However, it seems to me that the fatal problem of the sampling theory is that nobody has ever managed to figure out a way to sample disjoint sets of these hypothetical uncorrelated modules. If all practically useful mental abilities and all the tests successfully predicting them always sample some particular subset of these modules, then we might as well look at that subset as a unified entity that represents the causal factor behind g, since its elements operate together as a group in all relevant cases.
Or is there some additional issue here that I'm not taking into account?
I can't immediately think of any additional issue. It's more that I don't see the lack of well-known disjoint sets of uncorrelated cognitive modules as a fatal problem for Thomson's theory, merely weak disconfirming evidence. This is because I assign a relatively low probability to psychologists detecting tests that sample disjoint sets of modules even if they exist.
For example, I can think of a situation where psychologists & psychometricians have missed a similar phenomenon: negatively correlated cognitive tests. I know of a couple of examples which ...
This thread is for the discussion of Less Wrong topics that have not appeared in recent posts. If a discussion gets unwieldy, celebrate by turning it into a top-level post.
Part 2