Making Sense of Race by Edward Dutton (2020) (kindle edition)

Nits

  • No TOC. A TOC explains the thesis. It’s sort of ‘unfair’ to the reader to not include one. 😉

The Formation of Races

  • Speciation: AFAIK species refers to geographic isolation and variation producing reproductive specialization.
  • Speciation: AFAIK humans evolved hyper adaptivity and hyper opportunism, and so will have sex with anything.

Understanding Life History Strategy

  • The most important ‘tell’ is only suggested here with the high incidence of dementia in east Asians.  In general, it’s not clear that east Asians are more K selected so much as that they are dramatically more neotenous and k selected, with neoteny likely passing optimum levels.
  • In general the R/K theory (Female vs Male Strategy) is overplayed when the CAUSAL axis is more one of neoteny first (universal), and then sexual dimorphism second(particular). This is a better (scientifically causal) framing of race and subrace (species and subspecies) differences.
  • So far I think the primary difference between past and present or between Rushton and Dutton’s analysis is that we know a great deal more about brain development and its consequences than we did in the past – and I”m pretty much current on that subject.

What It Means To Be Smart

  • Again, causally, intelligence is best understood as the continuation of human evolution of hyper adaptability, and intelligence a measure of RATE of adaptability.
  • This rate of adaptability is the first reason for western success, because our institutions are the most hyper adaptive (law not state or religion).

Religion and Intelligence

  • I dunno about this chapter. As far as I know religiosity is dependent on four factors, in order: 1) familial indoctrination, 2) empathic personality (demand for mindfulness) 3) stresses (demand for mindfulness) 4) intelligence and I’m not sure intelligence matters except above 115.

Jews

  • It’s better to consider the Ashkenazim the most recent hybrid subrace that achieved isolation and speciation by about 500 years ago. They just isolated within host peoples rather than geographically. And were persecuted rather than subject to climate and resource pressure, and it APPEARS that they either narrowed or reversed cognitive sexual dimorphism which is painfully obvious in the data.
  • The Gypsies, Jews, and Muslims are best seen as a spectrum of parasitic strategies targeting escalating scale of predation on competitors because they take advantage of the IE world’s trifunctionalism and erroneous categorization of war as physical, where the gypsies practice petty theft and undermining virtues, the jews theft from the commons undermining eugenic virtues, and the Muslims inverting eugenic to dysgenic virtues.  Everyone ELSE practices TOTAL WAR. Europeans practice our traditional ritual war limited to violence. We are WRONG.  The future requires the abandonment of our ‘domestication of warfare’, and return as the Semites and the Chinese, to total war.

Taboos

  • Well, since we have the science and I have the law it is possible to increase the scope of our laws to prohibit baiting people into hazards with the false promise of freedom from physical, natural, and evolutionary laws. Then we are at least forced to trade with one another.

SUMMARY

  • Dutton is an excellent author. Very readable. Complete. Best current summary available.
  • Nothing new here other than the full spectrum coverage of current knowledge.
  • Doesn’t really take on the evidence of cog sci. (I’m overly sensitive since this is one of my areas)
  • No solution (we have solutions – that’s what we do)
  • Doesn’t identify the left’s techniques of lying and denying (see my upcoming podcast)
  • Should clearly address (as we do) the Urheimats, timing, and direction of evolution, AND the three-axis of human variation in cognitive development (Aggression/Neoteny, dimorphism, longitudinal development/agency.