the dishonesty and hypocrisy and moral cowardice of Murray's critics shocking." I agree discussing != defending in general, but isn't that clearly a defense?
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More quotes from Harris' intro: "What I found when I began reading Murray’s work was a deeply rational and careful scholar who is quite obviously motivated by an ethical concern about inequality in our society. This is not a person who was in favor of discrimination."
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"People... certainly don’t want to hear that average IQ differs across races and ethnic groups. Now, for better or worse, these are all facts. There is almost nothing in psychological science for which there is more evidence than these claims."
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"So it is with real pleasure and some trepidation that I bring you a very controversial conversation on points about which there is virtually no scientific controversy" ... I really don't see how it's unfair to say that Harris was defending Murray's work on race
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Note I'm not taking a position here about whether Harris is right, or whether he should've done the show, or anything. Just disputing the claim that Harris was merely discussing, not defending, Murray's work.
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I agree that's the more controversial part, and I don't have a quote handy from Harris about that -- but my memory is that he defends Murray's take (some of the gap is probably innate, some environmental) as a reasonable one
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Yes he says so in the Vox interview https://www.vox.com/2018/4/9/17210248/sam-harris-ezra-klein-charles-murray-transcript-podcast …pic.twitter.com/eqxoRMJwnl
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Also Charles Murray’s work is based in fact. So if you don’t like it you can go argue the facts not just dismiss simple facts as racist.
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What studies have shown the genetic heritability of IQ based on race as a genetic construct? Please link to these facts
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I’m failing to understand this question. Who doesn’t think that IQ is heritable? Smart parents generally have smart kids. Virtually every heritable trait has a different average between racial groups. I.e. Some racial groups are taller than others, on avg.
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What are the chances that if other heritable traits vary on average, that, miraculously, only intelligence is exactly identical across all groups. This is politically motivated wishful thinking. We need to confront uncomfortable facts & build society to be robust despite them.
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Which genes determine race as you're putting it?
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How would I know? I don’t know the names of any genes. But, it can’t be a coincidence that slender tall black people make good marathon runners. I don’t know what genes give them those traits, but surely they’re heritable, and better at running than other gene constellations.
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Those slender tall people, why are they black? What does it mean to be black genetically? There is more genetic diversity in Africa than in the rest of the world combined. So why are all these different kinds of people all "black"?
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But I guess you’re asking, what is a race? And are they purely a social construct. I would think they’re a fuzzy imperfect construct, but not just socially constructed. A race is like a big family. And families tend to develop identifiable traits and statistical features.
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But “discussing” does mean pushing back when opinions are stated as facts. So when Murray says things like “group diffs suggest genetic roots,” or “evidence points toward a genetic factor in cognitive ethnic diffs,” it was Sam’s obligation to push back. 1/3
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Instead, he stated multiple times (esp in discussion w/ Ezra) that Murray’s science is “objective data” and “scientific fact.” He also let Murray state as fact that fade out effects indicate that a person’s environment can’t really change IQ. 2/3
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I think Sam provides a valuable perspective on many issues, and I agree w/ letting controversial speakers speak, but he was spreading misinformation about the science here. As a fellow scientist and lover of intellectual political discourse, I was disappointed. 3/3
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