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Harvard Mathematics Ph.D talks to man who considers lower-class as separate sub-species

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posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:05 PM
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I ran across a disturbing article on the Naked Capitalist. Bear in the mind, this Andrew gentleman has a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Harvard, so this is likely to be valid since he has access to very high uppercrust folks.

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To begin, [t]he natural outcome of the voluntary transactions between… private property owners is decidedly nonegalitarian, hierarchical, and elitist [71]. After all, the “permanently” rich and the “permanently” poor are usually rich or poor for a reason. The rich are characteristically bright and industrious, and the poor typically dull, lazy, or both. [96-97]

ANDREW: You talk almost as if lower-class people were so different from productive geniuses that they form a separate subspecies.

CNC: Well, there is something to that.


This is really quite disturbing and smacks very loudly of 1985.

Aside from this, his assertions are basely. If you look at people who have actually contributed to science and culture, you'll find that many of them are not from the upper class. You'll also find that many of them died paupers, particularly those who contributed to art and literature.

I also find issue with the likely outcomes of this diatribe. If the lower class form a separate and inferior sub-species, then it could be argued that they don't deserve certain rights. Within one or two generations, it becomes an issue where those in the lower class, no matter how bright and industrious they are, cannot rise out of their situation because it is automatically assumed that they are inferior and stupid simply because of birth class.

Also, arguing that the truly bright and industrious will rise out of the situation regardless of obstacles is ridiculous. Could there have been a black mayor in the South during the Jim Crow era? Could an Irishman have founded a steel empire during the potato famine? Ideas about working hard and overcoming adversity don't work when one is met with a solid culture of discrimination.

Orwell wrote 1984, but he also wrote another book called Animal Farm. Eventually the laws are replaced with: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Sounds a lot like what this guy is shooting for, doesn't it?
edit on 6-12-2011 by AnIntellectualRedneck because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:10 PM
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Meh, some "Know-it-alls" are really not worth paying much attention to.

Home-boy should probably just stick to math.



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:14 PM
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For a maths guy he's not taking many factors into consideration.I'd give him a F and send him back to do his homework.


CNC: Let’s see. As I’ve been trying to explain to you, due to democracy the genetic quality of the population has most certainly declined


I'd like to see where he obtained that information from, i'm guessing that its thin air.
edit on 6-12-2011 by Hopeforeveryone because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:16 PM
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I believe that this kind of view will spawn a type of fascist ideology solely base on class the strong( the rich) survives while the weak(poor) suffer



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:19 PM
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reply to post by starwarsisreal
 


You know, that's a good point. Yet another reason that this is pure trash: it is essentially a form of social darwinism.



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:19 PM
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reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck
 
What I don't understand is this constant need to categorize.
I don't know this guys' politics, but I'd bet that he's a progressive democrat.

Everyone has to fit in their narrow definition, their own category, their own subset, or "box".

This is just another attempt to introduce class warfare into the nations dialogue, by defining what category the wealthy and the poor should fit into.

I'll give the OP a S&F for providing a thought-producing thread, but I'll have to give this Harvard prof a failing grade for his arrogance and stupidity.



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:22 PM
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reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck
 


Dear AnIntellectualRedneck,

That is how many of them think. I was recruited into the "inner sanctum" of the east coast colleges, well they attempted to recruit me, I chose to be a practitioner. The "Professors" often come to believe that they do have all the answers and it usually comes down to the fact that they believe that they know more than everyone else and should therefore set policy for the rest.

The truth is that much of academia believes is Social Darwinism. We are all unique and everyone has value, everyone feels pleasure and pain and everyone matters. We should listen to "experts"; but, not just accept what they say, we must test it. The wealthy are sent to schools that cater to them and only accept them and the best and brightest. The geniuses and the rich attend Harvard and Yale. The geniuses sell out and the rich are convinced that the rest of us are unworthy.

Someone born with a 90 IQ in poverty does not have the same chance as someone born with a 150 IQ and money. People born with 100 IQs (average) don't have the same chance if they are poor than if they are rich. It determines the education, assistance and freedom from casual concerns like eating and having a place to sleep. Sorry, this is turning into a rant. Peace.



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:23 PM
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Originally posted by Sci-Fi_entist
Meh, some "Know-it-alls" are really not worth paying much attention to.

Home-boy should probably just stick to math.



