[ExI] extropy-chat Digest, Vol 195, Issue 5

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Sat, Dec 14, 2019 at 8:12 PM BillK via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> On Sun, 15 Dec 2019 at 00:33, Keith Henson via extropy-chat
> <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> >
> > That's not what the contemporary probate records show.  Over that
> > time, the well off genetically displaced the poor.  See the section on
> > "downward social mobility.".  True, the poor had children, but they
> > died in droves in the frequent famines.  I probably can't get you to
> > read "genetically capitalist". but if you are not going to read it,
> > should you be making unjustified comments?
> >
> > Clark makes the case that it was genetics, particularly such traits as
> > being willing to wait for a reward and whatever human genes are behind
> > literacy and numeracy.
> >
> > The selection was as intense as that applied to the tame Russian foxes.
> >
>
> As you well know, Clark's claims have been much criticised.
> He is not a geneticist, he is an economist. He has no genetic evidence
> at all for his claims.
>
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Farewell_to_Alms>
>
> Doubtless the rich enjoy being told that they deserve to be rich due
> to superior genetics and the poor deserve to live in poverty.
>
> ### There is strong evidence for genetic selection in the past 10 000
years, in fact, in that period human evolution kicked into overdrive.

Whether the poor deserve to live in poverty is a normative question, but
whether genetics explains poverty is a question of fact and it's rather
extensively answered in multiple peer-reviewed publications. The poor are
less intelligent, less conscientious, more impulsive than the non-poor
(middle class and the rich), and yes, these traits explain poverty.

Rafal
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