Thread by @kylev

@SamHarrisOrg @coldxman Oh, I've read that piece. It's entirely believable that he's an undergrad. Half the first section explodes when you realize the South didn't flourish *because* of its poor choice of economic system (capitalism+slavery). They fell behind at the industrial revolution because of it!

And while the north was industrializing and inventing whole new industries (and massive wealth), the southern economy kept pumping capital into agrarian human suffering.

Northern wealth begat more wealth. And the south still lags behind today *because* of this.

Capital didn't just magically flow southward and even out when the Civil War was over. They fixed the railroads and manufactured northern goods flowed in to compete with local hand-made goods.

Money flowed north.

And let's not underestimate the amount of "capital" that vanished from the southern states with the Emancipation Proclamation. Ill-conceived rebellion aside, their economy changed a lot when they weren't allowed to count *actual human beings* as farm equipment.

And let's not pretend Jim Crow didn't face-fist the southern economy, too.

City governments literally built twice as many water fountains as necessary. The best guy for the job couldn't contribute to the economy because his skin was the wrong color.

I can't believe I have to tell supposed denizens of liberalism and market economics, but chattel slavery, racism, sexism, homophobia, and most forms of discrimination are both immoral and market inefficiencies.

And this is still true today. And it flows to the individuals, too. The "best guy for the job" with dark skin doesn't ever realize his true economic value.

Not because of anything he did, but entirely because of a shortcoming of self-awareness about bias by a hiring manager.

What is even going on in the skeptic/atheist community? What happened to expertise?

Why would anyone go listen to an undergrad talk to a neurologist about the economics of racism? There are actual *academic* experts in this stuff!

I can think of a half-dozen experts on red lining, educational disparity, racist housing policy and lead exposure, and even the bizarre racially biased slice the 2008 financial crisis took out of the black population:
theatlantic.com/business/archi…

Or kick Murray off the stage and deal with the possibility that his entire classification method of "race" really is a racist leftover of a pre-human-genome era?

Demand better from your lecture ticket dollar, people. Don't go watch Sam's current "things I think about stuff I'm not entirely read up on" tour. He and some others he shares a stage with are talking beyond their expertise.

And give an undergrad writer time to mature. His piece was unfocused and meandering. Structure needs work, choose a narrower subject than "all of black poverty" for your next piece. C+.