Please believe me when I say it is not clear to me which opinion you believe Bostrom had in the 90s, or in what important sense his recent apology was not “unequivocal” (was something important missing? what something present that shouldn’t have been?), or whether you believe he still holds a related bad opinion today.
it is not clear to me which opinion you believe Bostrom had in the 90s
I don’t know and am not really interested in whatever Bostrom’s actual opinion in the 90s was because I’m a consequentialist, not a virtue ethicist. Susan II’s post above highlights the reasons Bostrom should have expected his statement to be interpreted as a racist one, and why it was in fact reasonable for people (who both agree with and disagree with it) to interpret it that way.
was something important missing? what something present that shouldn’t have been?
I think that drawing attention to racial gaps in IQ test results without highlighting appropriate social context is in-and-of itself racist. We live in a world where ideas about differences in intelligence between races have caused a lot of suffering—more suffering than most other ideas out there.
I think the ideal apology would have at least walked through the history of claims of racial differences in intelligence and the harms they motivated, acknowledged their continued ability to cause harm, provided appropriate social context for the difference in IQ scores and apologized of the lack of it in the statement from the 90s, and highlighted the implausibility of a genetic basis for the difference.
If we disagree about the implausibility of a genetic basis for the difference in IQ scores, I’m not really interested in debating it. My view is that:
I find the research suggesting no genetic basis for racial IQ differences credible
I do not find the survey that people cite to the opposite effect compelling (it acknowledges that it highly unrepresentative—as an internet survey with a high nonresponse rate would be)
I think that drawing attention to racial gaps in IQ test results without highlighting appropriate social context is in-and-of itself racist.
Why is it that this doesn’t count as highlighting appropriate social context?
I also think that it is deeply unfair that unequal access to education, nutrients, and basic healthcare leads to inequality in social outcomes, including sometimes disparities in skills and cognitive capacity. This is a huge moral travesty that we should not paper over or downplay. [apology paragraph 2]
I guess you could say that the social context is only mentioned rather than highlighted, and that there is more context he could have added.
Please believe me when I say it is not clear to me which opinion you believe Bostrom had in the 90s, or in what important sense his recent apology was not “unequivocal” (was something important missing? what something present that shouldn’t have been?), or whether you believe he still holds a related bad opinion today.
I don’t know and am not really interested in whatever Bostrom’s actual opinion in the 90s was because I’m a consequentialist, not a virtue ethicist. Susan II’s post above highlights the reasons Bostrom should have expected his statement to be interpreted as a racist one, and why it was in fact reasonable for people (who both agree with and disagree with it) to interpret it that way.
I think that drawing attention to racial gaps in IQ test results without highlighting appropriate social context is in-and-of itself racist. We live in a world where ideas about differences in intelligence between races have caused a lot of suffering—more suffering than most other ideas out there.
I think the ideal apology would have at least walked through the history of claims of racial differences in intelligence and the harms they motivated, acknowledged their continued ability to cause harm, provided appropriate social context for the difference in IQ scores and apologized of the lack of it in the statement from the 90s, and highlighted the implausibility of a genetic basis for the difference.
If we disagree about the implausibility of a genetic basis for the difference in IQ scores, I’m not really interested in debating it. My view is that:
I find the research suggesting no genetic basis for racial IQ differences credible
I do not find the survey that people cite to the opposite effect compelling (it acknowledges that it highly unrepresentative—as an internet survey with a high nonresponse rate would be)
I believe the scientists who say that race is a social construct not a biological one
I believe the scientists who point to clear environmental influences on IQ
Why is it that this doesn’t count as highlighting appropriate social context?
I guess you could say that the social context is only mentioned rather than highlighted, and that there is more context he could have added.