How about the theses of The Bell Curve?
The authors were turned into pariahs, but they had been doing semi hard science too.
Here is DK on superpeople, not based on race or gender, he maintains:
"...What makes the issue of mobility, and the related issue of ability, so fraught, in my opinion, is this. History shows that in any complex field of endeavor, a small minority of people are much better than anyone else. I have written an entire book showing how true this is in baseball, and I have seen it in my own profession and as a spectator in many other fields. These people are different not because of their race or gender--much less their sexual orientation--but because of almost unique personal characteristics that are scattered more or less at random throughout the population..." DK.
I believe that both the authors of The Bell Curve, and David Reich, in a level headed moment, and someone like Randall Collins, would agree with me that this cannot be correct, except perhaps in certain cases of a particular physical prowess or capacity.
Even there, these characteristics break down somewhat along racial lines. I think that the protagonist of The Blind Side, and his family, are classic examples.
Here is DK on superpeople, not based on race or gender, he maintains:
"...What makes the issue of mobility, and the related issue of ability, so fraught, in my opinion, is this. History shows that in any complex field of endeavor, a small minority of people are much better than anyone else. I have written an entire book showing how true this is in baseball, and I have seen it in my own profession and as a spectator in many other fields. These people are different not because of their race or gender--much less their sexual orientation--but because of almost unique personal characteristics that are scattered more or less at random throughout the population..." DK.
I believe that both the authors of The Bell Curve, and David Reich, in a level headed moment, and someone like Randall Collins, would agree with me that this cannot be correct, except perhaps in certain cases of a particular physical prowess or capacity.
Even there, these characteristics break down somewhat along racial lines. I think that the protagonist of The Blind Side, and his family, are classic examples.
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