Consider the Alternative

Consider all those irritating people who over the last few years have taken to commenting whenever there’s a study they don’t like: “Correlation is not causation!” Well, sure, that’s lame, but that’s actually an improvement over what they had previously assumed.

Steve Sailer, "The Rise and Fall of Statistics"

Let the Theory Fit the Hope

The over-emphasis on early years also has to do with the conventional wisdom's hopes for egalitarianism and blank slate social engineering. The younger the child, the harder to measure his capabilities, so the easier it is to theorize that everybody is conceived the same, so All We Have To Do is intervene at 36 months or 24 months or 12 months or 0 months or minus 8 months and 29 days and we can end inequality, especially racial inequality.

Steve Sailer, "High School"

The Utopian Vision

[T]he liberal model is, like the economist on the desert island with a can of beans, “Assume we have a population of cooperative, intelligent, empathetic individuals” and when that turns out not to be the case, to move to a more expensive and exclusive neighborhood.

Steve Sailer, comment on "Two Types of People" by Robin Hanson

Searching for the Young Soul Rebels

Instead, human beings generally try to associate themselves with what is being praised by society and disassociate themselves from what is being criticized. Being callow, young people are particularly impressionable. Despite all the romantic piffle about young rebels, the fact is that young people [...] tend to be conformists.

Steve Sailer, "Whatever Happened to the Democrats’ Youth/Minority Voter Juggernaut?"

Bit Obvious, But Very Nice

- Infinite Loop; see Loop, Infinite

- Loop, Infinite; see Infinite Loop

Steve Sailer, "Infinite Loop" (quoting a computer manual by himself)

In Fairness, That's Not the Only Process by Which Stereotypes Can Come about

Exceptions don’t disprove tendencies. In fact, when exceptions are famous for their exceptionality, that’s evidence for the pattern. Unfortunately, in an intellectual climate where pointing out that a generalization is a "stereotype" (i.e., many people have noticed it) is consider[ed] a crushing refutation of its truthfulness, few grasp these logical rules.

Steve Sailer, "What The Flotilla Furor Says About America’s Jewish Elite"