You better hope his views didn't become very dominant enough for many people to accept this



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:25 PM
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Originally posted by beezzer

I don't know this guys' politics, but I'd bet that he's a progressive democrat.



Here is Newt Gingrich saying almost the exact same thing:

“Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working, and have nobody around them who works. So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash,’ unless it’s illegal.”

— Newt Gingrich

edit on 6-12-2011 by Annee because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:25 PM
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reply to post by beezzer
 


well said Beezer and Annee
Ive worked with and for these types of people
political labels aside
quite often they can't walk and chew bubble gum outside of the education thier parents have payed for with granpa's stolen money

the first day the plumbing backs up they will drown...


maybe a nice general strike will smarten thses tards up


edit on 6-12-2011 by Danbones because: (no reason given)

edit on 6-12-2011 by Danbones because: spelling

edit on 6-12-2011 by Danbones because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:26 PM
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reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck
 


There are some corrupt scumbags at Harvard. Have you guys seen the documentary about the financial collapse Inside Job? There are some serious conflicts of interests going on there with lots of the work that's done.

Larry Summers is the "Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government". He played a key role in much of the financial deregulation that led to the financial collapse.

Several corrupt politicians have attended that school too. You know we're living in a terrible time period when even the educational system is becoming corrupt.



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:27 PM
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reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck
 


In a disturbing sort of way it is true but hardly intellectually honest due to the use of the term subspecies.

It IS due to environment. The better the environment you are raised in the better your chances. Perhaps that is what he truly meant?

The answer is also not found in that sort of response. The answer lies in education and exposure to different idea's. The inner cities are crawling with people who would and could be geniuses and holders of high Degree's given the right environment and opportunity.

Now that I think of it agreeing with the term subspecies is fairly illiterate on this persons part. I give him an "F".
He should stick to math.

I have a cousin who was one of the youngest people in history to ever receive Tenure as a Professor in mathematics. To this day at age 55 he cannot do simple tasks like tying a hook on a fishing line or assembling something out of a box correctly. He cannot have a normal conversation at a family gathering. We love him though. Even if he is handicapped by his genius.



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:29 PM
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reply to post by Annee
 
First off, Gingrich is a hypocritical ass.
Second, teaching good work habits (or poor) spreads across all social strata.



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:30 PM
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If SHTF ever......lets see him grow his own food and muscle his way through the aftermath. A big head and spindly arms and legs will not see to his survival. Survival takes more than the ability to calculate a few quantum physics equations.

How many times do you think civilization has started over? More than we think. He was tossed to the side and burned in a previous life. Nothing to offer. Bye Bye big head!



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:31 PM
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reply to post by starwarsisreal
 


If so, there really wouldn't be much I could do about it other than to live a life that was contradictory to his statement.

Personally, his opinion has no affect on the way I view things, and I know that it probably won't affect anyone else that I know. It's his opinion. From what I could tell, it wasn't based in any sort of actual reality. So whatever.

If someone wants to take his words to heart, then let them. I simply won't deal with them. But if it were to become some unlikely issue for me in the future, so be it. I'll just dynamite that bridge should I come to it...



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:32 PM
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Harvard Mathematics Ph.D talks of lower-class as separate sub-species


That is what our actual education processes does to young human beings... heartless individuals that forgot that a single human being is more valuable than all the money that the so call "economics" can produce. The more time they spend in that old education patterns, the less human they become.



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:32 PM
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reply to post by Danbones
 

I honestly think that morons like this guy deliberately state these things to illicite responses that would further push their own ideologies.



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:34 PM
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reply to post by beezzer
 


He's a troll...
I also think he's just saying it to just piss people off.

If anyone takes what he says seriously needs to take a long walk off a short pier.
edit on 12/6/2011 by ugie1028 because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:35 PM
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Reminds me of a story line from hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. The Golgafrincham's send all undesirables off in a spaceship full of estate agents, tv producers, telephone hygenists etc. They unfortunatly all become wiped out due to a virulent virus spread by telephones. Lets see a harvard professor try and fix a road or build a house !
edit on 6-12-2011 by Hopeforeveryone because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 6 2011 @ 10:36 PM
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reply to post by beezzer
 


yeah it really has that feel doesn't it

yet look many of us on this thread don't always agree on many things and we all picked up on the BS

I have to reload my star cannon f and S OP




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