News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by natalyarostova on Friday June 19, 2020 @10:50PM (#23581108)
He’s doing research using newer high dimensional ML methods on the human genome to understand potential correlations with genetic information and other attributes, like general intelligence https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.2264

It’s a valid research subject, and like all research subjects, it could be wrong.

If people think some questions are too dangerous to ask, just admit that and be honest. Instead of just calling it problematic because it’s a potentially uncomfortable subject.

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by oefrha on Friday June 19, 2020 @11:13PM (#23581252)
When there's a theory X you want to stamp out, it's way more effective to maintain a false sense of freedom of inquiry, while setting high profile examples of theory X supporters/sympathizers/researchers being destroyed (here, "researchers" stand for people who merely want to explore the possibility). This way you can have a "manufactured consensus" which can be used to take down theory X supporters/sympathizers/researchers: "there's already a scientific consensus that X is outrageous", despite no opposition research being allowed (outspoken people taken down and discredited, other people too afraid to even explore the possibility); and each takedown only strengthens the "consensus" and makes future takedowns easier.

Not picking a side on this particular issue, but we're definitely seeing this kind of tactics unfold on multiple fronts.

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by bJGVygG7MQVF8c on Saturday June 20, 2020 @02:43PM (#23585818)
Yes, the state of the art is to use social agitation to delegitimize an inconvenient argument altogether. It's as true in the academy as in politics — indeed the former is an extension of the latter.
Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by joshuamorton on Friday June 19, 2020 @11:03PM (#23581196)
Few, if any, of the concerns are directly about his research, but about the other things he does. In general I'd say that anyone doing research like Hsu's should be extra vigilant and careful, because their research will be used by "race realists" to push forth their theories. And legitimizing those views is bad.

If you want to ask these kinds of questions, you need to be sure that you can't be accused of a conflict of interest, Hsu's done, basically the exact opposite of that, and intentionally associated himself with some really uncomfortable people. That context has the consequence of throwing Hsu's motives into question as well.

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by bJGVygG7MQVF8c on Saturday June 20, 2020 @02:48PM (#23585859)
Race realism is less of an extremist view than you seem to think it is (in that it's not an extremist view). Whether one infers extremist views from that position is another matter entirely.

There are multiple ways of operationalizing the notion of race. Some are prima facie invalid (usually these are used as straw men), some (as in the idpol/'woke' ideology's case) are incoherent and shallow but have political currency, and the rest are all valid within some range, conditional on context.

This is a great resource if you're interested:

https://www.amazon.com/What-Race-Four-Philosophical-Views/dp...

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by joshuamorton on Saturday June 20, 2020 @03:22PM (#23586275)
Race realism is, by definition an extremist view. It isn't the view that "race exists", as you seem to be implying, but that race and race science can be used to justify racism.

That is, race realism isn't "race exists", but that "black people have lower average IQs due mainly to genetics and so the status quo today is explained perfectly by genetic, and not environmental causes".

Such views are contradicted by most available evidence.

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by bJGVygG7MQVF8c on Saturday June 20, 2020 @03:47PM (#23586595)
> that race and race science can be used to justify racism

You are incorrect. If 'race realism' has taken on that meaning in some discursive communities, understand that there are other understandings of the term.

Race realism is a descriptive claim that race has some basis in reality. There are no inherent normative implications to race realism.

Again, see the link in the preceding. In particular I recommend Chapter 3: "How to be a biological racial realist", by Quayshawn Spencer

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by joshuamorton on Sunday June 21, 2020 @02:04AM (#23590205)
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/race_realist

Id refer you to the order of the definitions. Race realism as used in the scientific community may have a different connotation and definition, and is perhaps the reason why racists adopted the term, but no I'm not at all incorrect here about how the term is understood when used in a layperson context by people who are informed about race discussion.

> If 'race realism' has taken on that meaning in some discursive communities, understand that there are other understandings of the term.

Please remember that I said "race realism" and not race realism. And understand that I'm not uninformed here.

To reiterate, I'm not saying that scientists who research race are racist, I'm saying that if you research race and aren't a racist, you need to be extra careful to make that clear. Otherwise, as a pragmatic point, you'll end up like Dr. Hsu even if you are simply naive, and as a moral point, your naiveté will be used by actual racists to help legitimize their standpoint. That's why they self describe as "race realists", so they can say "look we're just like these other scientists who are studying race".

If you don't want your work and your authority to be coopted by racists, you need to proactively prevent them from doing so. Hsu did exactly the opposite and gifted actual racists his position and legitimacy. That's a problem no matter what his personal beliefs are.

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by bJGVygG7MQVF8c on Sunday June 21, 2020 @11:32AM (#23592535)
Two observations:

The first:

> Please remember that I said "race realism" and not race realism.

Here is what you said:

>> Race realism is, by definition an extremist view.

The second:

> And understand that I'm not uninformed here

That you have to assert that, and actually go the trouble of asserting it at all, suggests you're willingly choosing to be incompletely informed.

Between the both of these, you don't seem to be engaging in good faith — you're attempting to manipulate. You are justly ignored.

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by dang on Monday June 22, 2020 @02:51AM (#23597861)
It looks like you've been using HN primarily for ideological battle. We ban accounts that do that, because it destroys what the site is for. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and use HN as intended.
Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by joshuamorton on Sunday June 21, 2020 @01:43PM (#23593679)
No what I originally said was

> because their research will be used by "race realists" to push forth their theories.

> suggests you're willingly choosing to be incompletely informed.

I cannot imagine what strange interpretation of the universe leads you to conclude that.

