Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“The result of suppressing arguments for an unpopular view is that nobody knows what conclusion would come out of an open debate, although many may find it prudent to pretend to. Until very recently, the only convincing argument I had seen against the claim of lower African genetic IQ was Thomas Sowell’s observation that the average family income of immigrants to the U.S. from the West Indies reached the U.S. average in one generation. West Indians are blacker than Afro-Americans in both their genes and their skin color, so if Afro-Americans did badly because of their African genes West Indian immigrants should do worse, and similarly if the reason was discrimination. Sowell offered instead an explanation based on the different cultures produced by differences between West Indian and North American slavery. I have now found more and better arguments against the hereditarian explanation of racial differences.” (05/25/23)