It’s a problem, and I agree… Rich people tend to get and stay smart (and rich) by being brought up in enriched environments (lots of conversation with adults, and lots of books) and then working in enriched environments (competitive socially- and technically-demanding professional jobs that require constant learning). Many poor people get and stay poor by working repetitive minimum-wage jobs to help their families while also being harassed more than rich people are, and don’t have enough time to invest in reading/education to advance themselves because their family needs more money right away. Africa has lots of natural resources but lots of poverty, and the poverty incentivizes short-term consumption, corruption, and war for scarce resources, instead of investment. A sufficiently well-defended African nation-state could presumably pull a South Korea and get to first-world status in a generation by min/maxing for investment in education, like South Korea did. But, they’d need strong internal controls against corruption, and strong external controls against terrorism. South Korea had these (Confucian culture, and blockade by water and US military). I mean, people are the same species regardless of skin color and so presumably have equivalent/compatible brain structure as well. Poverty makes many stereotypes look true.
The example of magical strength in HPMOR is a commentary on intelligence in the real world. People who study obsessively get really smart and eventually look “naturally brilliant”, like Hermione. Rich people claim natural superiority despite putting their children through prep schools, like Draco. Some people experience chance events that push them in new directions different from those taken by their older biological relatives, like Harry. Parental expectations about studying and work mean that the apple tends not to fall far from the tree.
Dr. Watson could have said what he did in a totally non-offensive way, something like, “Systemic poverty in many countries within Africa means that most Africans have enjoyed less access to quality education than members of richer nations, and consequently perform worse on average on written IQ tests”. It’s a similar error to what Don Sterling made. Don Sterling should have said, “I want my girlfriend to stop cheating on me and bringing her other boyfriends to my games” instead of “I want my girlfriend to stop bring black people to my games.” Being classist is slightly less offensive than being racist.
if you think that being born with Down’s Syndrome doesn’t impact life outcomes, then you are on crack. … So much for God being just
Good point. I hadn’t realized that the dialogue about race is fueled partly by religious zealotry defending the just-world hypothesis. Makes sense. As Lovecraft said, the most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. This is a lot to live with until I/we figure out how to fix some of this stuff.
Many poor people get and stay poor by working repetitive minimum-wage jobs to help their families while also being harassed more than rich people are, and don’t have enough time to invest in reading/education to advance themselves because their family needs more money right away.
So if we were to give large transfer payments to the poor then they would have enough money to invest in future generations. In fact this happens frequently in the form of lotteries but wealth decays over just a few generations.
Only if the poor people in question invest their money properly in education and self-advancement, instead of (for example) blowing the windfall on a holiday to Disneyworld. It might be better to find a way to spend that money so as to encourage poor people to learn.
The One Laptop Per Child project managed to get some interesting results by dropping off piles of tablets with basic teaching software and no instructions in two Ethiopian villages so remote that there simply wasn’t any written material anywhere. It seems to have worked well, according to the article.
It’s a problem, and I agree… Rich people tend to get and stay smart (and rich) by being brought up in enriched environments (lots of conversation with adults, and lots of books) and then working in enriched environments (competitive socially- and technically-demanding professional jobs that require constant learning). Many poor people get and stay poor by working repetitive minimum-wage jobs to help their families while also being harassed more than rich people are, and don’t have enough time to invest in reading/education to advance themselves because their family needs more money right away. Africa has lots of natural resources but lots of poverty, and the poverty incentivizes short-term consumption, corruption, and war for scarce resources, instead of investment. A sufficiently well-defended African nation-state could presumably pull a South Korea and get to first-world status in a generation by min/maxing for investment in education, like South Korea did. But, they’d need strong internal controls against corruption, and strong external controls against terrorism. South Korea had these (Confucian culture, and blockade by water and US military). I mean, people are the same species regardless of skin color and so presumably have equivalent/compatible brain structure as well. Poverty makes many stereotypes look true.
The example of magical strength in HPMOR is a commentary on intelligence in the real world. People who study obsessively get really smart and eventually look “naturally brilliant”, like Hermione. Rich people claim natural superiority despite putting their children through prep schools, like Draco. Some people experience chance events that push them in new directions different from those taken by their older biological relatives, like Harry. Parental expectations about studying and work mean that the apple tends not to fall far from the tree.
Dr. Watson could have said what he did in a totally non-offensive way, something like, “Systemic poverty in many countries within Africa means that most Africans have enjoyed less access to quality education than members of richer nations, and consequently perform worse on average on written IQ tests”. It’s a similar error to what Don Sterling made. Don Sterling should have said, “I want my girlfriend to stop cheating on me and bringing her other boyfriends to my games” instead of “I want my girlfriend to stop bring black people to my games.” Being classist is slightly less offensive than being racist.
Good point. I hadn’t realized that the dialogue about race is fueled partly by religious zealotry defending the just-world hypothesis. Makes sense. As Lovecraft said, the most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. This is a lot to live with until I/we figure out how to fix some of this stuff.
So if we were to give large transfer payments to the poor then they would have enough money to invest in future generations. In fact this happens frequently in the form of lotteries but wealth decays over just a few generations.
Only if the poor people in question invest their money properly in education and self-advancement, instead of (for example) blowing the windfall on a holiday to Disneyworld. It might be better to find a way to spend that money so as to encourage poor people to learn.
The One Laptop Per Child project managed to get some interesting results by dropping off piles of tablets with basic teaching software and no instructions in two Ethiopian villages so remote that there simply wasn’t any written material anywhere. It seems to have worked well, according to the article.