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Notes -
If I may –
I suspect (and he can tell me if I am wrong, or unhelpful) is that part of what Hlynka is consistently gesturing towards is that HBD, as a belief, is the sort of belief that a self-anointed ruling class finds helpful because of its Explanatory Power. It is constantly being used to explain why certain government or social programs don't "work."
For the average person this framework is probably not a helpful one compared to something along the lines of the color-blind individualism that I think he is partial to. (Setting aside the fact that good common sense is probably a better predictor than HBD when it comes to keeping one out of trouble, you don't have to believe in HBD to "believe in" FBI crime stats &ct.)
So I think Hlynka's consistent suspicion of people who beat the HBD drum is rooted in the intuition that people who reach for such explanation may be the sorts of people who see themselves as would-be Lords and Masters of humanity, who cannot fail but only be failed. If someone is reaching for HBD, is it because it actually helps them interact with those around them in a charitable and mutually beneficial way or because they're sculpting society inside of their head?
As I said in another post here, HBD doesn't have any inherent policy recommendations. It being true implies that racial spoils policies of the sort that we have in the US will not substantially close the achievement gap, but that doesn't mean you can't advocate for exactly the same policies as reparations for slavery or whatever. I find it strange how much of the related discussion on this forum and other places focuses on the people who bring it up and their motives. Everyone should interested in whether HBD is true, trying to craft policy based on fundamental misunderstandings of reality is bad and anyone living under those policies should want the truth to be known. Decouple what you or others think the political implications of HBD are from whether it's true. I find it so bizarre how willing people are to talk about everything except the truth of the claim itself.
You're correct, I think, that truth doesn't necessarily imply specific policy recommendations. But there are truths and there are narratives and when people are advancing a narrative I think it's fair to interrogate the truth behind it. And I think the truth of the claim itself is arguably fairly boring to talk about, in a sense, for a few reasons:
You can see this in a lot of areas – for example, squabbling about if a specific theory of physics or quantum mechanics or the Drake Equation isn't nearly as interesting for most people (and much harder to do responsibly) than speculating about the impact of the implications.
Well perhaps trying to craft policy based on this stuff is what Hlynka objects to generally. That's what I was trying to get a sense of.
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Yes, there is certainly a strong element of this in my approach.
I don't think it's a coincidence that those who seem to be most invested in the explanatory power of "Bio-determisnism" and various other structural "isms" also seem to be decidedly against what one might call "traditional western values". Describing Christianity as a "slave" or "cuck" religion/morality, and leaning heavily on the gay in "fully automated luxury gay space communism".
It does seem like (unsurprisingly, I guess) a lot of people right and left converge on "the Problem with Society is [my pet "structural" peeve], not 'merely' [poor moral choices], and to solve it we will need [new sociological insights and methods] because [traditional cultural and legal incentives] are
boringinsufficient to the crisis we face."Which I think is not dissimilar to how things were around 100 years ago, where the communists/fascists/socialists-of-the-chair all had remarkably similar ideas about what was to be done despite vehemently and violently disagreeing with one another.
And they all made the wrong choices, against individualism and merit, (and, unfortunately, there are many things in the free world with similar effect, though to a lesser extent).
I don't think it's wrong to talk about structural problems, you just have to do it with your eyes open, be aware of tradeoffs and complications behind the scenes, etc. Communism is an obvious structural problem. DEI being essentially mandated by the government is an obvious structural problem, that we can (hopefully) one day fix.
Of course, poor moral choices matter too. But the only real way to affect those at an appreciable scale are through things with far-reaching effects, which include structural things.
Any substantial reforms should of course involve cultural or legal incentives.
Does that "wrong choice" include eugenics and the Nazi "merciful death" program, in your view?
Oh, I just meant the overall collectivization, group identity things.
I'm not familiar with the programs in question, but from the name, I assume they're not good, if that's what you're asking?
I think eugenics and euthanasia are concepts worthy of consideration, and the German military defeat in 1945 does not turn them into "wrong choices".
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