Charles Murray (Bell Curve) on Sam Harris Podcast

I've read a lot of the research on this topic. Everything the "Bell Curve" says is not only true, but has been reinforced with a lot of newer research since the 1990's.

The smarter you are (as measured by IQ) the more successful in life you will be, on average. There are exceptions, of course (poor geniuses and rich idiots), but if you take a thousand people of 120 IQ and compare them to a thousand people of 90 IQ, you will see a huge income disparity between the two groups.

But it's not just wealth. Higher IQ people don't commit crime nearly as often, and therefore make up a tiny percentage of the prison population. Higher IQ people also have much fewer health problems and live a lot longer, on average.

Now why is this topic taboo? A couple reasons:

1) There is a disparity in IQ between racial groups

2) People don't want to talk about things they can't control -- it goes against the liberal narrative that we're all equal at birth.

However, with point #2, there is a lot of hypocrisy. For instance, some people are dealt a bad hand with physical disabilities or health problems beyond their control and no one minds talking about that. But when it comes to the brain and intelligence, we're not allowed to discuss it, even when race is taken out of the equation.

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Now why is this topic taboo? A couple reasons: 1) There is a disparity in IQ between racial groups 2) People don't want to talk about things they can't control -- it goes against the liberal narrative that we're all equal at birth.

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The odd thing is that egalitarians are far more bothered by intelligence differences than physical differences.
The local newspaper will publish the height, weight, bench press and 40 yard dash time of a HS football player.
But their IQs are top secret. In most districts the teachers are forbidden from seeing the IQs of their students.

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and all but one was at least 115.

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The one was Hitler's newspaper editor!

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Higher IQ individuals are more likely to weigh the costs against the benefits. Long jailtime is too high a cost for most anything.

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That's a good point.

But wouldn't smart people also be more likely to overestimate themselves and think they can outsmart po-po?

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That's a good point.

But wouldn't smart people also be more likely to overestimate themselves and think they can outsmart po-po?

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If higher IQ accounts for a better moral intelligence, then no.

Most violent offenders are more the low-impulse-control type than Hannibal Lecter wannabes.

We've been having this conversation about The Bell Curve since 1994. The Left was upset back then. The only difference is that the The Left has become so bizarrely infantile that we have no expectation that any of them will ever read it, or even listen to a podcast with Dr Murray. The Left no longer deconstructs, they just violently melt. They can't intelligently critique the scholarship, they can only scream, break things and hit people.

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Should be listened to by those that dismiss it as racist (without reading it)

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What if I dismiss it because it's overly conclusory about an overly narrow swath of evidence in a way that's racist?

There's is substantially more disagreement among scientists about the validity of IQ scores and even more debate over the bell curve among scientists than there is among scientists who study climate change and it's causes.......it ain't even close.....but I would bet that almost everyone who thinks the bell curves ideas of race and intelligence are facts deny that mankind is causing global warming.....it's be interesting to see what research would indicate.....


By the way if you buy the fact that IQ testing is actually measuring anything of importance and is not effected by environment or not effected much then you are unequivocally stating that the basis of the constitution is flawed and flawed Ina serious manner...all men are not created equally in the most basic area and that is the ability to understand and cope with their environment.........