“It’s clear that many EAs believe that there are population-level differences in average intelligence between ethnic groups”
It is not clear that many EAs believe this, unless you can point to a representative survey that shows otherwise. I would suggest changing ‘many EAs’ to ‘some commenters on the EA Forum’.
Most of the linked commenters do not even have an extensive comment history on this forum. Not to say these people aren’t EA’ers (I don’t think the email drama has reached the mainstream yet), but if the issue keeps getting attention, there is a real possibility of increased brigading from outsiders. Neo-nazis and scientific racists do this all the time.
I agree a representative survey of EAs would be useful data. In its absence, this survey is (I believe) a reasonable proxy, showing the popularity of “race realism” beliefs among rationalists:
I’m not convinced that is a reasonable proxy. There seems to be a big difference between ‘believe that races differ genetically in socially relevant ways’ and ‘believe that there are population-level differences in average intelligence between ethnic groups’. The latter statement is much more specific.
For example, I would agree with the first statement on the grounds that certain genetic diseases are more prevalent in some ethnic groups than others (e.g. cystic fibrosis is higher in white people, sickle-cell disease is more prevalent in people of African and African-Caribbean origin), and this is socially relevant for how healthcare resources are used. This seems to be scientific consensus—and indeed I think I first learnt about these differences as a biology student, either in high school or university.
It is not clear that many EAs believe this, unless you can point to a representative survey that shows otherwise. I would suggest changing ‘many EAs’ to ‘some commenters on the EA Forum’.
Most of the linked commenters do not even have an extensive comment history on this forum. Not to say these people aren’t EA’ers (I don’t think the email drama has reached the mainstream yet), but if the issue keeps getting attention, there is a real possibility of increased brigading from outsiders. Neo-nazis and scientific racists do this all the time.
I agree a representative survey of EAs would be useful data. In its absence, this survey is (I believe) a reasonable proxy, showing the popularity of “race realism” beliefs among rationalists:
https://mobile.twitter.com/IneffectiveAlt4/status/1613821366318338049
I’m not convinced that is a reasonable proxy. There seems to be a big difference between ‘believe that races differ genetically in socially relevant ways’ and ‘believe that there are population-level differences in average intelligence between ethnic groups’. The latter statement is much more specific.
For example, I would agree with the first statement on the grounds that certain genetic diseases are more prevalent in some ethnic groups than others (e.g. cystic fibrosis is higher in white people, sickle-cell disease is more prevalent in people of African and African-Caribbean origin), and this is socially relevant for how healthcare resources are used. This seems to be scientific consensus—and indeed I think I first learnt about these differences as a biology student, either in high school or university.
The survey question wasn’t alluding to cystic fibrosis and it’s disingenuous to pretend otherwise! You and I both know this!
I’m not going to respond further, I don’t think this conversation is productive.