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
Out of interest - how likely do you think it is that there's a biological link between race and IQ? Like, what's the percentage chance? I've always wondered what your answer to this question would be.
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Replying to @circusarmy @slatestarcodex
You've complimented Charles Murray before and I vaguely remember you writing about the idea that Ashkenazi Jews might have some kind of genetic disease that makes them smarter, but I'm still not totally sure what your position is.
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Replying to @circusarmy @slatestarcodex
I assume you think scientists should be able to research the question without people calling them racist, but I've always been interested to know if you personally think there's anything to it.
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Replying to @circusarmy
Too complicated to fit in a tweet, but broadly agreeing with the scientific consensus.
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Also somewhat agreeing with Gwern here:https://www.gwern.net/Mistakes#iq-race …
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