Eugine_Nier comments on 2012 Less Wrong Census Survey: Call For Critiques/Questions - Less Wrong

20 Post author: Yvain 19 October 2012 01:12AM

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Comment author: [deleted] 19 October 2012 04:20:21PM *  2 points [-]

This is a confused list since Middle Easterners aren't just Asian, see North Africa and they are also also "Caucasians" as the word is used. And while Micronesia does fit into Asia, I don't quite see Polynesia making sense. Change it to this:

  • Asian (East Asian)
  • Asian (Indian subcontinent)
  • Middle Eastern
  • Pacific Islander
  • Black/Sub-Saharan African
  • Native American
  • White/European
  • Other or Prefer not to answer

Arguably Pacific Islander and Native American are categories that are almost certain to have only a few people answer positively and are pretty small in global demographic terms. Folding them under "Other" makes sense. My list:

  • Asian (East Asia)
  • Asian (Indian subcontinent)
  • Middle Eastern
  • European (White)
  • Sub-Saharan African (Black)
  • Other or Prefer not to answer
Comment author: Eugine_Nier 20 October 2012 02:26:11AM 0 points [-]

Where exactly are you drawing the border between the Middle East and Europe? How does Turkey count? What about the Caucuses, and the Asian parts of the former USSR more generally?

Comment author: [deleted] 20 October 2012 08:22:04AM *  3 points [-]

There isn't a clear line. Indeed looking at it from a population perspective there really shouldn't be a line since genetically Europeans and Middle Easterners are the same cluster and anthropologically they are both Caucasoid. I mean sure there are distinct subtypes but if you focus on those you have to split up Europeans too if you want to be consistent.

I don't expect people to be familiar with 20th century physical anthropology or recent genetic studies though. Due to various cultural and political issues I expect at least some Middle Easterners would object to picking white/caucasian and many Europeans or North Americans would be surprised to know they are in the same category.

Generally I expect Turks and people from the Caucasus to pick white. The Asian parts of the former USSR really depends on who the person in question is, I'd expect them to pick White, East Asian or Other (as in mixed), not so much Middle Eastern. I'd expect at least a few Libyans or Yemenites picking "white" if there wasn't a Middle Eastern category, but quite a few would probably pick "other".

We could make a category to include both European and Middle Eastern since the cultural differences between them are captured by the religious & national background.

Comment author: [deleted] 21 October 2012 06:52:13PM 0 points [-]

Well, what about Siberia, for that matter? ;-)

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 21 October 2012 09:50:16PM 0 points [-]

Siberia is an Asian part of the former USSR.

Comment author: [deleted] 21 October 2012 10:17:40PM 0 points [-]

Errr... Yeah.