Health Inequalities: Why do Latinos Live Longer than Whites?

This about HBD, tagged , , was written by for on October 8, 2013 .26 Comments

Is summarized below for each state (source) – and it shows some very interesting patterns. The average life expectancy of Asian-Americans (86.5 years) is 4 years higher than in Japan – the longest-lived big East Asian country. Taiwan and South Korea are at around 80; Hong Kong is at 83; Singapore is at 81. The […]

The Racists Aren’t Where the Prof Said They’d Be

This about HBD, tagged , , , , was written by for on September 4, 2013 .15 Comments

A few months late, but worth posting anyway. The results are based on the latest “wave” of the World Values Survey, a very interesting project that tracks sociological data across countries – and which I will likely post more about in the future. Interesting observations: (1) The West in general is the world’s least “racist”* […]

The Farewell To Alms Theory – Older Than We Think

This about HBD, tagged , , was written by for on March 19, 2013 .1 Comment

I am currently (re)reading The National System of Political Economy by Friedrich List (published in 1841), and this jumped out at me: In no European kingdom is the institution of an aristocracy more judiciously designed than in England for securing to the nobility, in their relation to the Crown and the commonalty, individual independence, dignity, […]

Policy On Racism

This about HBD, tagged , was written by for on August 20, 2012 .13 Comments

As I noted in my old post on the false dichotomy between race denial and racism, there is a regrettable degree of overlap between racism and race realism. This shouldn’t however blind us to the real distinctions between the two, which were very succinctly summarized by Half Sigma thus: The race realist understands The g Factor, The […]

Hamburgers And Rednecks: IQ Estimates Of US Ethnic Groups

This about HBD, tagged , , , was written by for on July 31, 2012 .34 Comments

Via The Audacious Epigone: IQ scores by US ethnic groups. It is not very useful I think in theoretical or practical applications but it is interesting as a showcase of why IQ is more than just genetic inheritance, incorporating also Flynn, sampling issues, sense of popular identity, selection bias, etc. Wordsum is basically a vocab test of […]

Did Ron Unz Score An Own Goal Too?

This about HBD, tagged , , , , was written by for on July 28, 2012 .38 Comments

In recent days Ron Unz’s article Race, IQ, and Wealth (The American Conservative) has been making the rounds in the HBDsphere. Broadly speaking it argues for the predominance of cultural and environmental factors as opposed to genetic in forming IQ. It is fairly long but it’s also one of the best statements of that position out there, […]

In Which I Appear On The Stark Report

This about HBD, tagged , , was written by for , on May 22, 2012 .2 Comments

You can listen to the 56 minutes of my interview on The Stark Truth about race realism, IQ / human capital, and economic development here. (That, or read the posts linked to therein if you haven’t already. I didn’t say much new). Many thanks to Robert Stark, and the Voice of Reason Broadcast Network which does […]

Through A Glass Ceiling Darkly: Racial IQ Disparities And The Wealth Of Nations

This about HBD, tagged , , , was written by for on April 16, 2012 .96 Comments

Now that I’m done with the Necessary Caveats, it’s time we had a look at why exactly HBD/IQ theories are both valid, and relevant to the real world. As I see it, their main import (as interpreted by me) can be distilled into a few logically consecutive, falsifiable statements: IQ tests are a valid, culturally […]

Race Denial vs. Racism – A False Dichotomy

This about HBD, tagged , was written by for on April 13, 2012 .120 Comments

This may be the article I’ve hesitated longest over publishing. Its subject matter has always hovered as a specter over my writings on the close relation between human capital and economic growth; an obvious but studiously ignored presence*. I am talking, of course, about race and IQ. Of racial differences in IQ, to be precise. […]

Navalny’s Petty Racism

This about Politics, tagged , , was written by for on February 18, 2012 .36 Comments

A few weeks back Navalny brought my attention to this lovely song extolling Putin’s achievements by Tolibjon Kurbankhanov, a Tajik singer from Dushanbe. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcnQ9imDrWk&w=640&h=360] Navalny exhorts his minions to spread this clip far and wide. The writing between the lines is obvious. His reasons aren’t nice and altruistic, but utterly insidious, playing on xenophobia towards Central […]

Book Review: Howard Bloom – The Lucifer Principle

This , about History, tagged , , , , , was written by for , on July 15, 2010 .20 Comments

Depressingly fatalist, morbidly truthful, irresistibly Nietzschean. That’s Howard Bloom’s “The Lucifer Principle” in a nutshell: a meandering trawl through disciplines such as genetics, psychology and culture that culminates in a theory of evil, purporting to explain its historical necessity, its creative potential and the possibility of it ever being vanquished. The odds do not appear to […]