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slatestarcodex's profile
Scott Alexander
Scott Alexander
Scott Alexander
@slatestarcodex

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Scott Alexander

@slatestarcodex

I have a place where I say complicated things about philosophy and science. That place is my blog. This is where I make terrible puns.

slatestarcodex.com
Joined June 2013

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    1. Scott Alexander‏ @slatestarcodex 17 Feb 2018
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      Replying to @slatestarcodex @circusarmy

      I don't think I'm motte-and-baileying - I wrote in middle of a long post that I predict polygenic scores will predict some amount of criminality. Everyone except you seemed to understand this was on the same scale as existing IQ predictors.

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    2. Scott Alexander‏ @slatestarcodex 17 Feb 2018
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      Replying to @slatestarcodex @circusarmy

      I do think you're motte-and-baileying between "Look at this racist fascist crazy person" and "Well, the research is so complicated that nobody can be SURE this is wrong"

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    3. Scott Alexander‏ @slatestarcodex 17 Feb 2018
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      Replying to @slatestarcodex @circusarmy

      I don't know how to argue that I'm motivated more by wanting to be able to discuss scientific research on important topics without being called fascist than by desire to hurt poor people for fun. Seems crazy to me to believe opposite.

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    4. howdy doody‏ @circusarmy 17 Feb 2018
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      Replying to @slatestarcodex

      Your papers agree that something called "criminality" or "antisocial behaviour" is hereditary without bothering to consider how either of those terms are constructed. That's my whole point. You can't get around that just by reasserting the original statement.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    5. howdy doody‏ @circusarmy 17 Feb 2018
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      Replying to @circusarmy @slatestarcodex

      I don't know why it seems crazy to you that I would suspect you of arguing in bad faith. That seems like special pleading to me. You assume leftists are arguing in bad faith basically all the time.

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    6. howdy doody‏ @circusarmy 18 Feb 2018
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      Replying to @circusarmy @slatestarcodex

      I'm trying to put myself inside your head now. I guess if you think that most people aren't really racist any more, it would seem ridiculous to you that I would even suspect you of being some kind of crazy out-there scientific racist.

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    7. howdy doody‏ @circusarmy 18 Feb 2018
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      Replying to @circusarmy @slatestarcodex

      Whereas in my mind it's like - ah, biological determinism, I know this. For the last couple hundred years, anyone who's said this has been about to do something horrible to the lower classes. I guess this guy could be an exception, but why would I assume that?

      2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
    8. Scott Alexander‏ @slatestarcodex 18 Feb 2018
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      Replying to @circusarmy

      I think your concept of history is distorted. 99% of the time ppl discover stuff about biology, they're using it to help people. EG hypothyroidism in Pakistan - not attempt to insult Pakistanis, just trying to help them - and it worked. Look up hx of iodine supplementation there.

      1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
    9. Scott Alexander‏ @slatestarcodex 18 Feb 2018
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      Replying to @slatestarcodex @circusarmy

      Similar example is lead-crime hypothesis. Proposes biological basis of crime - and used it to support banning lead pollution, after which crime dropped. Probably among most important interventions for helping poor in all of human history.

      1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
    10. Scott Alexander‏ @slatestarcodex 18 Feb 2018
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      Replying to @slatestarcodex @circusarmy

      The examples of biodeterminism being used against poor tend to be weaker than generally believed - eg "Social Darwinism" was less a coherent philosophy than something other people accused their enemies of - see eg https://historyofeconomics.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/is-social-darwinism-a-myth/ … .

      1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
      Scott Alexander‏ @slatestarcodex 18 Feb 2018
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      Replying to @slatestarcodex @circusarmy

      On the other hand, lots of neglected use of sociodeterminism to hurt poor, eg programs to take Aboriginal children away from their parents to be raised by whites, on the grounds that it was immoral to expose them to all the social problems of Aboriginal society.

      8:26 PM - 18 Feb 2018
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      • Mitch Baud'Dib
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        2. Scott Alexander‏ @slatestarcodex 18 Feb 2018
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          Replying to @slatestarcodex @circusarmy

          The same "if you believe in biology, then you must hate the poor" arguments were used to oppose theory of evolution when it came out. After a while everyone just agreed that you could believe in biology and think evolution was important without hating the poor.

          1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
        3. Scott Alexander‏ @slatestarcodex 18 Feb 2018
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          Replying to @slatestarcodex @circusarmy

          If you think racism is under every rock, maybe it seems like you have to destroy Science as collateral damage in fighting it. As I've written about before, every single poll about racism shows it to be around as popular as belief in reptilian shapeshifters, maybe 1% or 2% more

          2 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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