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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   32785 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 12, 2023

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The median east African has a room temperature IQ.

The median east African is more intelligent than most posters here on TheMotte.org including myself.

I don't think this statement is in any way banworthy, but it is rather ironic. Because you're basically arguing the "multiple types of intelligence" theory, which is just a step away from blank slateism (everyone is equally talented and has equal potential, just in different ways).

It reminds me of something. Ah yes-

Gathering knowledge of abstract items, from words to equations, that have no relation to our everyday lives has long been the amusement of the leisured elite. Relegating the non-elite to the basement of intellect because they do not know as many abstractions has been the conceit of the elite.

What if we measured literacy by how knowledgeable individuals are about their own environment: how much individuals knew all those complex equations and verbal and nonverbal vocabularies of their everyday life?

What if we measured intellect by an individual’s desire to know? What if we measured intellect by how open an individual’s mind is to self-critique and new ideas?

Given that you seem to be echoing Ibram X. Kendi, maybe there is something to your theory that a lot of right-wingers are actually just parroting woke ideas.

I don't know if I have the right to call myself a Mottizen, but I'm not getting bent out of shape about this and I certainly didn't take Hlynka to be saying we're all stupid.

There's book smarts and street smarts, and the East African guy probably has a ton more street smarts to survive in his environment whereas we'd be robbed, rolled, knifed, and left in the gutter if we were plonked down there.

Plus, me am stupid too so I can't object to the characterisation, and I've had people call me dumb in online exchanges much more directly because I wouldn't kiss their... shoes about their special snowflakeness.

😁

If you want to get Hlynka banned, man up about it (even if you identify as female) and ask for it directly instead of doing the "Mommy, he said mean word about me!" dance.

I don't know if I have the right to call myself a Mottizen

Is there any right needed besides being on here? You have over a thousand comments, not many can say that.

Amadan seemed unable to see this, so I was attempting to enlighten him. It failed, as it usually does.

Oh hey, now I know who you are. Just like old times, I guess.

Anyway, the point is not whether a statement is, in theory, banworthy. Of course you could construe the quoted words as being banworthy. Fortunately for everyone, "use the most pedantic interpretation that could be considered a violation of one or more rules" is not how we do things.

Way to miss the point buddy.

I'm not arguing that the median Mottizen is retarded, I'm arguing that IQ has only a tenuous bearing on actual intelligence or ability to function.

Isn’t the general understanding among the HBD crowd that IQ and g are distinct. IQ may be a decent approximating of g for lack of a better measurement.

I presume that if someone has above average g, they will be able to easily navigate whatever environment they find themself.

Some environments reward g a lot more than others. For example, in a food-scarce environment, it might be beneficial to be really small, and people with bigger brains might actually be hurt by the extra caloric needs. This happens in isolated communities, supposedly, and is why Homo floresiensis became small and dumb. In other environments, perhaps size and martial vigor are more useful, harkening back to the old debate between Odyseus and Ajax.

It is only in environments where there are options that intelligence becomes important. If all you can do is scratch a living out of the ground, perhaps g does not matter so much. In contrast, perhaps it matters a lot more for hunters.

The statement implies that most posters here on TheMotte.org are mentally retarded (in the sense that their IQ is less than 70, which I presume is room temperature). That is a personal attack on people reading this and would normally be the subject of a ban.

I don't think you are being ingenuous. If you read his entire post, he's very clearly not saying he thinks most posters on the Motte have sub-70s IQs. His entire point is that IQ is not a reliable measure of "intelligence." Agree with him or don't, but engage with what he's actually saying.

I did read his whole point and I know that was what he was arguing. That does not make the quoted piece not offensive if taken out of context.

Then don't take it out of context.

Credit where credit is due.

Amusingly if we follow this line of thing to its natural and logical conclusion, we arrive back at MLK's dream of a world where people are judged by the content of their character rather than skin color or group affiliation. IE the precise thing that Kendi finds so problematic.

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