comments?

 I've been getting a lot of hits on these blogs lately, from all over the world, but no responses or followers. Any comments? I'd like to get a conversation started.

'best earth'

  ' . . . The one thing to keep in mind, through it all.'

This modest (but hopefully inspiring) little tract is available on Amazon as both ebook & paperback. Contains breathtaking nighttime NASA images of whole regions of the planet.

'Step back and look down.'

https://www.amazon.com/best-earth-planetarian-Jonathan-Greenblume-ebook/dp/B08PZHRZ8N/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=%22best+earth%22&qid=1614097422&s=digital-text&sr=1-3

a thought experiment

 So let’s run a little thought experiment using our fabulous ‘laboratory of the states.’ Let’s pick a couple small states—say New Hampshire and Vermont, cute little side-by-side New England states. Let’s say New Hampshire decided to try to become a high-IQ state. First off, they’d give everybody IQ tests. Then they would encourage (i.e., financially incentivize) high-IQ people to reproduce and discourage (financially disincentivize) low-IQ people from reproducing—not providing further welfare benefits for out-of-wedlock children, providing free hysterectomies, abortions, vasectomies, etc. Similarly, they would encourage high-IQ in-migration and low-IQ out-migration.

 

Then, just for the sake of argument, let’s say that left-wing, Vermont went in the opposite direction. They would also give everybody IQ tests but would use them to encourage low-IQ reproduction and discourage high-IQ reproduction. Similarly, they would encourage low-IQ in-migration and high-IQ out-migration. (No rational government would ever do this, of course, for obvious reasons.)

 

What would these two states look like after a couple generations? New Hampshire would be a civilized, prosperous first-world state, well-versed in the science and technology of the modern world, with great public schools and a low-to-nonexistent crime rate. Vermont, meantime,  would have become an impoverished, corrupt, crime-ridden third-world hellhole.

 

Do you doubt it?

affirmative action

 Affirmative action is a zero-sum game that selects less qualified people over more qualified people on the basis of irrelevant characteristics. It's counterproductive and immoral and should be abolished.

The Main Difference between 1st-World Countries and 3rd-World Countries

 What we call the Modern World is a society heavily based in science and technology. The main difference between 1st-world countries and 3rd-world countries is that the former have a lot of people with a broad and deep understanding of these things whereas the latter have very few such people. Unless 3rd-world countries can educate-- or import-- a significant number of people in science and technology, they will never be part of the Modern World. Q.E.D.

the iq gap

 Can we talk about . . . IQ? All other things being equal (which of course they aren't), it's better to have a high IQ than a low IQ. In particular, IQ is evidently the best predictor of academic success. There are other factors, however, that determine whether one is a 'success' in life.

Where it matters, though, is at the level of societies. According to this website, the average IQ in the US is 98, whereas in Japan and China, it's 105:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/average-iq-by-country

Why does it matter? Because the future belongs to those countries that can understand and create science and technology, what we call The Modern World. Low-IQ societies will never understand these things. The higher the average IQ in a country, the more it will be in that top tier of countries that are creating the human future.

We need more and better scientists and engineers. Our immigration policy should favor these people, and in general we need to appreciate the importance of highly intelligent people-- particularly those with a high level of mathematical/logical ability-- as opposed, for example, to meaningless Hollywood celebrities.

scientists and engineers

 We need more and better scientists and engineers.