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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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/ … .
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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.
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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.
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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
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Replying to @slatestarcodex @circusarmy
My philosophy is pursue science, especially the kinds that have most consistently made the world better in the past, trust people not to be insane monsters motivated by hatred, distrust people who say everyone who disagrees with them is insane hateful monsters, hope for best.
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Replying to @slatestarcodex @circusarmy
And - sorry to continue this thread - but one more thing that bothers me. Right now we live in a world where people who shoplift small items are locked in cages for thirty years and frequently raped.
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This is your people - the people who think crime is totally just a random personal flaw with no genetic correlation - who did this. What exactly do you think biodeterminists are going to do that's *worse*?
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Replying to @slatestarcodex @circusarmy
The only importance genes have had on the legal system so far is that a few criminals have gotten let off because they had genes that predisposed them to crime (see the BBC article linked before for the story).
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Replying to @slatestarcodex @circusarmy
I don't think that makes sense, but I'm glad people are finally asking the question "Are criminals just lazy and evil, or might they be fighting a hard battle against tendencies they were born with?"
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