I believe that Thomas Kuhn’s work (1962) on scientific revolutions stated that no one really gets “persuaded” to accept the new ideas. Basically, the Old Believers age out and die and their core beliefs disappear. Younger people grow up with the new ideas and accept them as fact.
“The Bell Curve” came out in 1994. It was “controversial”. But here we are 30 years later, many of the nay-sayers are dead, and a lot of people today are “fatigued”. Maybe there will be a bit more acceptance that some groups tend to have a hard time achieving excellence.
“Basically, the Old Believers age out and die and their core beliefs disappear.”
Great book.
The core beliefs of “normals” a hundred years ago would blow people away today.
In another hundred years the “normals” may be worshiping icons of Unicorns.
There are many reasons why ‘some groups’ have a harder time.
I don’t believe that genes necessarily present one of them, except in cases of obvious genetic defects.
Regardless of genes, a child deprived of certain environmental influences and decent education is not going to do as well as he might have done with the benefit of those.
The idea that our genes have so much power is a really vicious and self-limiting belief; not to mention a very materialistic one.
oh definitely. You throw trillions of dollars at gaps, trying to close gaps and you don’t close a single one. You begin to wonder…