andrewducker | Interesting Links for 25-11-2022

Aah, what you're seeing there is a content warning. Click on the top one and you should see what's under it.

Aha!

That's sad. When I paid attention to Scott Alexander I generally found him interesting

It's not quite as sad as the implications of the most interesting analysis of why you might get noticiable difference in measured IQ between Westerners and Sub-Saharan Africans - that Sub-Saharan Aficans are much, much more likely to have been malnourished at exactly the time and in exactly the way that most impact brain development, that they are much, much more likely to have had severe fever from a preventable infectious disease at the time that that most impacts brain development and that they are much, much likely to have suffered some severe emotional trauma by witnessing or experiencing violence or parental loss at an age where that is most likely to impact brain development.

Absolutely. I'm totally in favour of looking at population groups, and understanding what's going on with their development. But not in the rather reductive manner that's going on there.

(And I am also sad, because I liked a fair bit of what Scott wrote, although I also got annoyed by it regularly.)

what's going on with their development.

I'm just left wanting to shout at the scientific racists:-

There are two common factors that Sub-Sharahan people of colour share that are not as commonly shared by Westerners.

One is that their skin is darker.

The other is that the places they live have been systematically robbed over hundreds of years, sometimes so badly as to cause famine, leading to a situation where they are still today poor and often unstable.

I wonder which common factor might best explain what is going on with their physical development...

Interesting Links for 25-11-2022

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