by Patrick Appel In his new book on race and genetics, Nicholas Wade incorrectly defines race biologically. But this is far from his worst error. Robert VerBruggen summarizes some of Wade’s main arguments: (1) Why did the Industrial Revolution occur first in England? Wade lays out evidence, collected by the economist Gregory Clark in A Farewell to Alms, … Continue reading Wade’s Reckless Speculation About Races
There’s a lot of truth to the old joke that liberals believe nothing is genetic except homosexuality and conservatives believe everything is genetic except homosexuality. On that spectrum, I remain broadly conservative (I think sexual orientation is almost certainly affected by some genes). I think a huge amount of what we fight over as cultural … Continue reading Genes And Our Politics
by Patrick Appel While trashing Nicholas Wade’s book on race and genetics, Jonathan Marks points out that Wade ignores epigenetics: It is hard to find a book on evolution today that fails to mention epigenetics—the ways in which DNA can be modified in direct response to the environment, and those DNA modifications can be stably transmitted—but … Continue reading What’s Race’s Impact On Biology?
by Patrick Appel Luke Ford interviews Nicholas Wade about his shoddy book on race and genetics: Luke: “What were the biggest challenges in writing this book?” Nicholas: “I think the biggest challenge was that I had so few scientific sources to guide me in interpretation because this is an area where academics cannot tread for fear of … Continue reading The Ideologue Who Doesn’t Know He’s An Ideologue
by Chris Bodenner Another day, another state joining the side of marriage equality – this time the 6th most populous one in the country. Money quote from the Bush-appointed judge: We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them onto the ash heap of history. Among our … Continue reading The Best Of The Dish Today
by Patrick Appel This speech by Charles Mills, which we’ve posted before, does an excellent job explaining the social construction of race: Nicholas Wade’s new book on race and genetics, which takes the biological basis of race as a given, provides no consistent definition for “race.” During his debate with Wade, anthropologist Agustín Fuentes pointed out that “Wade uses … Continue reading Why “Race” Isn’t Biological
by Chris Bodenner First a quick reminder that Andrew is off the blog this week, since you might have missed his short sign-off at the bottom of the Best of the Weekend: I’m taking next week to work on a longform essay, and leave you in the very capable hands of my Dish colleagues. So naturally the former … Continue reading The Best Of The Dish Today
by Patrick Appel Nicholas Wade’s A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History, which I finished reading last night, is a deeply flawed examination of human genetic difference. Andrew, who is more sympathetic to the notion of race as a biological construct than I am, often does not see eye-to-eye with me on matters of race and … Continue reading A Debate Over A Troublesome Book
“When a distinct boundary develops between races, they are no longer races but separate species. So to say there are no precise boundaries between races is like saying there are no square circles,” – Nicholas Wade.
by Robert Wright Over at Slate, Will Saletan just published a piece that foreshadows an emerging argument over the genetic basis of religion. The question isn’t really whether religion is in the genes, but in what sense it’s in the genes. Is a human proclivity toward religious belief a biological “adaptation”—that is, did natural selection … Continue reading There’s God Genes And Then There’s God Genes
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