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by dang on Monday June 22, 2020 @02:54AM (#23597874)
Please don't do ideological flamewars on HN.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by skosuri on Friday June 19, 2020 @10:59PM (#23581179)
He’s a hack. Most people in quantitative genetics think he’s a hack. He’s still a fully tenured professor making a lot of money & free to choose his research agenda. It’s just that he shouldn’t be head of research and really amazing faculty have left at least in part because of him.
Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by bJGVygG7MQVF8c on Saturday June 20, 2020 @02:59PM (#23585982)
> He's a hack

In the same sense of "hack" used in "Hacker News", sure, perhaps.

A pattern that's repeated itself multiple times in the history of science is mathematicians and theoretical physicists showing up in other fields and making groundbreaking discoveries that end up re-orienting the field.

It's not at all surprising that incumbents would object to the competition, fault the 'interlopers' for not working within accepted paradigms, or just not have the background to fully understand their projects in the first place.

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by blisterpeanuts on Friday June 19, 2020 @11:14PM (#23581257)
Are you a grad student at MSU?
Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by skosuri on Friday June 19, 2020 @11:18PM (#23581283)
No. I’m faculty though and some of my best friends and colleagues are or were faculty there. I also research quantitative genetics. Been hearing the back story for years; many fear him and he threatened retaliation against some of my friends who were junior faculty.
Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by amznthrowaway5 on Saturday June 20, 2020 @12:16AM (#23581603)
> many fear him and he threatened retaliation against some of my friends who were junior faculty

Do you have real examples? These types of accusations are meaningless without real data. If they are real, I'd like to know the actual threats.

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by ylem on Friday June 19, 2020 @11:23PM (#23581311)
Sorry to hear that. How much power did he actually have to damage someone's research career?
Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by kick on Friday June 19, 2020 @10:59PM (#23581174)
Personally I don't think any of this is particularly related to "dangerous questions," but you do you I guess.

In which he downplays racial bias in police shootings: https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2020/06/re-post-joe-cesario-on...

In which he says lack of segregation is the reason for racial underperformance: https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2020/03/claude-steele-on-chall...

Interview with an open white supremacist, check: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Molyneux

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by natalyarostova on Friday June 19, 2020 @11:09PM (#23581226)
Part of the scientific process is being skeptical and considering cases and asking probing questions. He didn’t make a blog post that said “lol racial bias is fake.” He discusses it with respect to research on the matter.

It seems you don’t feel that’s an acceptable question to ask: is racial bias in police shooting real?

I’d call that a dangerous question to ask, and try to answer honestly, because it could get a person fired.

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by kick on Friday June 19, 2020 @11:12PM (#23581243)
First objection: He has tenure. Getting fired is very hard when you have tenure. As a tenured professor you can scream for years that the sky is neon green and you'll be fine.

Secondly, he doesn't particularly discuss it with respect nor realism. However, let's assume for the sake of discussion that we have the same view on that.

What about the second and third ones?

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by giantDinosaur on Friday June 19, 2020 @11:19PM (#23581287)
To be totally clear, being interviewed by someone implies absolutely nothing about agreement. For example, here's Noam Chomsky being interviewed by Molyneux:

https://youtu.be/MautscPF5wE

Even more shockingly, you can interview with someone because they actually share some interest in what you research or do, and still not be in agreement with the interviewer's platform, as is the case in the linked interview.

Edit: removed section on 'misleading narratives' as, truthfully, I don't know enough about this specific case to comment much on it other than it has the hallmarks of a political hit job.

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by ylem on Friday June 19, 2020 @11:47PM (#23581454)
I agree with you on being interviewed. Bringing someone onto your podcast is more of an implicit endorsement unless you actively push back on their other views. If you don't know about those views, you should have done your research. But, if that was the case, he could have stated it. Imagine that he invited on a vocal flat earther, but discussed gardening with him. In his position, it raises doubts about judgement. If he says, "I didn't realize he was a flat earther--the earth is not flat", he probably keeps his job. But if he threatens to sue people who talk about his appearance on the show, it's a different story.
Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by giantDinosaur on Saturday June 20, 2020 @02:54AM (#23582307)
What concerns me primarily is the guilt by association. You also will see criticism about 'normalising' deviant perspectives merely with the act of engaging in debate (which has some merit, but is applied too generally), which would likely condemn many more. There's no way that can end without people with legitimate points being terrified of speaking.
Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by amznthrowaway5 on Friday June 19, 2020 @11:10PM (#23581235)
> racial bias in police shootings

The science clearly shows there is not much bias, he did not downplay anything.

> lack of segregation is the reason for racial underperformance

Where?

> Interview with an open white supremacist

Lots of people interviewed with Molyneux, this doesn't prove anything.

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by villahousut on Saturday June 20, 2020 @03:47AM (#23582495)
> The science clearly shows there is not much bias, he did not downplay anything.

I think this is pretty much corroborated by this scientific review in Slate star codex: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/11/25/race-and-justice-much-...

Re:MSU Vice President of research & innovation Steve Hsu has... by bJGVygG7MQVF8c on Saturday June 20, 2020 @03:19PM (#23586243)
I can't tell if it's ignorance or cynicism at work here.

Let me fix your summaries:

> In which he downplays racial bias in police shootings

In which a guest on Hsu's podcast, psychologist Joe Cesario, presents in detail his research, some of which is experimental, demonstrating no racial bias in police shootings (not the case in police interactions in general though).

> In which he says lack of segregation is the reason for racial underperformance

In which a guest on Hsu's podcast, Claude Steele, a[n African American] social psychologist, discusses his research in detail and his [African American] co-host, Corey Washington, discusses his daughter's educational experience. (And in which no one suggests that racial segregation in education would be desirable.)

> Interview with an open white supremacist

Interview with a YouTube personality who's also had Noam Chomsky and Peter Boghossian on his show, e.g.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MautscPF5wE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukeCmR2S5Vg