“The Mismeasure of Man” by Stephen Jay Gould

Note: Gould’s book is a good reminder at how science is a process wielded by imperfect humans and as such can be corrupted.

  • You have to sneak up on generalities, not assault them head-on
  • God is in the details, so is the devil
  • The existence of illness genes does not mean intelligence comes from a gene
  • Science is done be people and is therefore fallible
  • Humans have a need to reify then order everything
  • IQ tests were originally developed to ensure children got pepper educational help
  • Pearson’s R represents the shape of an ellipse. 1 is a perfect ellipse (a flat line) and -1 is a circle
  • Beware of drives to unify
  • “Factors are useful at the borders of science”
  • Cultural evolution is more powerful than biological evolution
  • Genes set ranges, not blueprints
  • Race should not be a thing!

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