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Mind the Gap
Taki's Magazine ^ | May 31, 2023 | Steve Sailer

Posted on 05/31/2023 10:16:30 AM PDT by River Hawk

Is the white-black IQ gap shrinking in the United States?

Although many assume that the existence of sizable disparities in average IQ among the races simply must be “pseudoscience,” that different ethnicities average different levels of mental ability is one of the most overwhelmingly well-established findings of the social sciences.

Exactly why ancestral groups have varying IQs remains controversial, but the fact that they do is not disputed among the well-informed. A general rule of thumb among researchers has long been that whites and blacks differ in average IQ by about one standard deviation.

It’s natural to be interested in whether the white-black gap has been narrowing over the generations. If the cause of the IQ gap is racism, then the obvious huge decline in racism over recent generations should have boosted black IQ scores relative to whites. Has it?

The main public-spirited step we can take regarding racial gaps in intelligence is to Raise Awareness: Racial intelligence differences are real, large, crucial for understanding American society, and not going away anytime soon. It’s something we have to live with. Just as the foot-speed gap doesn’t justify witch-hunting football coaches for being racist against white cornerbacks, the manifold effects of the intelligence gap don’t justify the current paranoid conspiracy theorizing about white racism.

Much of the madness of the 2020s, such as the post–George Floyd murder and car crash sprees and California’s reparations plans, is likely attributable to blacks figuring out that they weren’t going to catch up but that they could guilt-trip whites into paying reparations because whites have been disarmed of mentioning the IQ and crime gaps.

A new culture in which the basic truths of the social sciences are widely discussed would be a better one than what we have been saddled with in the present decade.

(Excerpt) Read more at takimag.com ...


TOPICS: Education; Miscellaneous; Reference; Science
KEYWORDS: black; iq; race; white
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1 posted on 05/31/2023 10:16:30 AM PDT by River Hawk
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To: River Hawk

Regardless of an IQ gap, they have definitely dumbed down education to accommodate the bottom quartile.


2 posted on 05/31/2023 10:26:25 AM PDT by sjmjax
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To: River Hawk

Pretty decent article that explains the changes to IQ scores over time. Every time when one of these threads pop up on FR there will be comments about education. Just to set the facts straight, education has no direct influence on IQ. If that was the case, then you would see education products all over the place with claims of increasing IQ. I know I would be a consumer of such products, but they simply do not exist. Don’t conflate knowledge with intelligence, either.


3 posted on 05/31/2023 10:31:50 AM PDT by ConservativeInPA ("How did you go bankrupt?s" Bill asked. "Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly." )
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To: River Hawk

Yah, dem white boys be getting dummer. Jus’ look at Joe Bidem!


4 posted on 05/31/2023 10:33:10 AM PDT by MIchaelTArchangel ( )
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To: River Hawk

I wade through the inner city kids, that article doesn’t fly.
Most are slightly above hoots and grunts for a “language”


5 posted on 05/31/2023 10:33:26 AM PDT by BigFreakinToad (Biden whispered "Don't Jump")
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To: River Hawk

The author, Steve Sailer, is black. Give him credit for guts.


6 posted on 05/31/2023 10:33:37 AM PDT by NoiseLtd
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To: River Hawk

“e.g., Michael Jordan and most other mainstream African-Americans) averaged only 83.0”

Michael Jordan’s IQ is definitely higher than that. A friend of mine attended high school with him and said MJ was actually quite smart academically. And this guy was something of a racist who never would have said this if it wasn’t true. Of course MJ was obviously an anomaly in many areas.


7 posted on 05/31/2023 10:42:37 AM PDT by jimwatx
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To: NoiseLtd

Sailer is as white as it gets.


8 posted on 05/31/2023 10:43:11 AM PDT by heartwood (Someone has to play devil's advocate.)
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To: NoiseLtd

You must have him confused with somebody else. He’s white.


9 posted on 05/31/2023 10:44:49 AM PDT by jimwatx
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To: ConservativeInPA

I’m sitting as a modest 136, but the older I get.... what was I saying?


10 posted on 05/31/2023 11:22:06 AM PDT by Noumenon (You're not voting your way out of this. KTF)
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To: River Hawk

post–George Floyd murder

WRONG.

The autopsy results show he died by overdose of illegal drugs.


11 posted on 05/31/2023 11:24:56 AM PDT by ro_dreaming (Who knew "Idiocracy", "1984", "Enemy of the State", and "Person of Interest" would be non-fiction?)
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To: ro_dreaming

The article author wasn’t saying George Floyd was murdered. It reads “the post–George Floyd murder and car crash sprees”. The word “murder” goes along with “and car crash sprees”, meaning the spree of murders and car crashes which followed the death of George Floyd.


12 posted on 05/31/2023 11:41:24 AM PDT by River Hawk
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To: Noumenon

I have found that IQ degrades with age

HOWEVER we achieve WISDOM!


13 posted on 05/31/2023 11:44:01 AM PDT by Chickensoup (Genocide is here. Leftist extremists are spearhheading the Genocide against conservatives. )
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To: Chickensoup

Yes, hopefully! I keep hoping that!


14 posted on 05/31/2023 11:47:51 AM PDT by River Hawk
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To: Chickensoup

That’s a good story. I’m sticking with that one.


15 posted on 05/31/2023 11:55:14 AM PDT by Noumenon (You're not voting your way out of this. KTF)
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To: River Hawk
We're witnessing historical divergence from the mean. The smart are getting smarter and the dumb are getting dumber.

Due to modern transportation, travel, the internet, and stratification that didn't exist generations ago, smart men find smart women and have smarter children.

On the opposite end of the scale, the ignorant are breeding with the ignorant on the taxpayer dime like never before seen, and having even more ignorant offspring.

16 posted on 05/31/2023 12:26:06 PM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: River Hawk

The highest I Q people I know are idiots. The rest are running for the bottom.


17 posted on 05/31/2023 12:27:35 PM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It ( )
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To: River Hawk

It’s implying that George Floyd was murdered. It’s “George Floyd murder” AND “car crash sprees”. Those are the two items after “post”.

At least, that’s how my English teacher would have instructed me to read it.


18 posted on 05/31/2023 12:45:49 PM PDT by ro_dreaming (Who knew "Idiocracy", "1984", "Enemy of the State", and "Person of Interest" would be non-fiction?)
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To: T.B. Yoits

“smart men find smart women and have smarter children”

Well—sort of....

There is a reversion to the mean, particularly after a couple of generations.

In addition by the third generation the trust fund grand-kids become useless—they don’t have the talent to match up to their parents and grand-parents and they often turn to alcohol and drugs (or leftist political “activism”) out of frustration at their failure to “measure up”...

That said—stupid people breeding and producing lots of stupid children is a great way to bring civilization to its knees.

The old way was the best way—smart men married beautiful “home-maker” women—who raised lots of kids—and made up for her average IQ with her love for her kids and determination to have her kids succeed.


19 posted on 05/31/2023 12:55:30 PM PDT by cgbg (Claiming that laws and regs that limit “hate speech” stop freedom of speech is “hate speech”.)
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To: jimwatx

“A friend of mine attended high school with him and said MJ was actually quite smart academically.”

Ah, measuring IQ via anecdote. Have you applied to Harvard for a book-writing grant?


20 posted on 05/31/2023 3:08:59 PM PDT by sergeantdave (AI is the next iteration of a copy and paste machine.)
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