I’ve been working & dealing with the fact that my laptop fried this weekend (getting used to working my clunky desktop back up until I can get the laptop situation figured out). So I’ve missed out on the big debate that sprouted this weekend about THE BELL CURVE & racism and IQ and all that….
So, see here Charles Murtaugh’s opinion, Matthew Yglesias, Kevin Drum, Atrios, Brad Delong, 6th International, Nathan Newman, Kieran Healy….
Not much I’m going to say right now, don’t have the time, but perhaps later. I’m sure GNXP readers can have fun on the boards of these sites.
Update:
Unlike most of those who discuss the Bell Curve, I’ve actually read it, and I found it fascinating and well-written. It is regrettable that Murray and Herrnstein were known to have racial views, and even more regrettable that race was mentioned in the book. This turned debate about the book’s main ideas to discussions of race, which are nearly always emotional and unproductive.
By far the most important idea in the book was independent of race entirely – the strong and strongly researched link between intelligence and social behaviour. (Most of the book analyzes data from a long-term study of Caucasians.) The fact that low intelligence is a leading indicator of criminality, violence, lack of civility, and poor parenting was suspected before but has now been clearly shown. The implications are significant for policymakers, philosophers, pundits, and thoughtful people everywhere, particularly in a world where the average intelligence level is steadily dropping.
I urge anyone interested in these issues to actually read the book, it is well worth your time even if you are unconvinced by or opposed to the authors’ views.
Ole
P.S. I am personally so concerned about the unfortunate combination of dropping intelligence with the correlation of low intelligence to poor social behavior that I’m writing a book about it, to be called Unnatural Selection. Please see http://w-uh.com/ if you’re interested…
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