That flat and unconditional statement seems to be mismatched with your sentence a bit later:
Frankly, most of this goes over my head.
Given that you say you lack the capability to “assess it intelligently on my own” and given that I don’t see the basis on which you decide I am statistically incompetent, I am rather curious why did you decide that I am wrong. Especially given that I was talking about my personal conclusions and not stating a falsifiable fact about reality.
You’re wrong because your conclusion that Shalizi was either blind or lying rested on two premises: one, that heritability in racial IQ differences has been proven, and two, that for Shalizi to admit this fact would be uttering the “unspeakable” and would carry severe social and career-wise consequences. I wrote a detailed explanation about the way Shalizi challenges the first premise on statistical grounds, in the field where he’s an expert (and in a way that’s neither blind nor dishonest, albeit it could be wrong). I gave an example that illustrates that the second premise is wildly exaggerated, especially when applied to an academic such as Shalizi. That’s why you are wrong.
Your response was to twist my words into a claim that you are “statistically incompetent”, where in fact I emphasized that Shalizi’s critique was on a deep technical level, and that I myself lacked knowledge to assess it. That is cheap emotional manipulation. You also cited a paper about Gottfredson that wasn’t relevant to what I said. Given this unpromising situation, I’m sure you’ll understand if I neglect to address further responses of that kind.
How could you possibly do that for a subject about which you said that “most of this goes over my head”?
Your response was to twist my words into a claim that you are “statistically incompetent”, where in fact I emphasized that Shalizi’s critique was on a deep technical level, and that I myself lacked knowledge to assess it.
Short memory, too. Your words: “I doubt, however, that your dismissal of Shalizi’s honesty is based on a solid understanding of the arguments in this debate about statistical foundations of IQ research.”
I’m sure you’ll understand if I neglect to address further responses of that kind.
Linda Gottfredson doesn’t seem to have been “silenced”, though. (But I have a libertarian, rather than a left/right partisan, view on that concept. Someone who takes grants from wealthy ideological supporters instead of from government institutions is not thereby silenced; on the contrary, that would seem pretty darn liberating.)
The “Look Inside” button will give you the first two pages. I am not sure why the publisher of the journal is relevant unless you’re going to claim the paper is an outright lie.
It’s evidence of what? That the paper fits well with the ideological orientation of the journal? Sure, but I’m not interested in that. Is it evidence that the paper incorrectly describes the relevant facts? I don’t think so.
The paper is from 1991 and seems to be about something that happened between 1988 and Gottfredson receiving a full professorship from U. Delaware in 1990? I’m not clear on the story there. But so far I’m not seeing silencing — just controversy and a question of whether the governors of an institution would choose to associate with a particular wealthy donor.
But again, I’ll admit I’m coming from a libertarian background — I see a big difference between what I’d call silencing (e.g. violence or threats of violence to get someone to stop speaking their views) and withdrawing association (e.g. choosing not to cooperate with someone on account of their views). The former is really scarily common, especially in online discourse today, so I’m kinda sensitive on that. :( That’s all complicated again by it being a government university involved, but except in really politicized cases that usually doesn’t affect the way the institution operates internally all that much.
a question of whether the governors of an institution would choose to associate with a particular wealthy donor.
Not quite. My reading is that Gottfredson was explicitly prohibited from accepting funding coming from the Pioneer Fund.
I agree that this is not true silencing, but I do not wish to defend the title of the article, anyway. It’s just a result of a quick Google search for “consequences” to holding, um, non-mainstream views on race and intelligence.
That flat and unconditional statement seems to be mismatched with your sentence a bit later:
Given that you say you lack the capability to “assess it intelligently on my own” and given that I don’t see the basis on which you decide I am statistically incompetent, I am rather curious why did you decide that I am wrong. Especially given that I was talking about my personal conclusions and not stating a falsifiable fact about reality.
P.S. Oh, and the bit about consequences for career? Try Blits, Jan H. The silenced partner: Linda Gottfredson and the University of Delaware
You’re wrong because your conclusion that Shalizi was either blind or lying rested on two premises: one, that heritability in racial IQ differences has been proven, and two, that for Shalizi to admit this fact would be uttering the “unspeakable” and would carry severe social and career-wise consequences. I wrote a detailed explanation about the way Shalizi challenges the first premise on statistical grounds, in the field where he’s an expert (and in a way that’s neither blind nor dishonest, albeit it could be wrong). I gave an example that illustrates that the second premise is wildly exaggerated, especially when applied to an academic such as Shalizi. That’s why you are wrong.
Your response was to twist my words into a claim that you are “statistically incompetent”, where in fact I emphasized that Shalizi’s critique was on a deep technical level, and that I myself lacked knowledge to assess it. That is cheap emotional manipulation. You also cited a paper about Gottfredson that wasn’t relevant to what I said. Given this unpromising situation, I’m sure you’ll understand if I neglect to address further responses of that kind.
How could you possibly do that for a subject about which you said that “most of this goes over my head”?
Short memory, too. Your words: “I doubt, however, that your dismissal of Shalizi’s honesty is based on a solid understanding of the arguments in this debate about statistical foundations of IQ research.”
Oh, I’m the understanding kind :-P
That’s a locked-up paper printed in a journal operated by a political advocacy group.
Linda Gottfredson doesn’t seem to have been “silenced”, though. (But I have a libertarian, rather than a left/right partisan, view on that concept. Someone who takes grants from wealthy ideological supporters instead of from government institutions is not thereby silenced; on the contrary, that would seem pretty darn liberating.)
The “Look Inside” button will give you the first two pages. I am not sure why the publisher of the journal is relevant unless you’re going to claim the paper is an outright lie.
It’s evidence. Are you advising to ignore it? Argument from authority is fallacious but reversed stupidity is not intelligence.
It’s evidence of what? That the paper fits well with the ideological orientation of the journal? Sure, but I’m not interested in that. Is it evidence that the paper incorrectly describes the relevant facts? I don’t think so.
Oh, I see. Thanks for the pointer.
The paper is from 1991 and seems to be about something that happened between 1988 and Gottfredson receiving a full professorship from U. Delaware in 1990? I’m not clear on the story there. But so far I’m not seeing silencing — just controversy and a question of whether the governors of an institution would choose to associate with a particular wealthy donor.
But again, I’ll admit I’m coming from a libertarian background — I see a big difference between what I’d call silencing (e.g. violence or threats of violence to get someone to stop speaking their views) and withdrawing association (e.g. choosing not to cooperate with someone on account of their views). The former is really scarily common, especially in online discourse today, so I’m kinda sensitive on that. :( That’s all complicated again by it being a government university involved, but except in really politicized cases that usually doesn’t affect the way the institution operates internally all that much.
Not quite. My reading is that Gottfredson was explicitly prohibited from accepting funding coming from the Pioneer Fund.
I agree that this is not true silencing, but I do not wish to defend the title of the article, anyway. It’s just a result of a quick Google search for “consequences” to holding, um, non-mainstream views on race and intelligence.
Here is another example.