Obvious things like environmental factors and the like were looked at very carefully.
Environmental factors can be very hard to control for. Maternal factors in the womb, DNA Methylation, etc, etc.
There's stuff for which the 'race-realists" explanations are very shaky. The considerable academic success of African immigrants to the US (even when compared to immigrant groups from other areas) is an example for which the explanations provided (high barriers to entry only let smart people in) is plausible, but it leaves plenty of room for uncertainty.
I dunno, this is a topic that can be debated for a really long time. Suffice it to say that I remain uncertain.
Larry Summers
Yes? I never claimed that political correctness never gets in the way of good decisions. I'm trying to understand reactionary thought, and that naturally causes us to touch upon politics, but I'm not attempting to argue for a political side here. You won't catch me defending the censorship of Summers.
I agree that Summers should be allowed to air ideas on public forums without fear of personal consequences.
The vitriol directed to Summers was also quite heavily criticized, and by some pretty influential people. The majority of students also supported him.
Yes?
Just an example to demonstrate that pointing out "obvious" things about gender equality in public can have very unpleasant real-life consequences. Which, in turn, affect future willingness to say such things in public. Which affects the "public consensus". Which affects the default way the majority of the population thinks about the issue.
People want to tell everything instead of telling the best 15 words. They want to learn everything instead of the best 15 words. In this thread, instead post the best 15-words from a book you've read recently (or anything else). It has to stand on its own. It's not a summary, the whole value needs to be contained in those words.
I'll start in the comments below.
(Voted by the Schelling study group as the best exercise of the meeting.)