I haven’t studied these issues, but I will note that Steve Sailor and VDARE.com are considered by many people to be racist bigots. Here, for example, is a VDARE article defending white supremacy:
White supremacy, in the sense of a society in which key decisions are made by white Europeans, is one of the better arrangements History has come up with.
This doesn’t mean that Sailor’s claims in the article you quoted are false, but it might mean that Sailor is unusually susceptible to motivated cognition in a particular direction when it comes to racial issues.
Also, as a matter of community strategy, I’ll note that citing sources like VDARE.com with apparent approval might make people of color feel unwelcome on LessWrong, even if the specific quoted claims are correct — just like citing Roissy might make women feel unwelcome even if you only quote true claims he has made.
Also, as a matter of community strategy, I’ll note that citing sources like VDARE.com with apparent approval might make people of color feel unwelcome on LessWrong, even if the specific quoted claims are correct — just like citing Roissy might make women feel unwelcome even if you only quote true claims he has made.
Thank you for saying this. You may need to (I won’t say “like to”) read up some of the past race-vs-IQ discussions on LessWrong and work out how to discourage people from saying boneheaded scientific-racist shit in them, c.f.last time I dared note this was actually a serious problem. (The recent downvoting into oblivion of the “race realist” post, and of the author’s frothing responses in the comments, was most encouraging IMO.)
I think not mentioning Roissy here when appropriate is a bit silly considering there is such great overlap in the blogosphere. Robin Hanson still directly links to him.
You have put marketing considerations above the rational search for the truth. I do not think you would have done the same thing when you were considering atheism: “will this true belief make me less marketable?” And you should not do it now.
I disagree with your claim that I’ve put marketing considerations above the rational search for truth. Also, remember that in our best current models of normative decision theory, true beliefs are a means to the end of optimal action.
I haven’t studied these issues, but I will note that Steve Sailor and VDARE.com are considered by many people to be racist bigots. Here, for example, is a VDARE article defending white supremacy:
This doesn’t mean that Sailor’s claims in the article you quoted are false, but it might mean that Sailor is unusually susceptible to motivated cognition in a particular direction when it comes to racial issues.
Also, as a matter of community strategy, I’ll note that citing sources like VDARE.com with apparent approval might make people of color feel unwelcome on LessWrong, even if the specific quoted claims are correct — just like citing Roissy might make women feel unwelcome even if you only quote true claims he has made.
Thank you for saying this. You may need to (I won’t say “like to”) read up some of the past race-vs-IQ discussions on LessWrong and work out how to discourage people from saying boneheaded scientific-racist shit in them, c.f. last time I dared note this was actually a serious problem. (The recent downvoting into oblivion of the “race realist” post, and of the author’s frothing responses in the comments, was most encouraging IMO.)
I think not mentioning Roissy here when appropriate is a bit silly considering there is such great overlap in the blogosphere. Robin Hanson still directly links to him.
I disagree with this.
You have put marketing considerations above the rational search for the truth. I do not think you would have done the same thing when you were considering atheism: “will this true belief make me less marketable?” And you should not do it now.
I disagree with your claim that I’ve put marketing considerations above the rational search for truth. Also, remember that in our best current models of normative decision theory, true beliefs are a means to the end of optimal action.
Atheists, one presumes, are not known for making objectively false statements. That they are an out-group is entirely beside the point.