Ned Block on The Bell Curve

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If you have any interest in the topic of race and IQ and you haven't read this, you really ought to do so. Block shows the very basic error made by Murray and Herrnstein, in carrying over the heritability of IQ within a race to heritability across races. (As Block clearly demonstrates, there is no necessary connection between the two numbers whatsoever.) Along the way, he also shows that "These issues are pathetically misunderstood by Charles Murray.

Comments

  1. Bob Murphy6:14 PM

    White writers are so stupid.

    ReplyDelete
  2. gcallah8:53 AM

    Not as bad as Irish writers!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Per Johansson3:40 PM

    Am a bit confused. Did M & H really make the basic error they were aware of?
    p. 298:
    That a trait is genetically transmitted in individuals does not mean that group differences in that trait are also genetic in origin.

    p. 299:
    The heritability of individual differences in IQ does not necessarily mean that ethnic differences are also heritable

    Thought the controversy was about empirics but maybe not...

    ReplyDelete
  4. gcallah3:57 PM

    Per, as Block notes, speaking of the heritability of an individual's IQ does not make any sense at all!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gabe Ruth10:05 PM

    Now I know why I'd never heard of you or your blog until a few weeks ago (ie, you get no link love). Thanks for the link. It's always bugged me a little that a so many intelligent people on the right put as much stock as they do in a book basically about statistics on a nebulous and contested quantity (though I think Murray has redeemed himself at least a little with his latest).

    ReplyDelete

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