Chanda Chisala

3,709 words

Zambian scholar Chanda Chisala wants us to believe that racial differences do not explain the IQ gap. He claims that “environment explains the entire IQ gap” between the races, and that the evidence he offers constitutes “a total refutation of the race hypothesis” in intelligence and psychometric research. (more…)

1,628 words

It has baffled me for a long time why scientists, among all people, are among the most fervent proponents of egalitarianism and race denialism. This phenomenon is more salient in the humanities and social sciences, on which many would have a second thought before qualifying them as “science.” (more…)

3,340 words / 20:55

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Now that I’ve given a cursory definition and defense of “race,” it’s time to move on to IQ. (more…)

1,319 words

Nikolai Vavilov, “Counter-revolutionary”

Translated by G. A. Malvicini

One of the episodes that best characterizes the spirit of Bolshevism is the so-called “Vavilov case.” Professor Nikolai Vavilov was a Russian biologist who was deported to Siberia along with other colleagues of his, not for strictly political reasons, but simply for being an exponent of the theory of genetics. Genetics is a branch of biology that admits the existence of pre-formation in human beings, i.e., of predispositions and traits that are internal, congenital (based on “genes”), not derived from external factors.  (more…)

3,785 words

Harry Potter needs no introduction. It would be hard to find someone who has not heard about him. When J. K. Rowling’s first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the US), was published in 1997, the entertainment industry immediately “smelled” potential success and invested in the books. Not famous yet, Rowling received $105,000 from the publishing house Scholastic for the American rights of the first book, (more…)

Frederick Childe-Hassam, The Sonata

968 words

It seems like there’s a total “disconnect” on this issue [eugenics] between science on the one hand, and popular opinion, on the other.

You’re absolutely right. There are two arenas in which the Nature-Nurture debate is taking place – the scientific one, and the public one – and the outcomes are exactly opposite. (more…)