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HBD is not the whole culture war, and it's not the most important piece of it overall, but it does make up a big portion of the debate within academia and among intellectuals (among which rationalists are an important subset of intellectuals). Scott would not have singled out that topic if it wasn't especially good at inciting internet fights. The reason it's such an important topic in the culture war is because the truth or falsity of it has enormous consequences on how we might politically and economically approach the issue of inequality.
'HBD' is not the kind of thing you can usefully describe as "true or false" (which incidentally is why the terms 'HBD' and 'human biodiversity' are quite unhelpful except as a source of controversy). There clearly is some biodiversity among members of the human species; we are not biologically identical. The question is how important that biodi... (read more)