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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (954684)	8/7/2016 8:19:30 AM
From: combjelly	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575622

Funny. My "uniformed, drive-by opinions" have a factual basis and yours usually have none. And often make no sense. For example Even far left extremists like Chomsky, AFAIK, didn't challenge the statistics. And There are no credible critiques of the statistical underpinnings You go from not knowing about any challenges to claiming there are none. Which are two very different statements. The first is likely true, you have a habit of only "knowing" about things that don't challenge your preconceptions. The second, though... Granted, Noam did not challenge the statistics. He did challenge the conclusions though. Specifically, he challenged whether or not IQ is a reasonable measure of success in society or much of anything else. It is a valid challenge. If for no other reason, there are various ways of measuring IQ. Some of the more common ways show very little correlation with anything but generating a number on a test. Here is a scathing commentary on bias in the materials. Bias in IQ tests What about bias in the IQ test? Herrnstein and Murray properly discuss the issue of “statistical bias’ (S-bias) which simply asks does the IQ test score reliably predict performance on criterion variables (school achievement, college GPA, etc.). The IQ score does reliably predict performance on these criterion variables and therefore one can conclude there is not statistical bias, in this case, against blacks. This says nothing, however, about cultural bias which is often confused with ‘S’ bias. A discussion in which Herrnstein and Murray do not engage. Fischer et al. (1996) note that Bell Curve analysis is based on the Armed Forces Qualifying Test (AFQT) which is not an IQ test but designed to predict performance of certain criterion variables. The math section requires high school algebra. Furthermore, they note that the original plot of the AFQT data is not in the shape of the required bell curve. Since Herrnstein and Murray require a bell curve for their theory, they reshaped the original data to fit their theory. Here we have an example of theory driving the data. Even with these problems, Fischer et al.,(1996) for the sake of argument, accept Herrnstein and Murray’s evidence, measure of intelligence, and basic methodology and then reexamine the results. However, they correct for factors (ignored by Herrnstein and Murray) known to have significant effects on a person’s life outcome (e.g., parental income, number of siblings, local unemployment rate, geographic region). In their reanalysis, Fischer et al. conclude that a person’s life chances depend on their social surroundings at least as much as their own intelligence. They conclude that the key finding of the Bell Curve (i.e.,IQ as a predictor of SES) is an artifact of its own method. bolesblogs.com It doesn't help that the AFQT results correlate strongly with literacy and not IQ. Much like the SAT. The most damning is that many of the researchers cited have links to white supremacists. Surely the most curious of the sources he and Herrnstein consulted is Mankind Quarterly—a journal of anthropology founded in Edinburgh in 1960. Five articles from the journal are actually cited in The Bell Curve’s bibliography (pp. 775, 807, and 828). 2 But the influence on the book of scholars linked to Mankind Quarterly is more significant. No fewer than seventeen researchers cited in the bibliography of The Bell Curve have contributed to Mankind Quarterly. Ten are present or former editors, or members of its editorial advisory board. This is interesting because Mankind Quarterly is a notorious journal of “racial history” founded, and funded, by men who believe in the genetic superiority of the white race. 3 nybooks.com The Bell Curve by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray has generated a firestorm of debate, confirming for some their secret belief in the innate inferiority of certain "races" or ethnic groups, angering many who view the book as an ill-concealed racist manifesto, and worrying untold others who fear the further racial polarization of American society. In The Bell Curve Wars, a group of our country's most distinguished intellectuals dismantles the alleged scientific foundations and criticizes the alarming public policy conclusions of this incendiary book. questia.com Why do you defend racists? Ever given any thought to that?