It’s not really my responsibility to do research trying to figure out what you mean by “real entity.” Is “elephants” a “real entity”? What about “worms”? Is “the South” a real entity? What about “Minnesota”?
You asked “What scientific theories are these categories from?” For most of the examples I gave this answer was obvious and had you not before heard of, say, ribosomes, you could google and quickly determine a ribosome is a entity from cell biology. You have a history of making people defend extended and irrelevant points so as to avoid ever conceding any point—so I don’t take your request at face value. And if you don’t already know ‘Helium’ comes from chemistry then you need to drastically reduce your confidence in lots of your beliefs. By way of analogy, matter was once believed to consist of five elements. It turned out Aristotelian cosmology was not a theory that helped us answer many important questions so we stopped believing in quintessence. Similarly, “blacks, whites, reds and yellows” is not a theory of human genetic difference at all adequate for answering interesting questions in population genetics or anthropology.
The preposterous thing about this is that I don’t actually strongly disagree with your position. I think you’re wildly overconfident but I don’t think and have never said that positing group IQ differences due to genetics along groups that roughly correspond to some traditional racial categories is by definition racist or even likely to be wrong.
This illustrates my point very well. A few hundred years ago, someone might have argued that atheism is hurtful, evil, low status, embarassing, and makes you look stupid. But none of these things affect the fundamental correctness or incorrectness of atheism.
For the third time: it is the way you talk about these issues involving race, genetics and IQ that is hurtful, low status, etc. You seem to be under the misconception that because (you think) your beliefs are true you have the right to offend people when you share them. This may be the case if people are offended by the content of the beliefs. But it is not the case when people are offended by the way you state your beliefs. Less Wrong would not tolerate posts of the kind one finds at r/atheism despite nearly everyone here agreeing with their propositional content. Those posts would get downvoted because they do not rise to Less Wrong standards- despite being trivially true. I don’t think it is too great a burden on people discussing this issue that they have a passing familiarity with population genetics and anthropology.
″ For most of the examples I gave this answer was obvious
I limited my request to two of the “real entities” you named. “Homo Sapiens” and the “Dravidian Language Group.”
It’s not obvious to me what scientific theories these categories come from and I will not guess at what you mean.
I also asked you whether “elephants,” “worms” “The South,” or “Minnesota” are “real entities.” You have not answered my question.
I also asked you to state a particular hypothesis in “scientific terms,” which you apparently think would be easy. You have not done so.
In short, I am trying to figure out your point and you are not making it easy for me.
as to avoid ever conceding any point
Exactly what point do you think I should concede?
Similarly, “blacks, whites, reds and yellows” is not a theory of human genetic difference at all adequate for answering interesting questions in population genetics or anthropology.
Even assuming this is true, it doesn’t change the fact that the black/white IQ gap is largely due to genetics. In short, it’s a red herring.
Let me ask you this:
Suppose I divide up human beings into three races:
Race 1: Ethnic Swedes plus people born in Maine;
Race 2: Ethnic Japanese plus people born in Sri Lanka;
Race 3: Everyone else.
Would you agree that this racial division is “inadequate foranswering interesting questions in population genetics or anthropology.”?
For the third time: it is the way you talk about these issues involving race, genetics and IQ that is hurtful, low status, etc
Lol, the exact point of raising the genetic basis of the black/white IQ difference is because it is considered one of the most offensive, hurtful things to say in the West in the 21st century.
You asked “What scientific theories are these categories from?” For most of the examples I gave this answer was obvious and had you not before heard of, say, ribosomes, you could google and quickly determine a ribosome is a entity from cell biology. You have a history of making people defend extended and irrelevant points so as to avoid ever conceding any point—so I don’t take your request at face value. And if you don’t already know ‘Helium’ comes from chemistry then you need to drastically reduce your confidence in lots of your beliefs. By way of analogy, matter was once believed to consist of five elements. It turned out Aristotelian cosmology was not a theory that helped us answer many important questions so we stopped believing in quintessence. Similarly, “blacks, whites, reds and yellows” is not a theory of human genetic difference at all adequate for answering interesting questions in population genetics or anthropology.
The preposterous thing about this is that I don’t actually strongly disagree with your position. I think you’re wildly overconfident but I don’t think and have never said that positing group IQ differences due to genetics along groups that roughly correspond to some traditional racial categories is by definition racist or even likely to be wrong.
For the third time: it is the way you talk about these issues involving race, genetics and IQ that is hurtful, low status, etc. You seem to be under the misconception that because (you think) your beliefs are true you have the right to offend people when you share them. This may be the case if people are offended by the content of the beliefs. But it is not the case when people are offended by the way you state your beliefs. Less Wrong would not tolerate posts of the kind one finds at r/atheism despite nearly everyone here agreeing with their propositional content. Those posts would get downvoted because they do not rise to Less Wrong standards- despite being trivially true. I don’t think it is too great a burden on people discussing this issue that they have a passing familiarity with population genetics and anthropology.
This debate should look like the exchange between cupholder and steve hsu not, well this.
I limited my request to two of the “real entities” you named. “Homo Sapiens” and the “Dravidian Language Group.”
It’s not obvious to me what scientific theories these categories come from and I will not guess at what you mean.
I also asked you whether “elephants,” “worms” “The South,” or “Minnesota” are “real entities.” You have not answered my question.
I also asked you to state a particular hypothesis in “scientific terms,” which you apparently think would be easy. You have not done so.
In short, I am trying to figure out your point and you are not making it easy for me.
Exactly what point do you think I should concede?
Even assuming this is true, it doesn’t change the fact that the black/white IQ gap is largely due to genetics. In short, it’s a red herring.
Let me ask you this:
Suppose I divide up human beings into three races:
Race 1: Ethnic Swedes plus people born in Maine;
Race 2: Ethnic Japanese plus people born in Sri Lanka;
Race 3: Everyone else.
Would you agree that this racial division is “inadequate foranswering interesting questions in population genetics or anthropology.”?
Lol, the exact point of raising the genetic basis of the black/white IQ difference is because it is considered one of the most offensive, hurtful things to say in the West in the 21st century.