[Paleopsych] race and income

[Michael Christopher]

Regarding race, testing (IQ or other) and income...
why are we regarding human beings purely as numers in
the FIRST place? Isn't that a bit reductionist,
considering the trend of science is toward context and
integration?

I'm sure there are uses for correlating race, income
and IQ. I'm not against compiling statistics. But I'd
hate to see that way of thinking about human beings
replace the actual human reality. If it turned out
that one racial group was simply not as good at
testing as another, what would the civilized response
be? 

I think a good response would be to evolve beyond the
concept of slotting people by numbers and earning
potential, and toward companies and communities where
everyone is valued. Not just as a number, but as a
many-faceted person who contributes non-quantifiable
value. Improving test-taking skills and coming up with
new exercises to improve IQ (video games, maybe) is a
good idea, but I think the underlying paradigm that
people are numbers is the real problem. 

On the race/IQ issue, one group is saying "Look at
this information, we believe it's accurate, and it's
political correctness to avoid looking at it". Another
says "That's all explained by stress from income
disparity, life span, etc." I tend to go with that
explanation. Howard has mentioned in his books how
being on the bottom of the pecking order stresses the
body and brain and affects mood and intellect. Some
feel strongly that it has to do with innate ability,
not poverty or social exclusion. But *either way* you
have to ask, "Why are we classifying people by IQ or
income in the first place?" 

Modern thinkers are aware of systems theory. In a
system with many variables, it's simpler to focus on
one (favors tidy explanations that fit on
bumperstickers), but then you can lose the magic of a
multivariable system where emergent patterns are
possible. Think of the emergent patterns we could grow
in schools, corporations and neighborhoods if we
thought about not one variable like income or IQ, but
about the full complexity of human experience and
learning, individually and in groups? Would that bring
up fears of socialism? No reason that can't be
resolved with self-owned businesses where each person
gets a share according to his value to the group.

Michael


		
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