I Used To Be A Fan But I Am Now Shocked, Disgusted And Appalled With Sam Harris

[paulpablo]

The connections quite literally aren't there but the fundamental base for them very literally is there. The genetic makeup plays a huge role. And even when genes are dormant they're still there and able to be activated. The environment shapes intelligence but it can only shape what's already there... and what seeds grow can only grow from the seeds that are already there, to use an analogy.

Intelligent people aren't born with baby level intelligence and they "become" intelligent.  They've always been intelligent it just hasn't had chance to develop yet.

The way I understand and define intelligence is it's a potential capacity.

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This is basically like saying I can't see the water in the cups so I know they're equal for a fact.

That's an awful analogy of what I'm doing. You're assuming they're not equal and we're talking about a situation where races are so equal in intelligence on average that the null hypothesis is indeed that they are close to equal rather than further away from equal.

It's funny how you view the IQ tests to be flawed but you consider your own "common sense" and on the spot judgement of people to flawless.
That says a lot about your arrogance.

What utter bullshit. You're the arrogant one because you're claiming to know I think this when I haven't even given the sligthest indication of thinking that at all. In fact I've said the exact opposite... I'm saying that the best we can do is use our own common sense because it's too difficult to measure. You're the one who thinks we can measure it remember? You're the arrogant one. I'm saying it's immeasurable.

I have said that that the best we can do is use our common sense when it comes to realizing what the null hypothesis is. You're the arrogant moron who pretends to not even have a null hypothesis and yet you're also looking for evidence that races do have equal intelligence. And you're the arrogant idiot who is trying to measure it and then accusing me of doing that when I'm saying we can't. You're the twat who's misrepresenting my position as saying my own common sense is good enough to measure intelligence when what I'm actually saying is that we can't measure it at all and we have to use common sense to recognize that the null hypothesis is that races are more or less equal intelligence and we'd have to look for evidence of them NOT having equal intelligence, not look for evidence that they do.. Not be a biased racist arrogant moron who thinks that we need to look for evidence of races NOT having significantly differing intelligence, assuming like a bigot that the null hypothesis is that races have significantly different intelligent levels/ Why would you make that your null hypothesis? You are saying you consider a null hypothesis would be a bad idea and yet your null hypothesis is already very clearly that races have significantly different intelligences despite not having any evidence of this and despite not being able to have evidence of this. And the fact that that is your starting position without evidence is what makes it a null hypothesis (and a rather bigoted assumption) on your part.

I didn't actually mention a null hypothesis.  According to you there is no data to back up a null hypothesis, the only reliable measurement of intelligence is if you say someone is intelligent then they are, you know because you're intelligent and can therefore tell who else is.

I made a casual observation that it would be statistically unlikely for any two groups of huge populations to have exactly the same sum of any sort of biological value.

Whether it's athletic performance, weight, body fat percentage, height, bone density.  Or intelligence.

I'm not speaking much about my own opinions apart from casual observations.  I wouldn't make a hypothesis based on no data.

The main thing I'm talking about is your statements which seem illogical.

A bit like it's not racist for me to say that the fact a lot of the fastest runners and best boxers are African American isn't a coincidence because races do have physical genetic differences and competences even though mentally intelligence levels between races is the same.

That's the whole point... it's not measurable. It's merely definable.

It's not "easily" observable. You've got your null hypothesis backwards. Common sense is pretty much useless.

When it comes to intelligence, it takes one to know one, you either have it or you don't... and you very much don't.

 Getting the right null hypothesis is where the common sense comes in. 

Your statements are so wild.

You have a value that's not measurable but you can tell upon meeting someone who has intelligence because you've judged yourself to be intelligence, common sense is useless so you used this useless common sense to come to the null hypothesis that all intelligence is equal based on no measurements because it's impossible to measure.

Impossible to measure except when you yourself judge a measurement, because you're so intelligent you have the ability to measure the immeasurable.