Pain and Pacifism
Probably no culture has a more intense relationship with pain, asceticism, peace, and suffering than the Jains. Jains are famous for their obsessive attempts to not hurt other living beings—sweeping the ground in front of their feet as they walk so as to not accidentally step on any insects and avoiding root vegetable foods out of fear their harvesting might harm worms (obviously, not all Jains do this, but the most observant do).
Side note: The Jains are one of the most at-risk ancient cultures in the world due to their extremely low birth rate.
In addition to winning an easy gold medal for “most extreme culture” in regards to their focus on not harming other living beings, Jains are also extreme practitioners of asceticism, engendering more personal suffering through self-denial than any other group we’ve encountered. As an example: Mahavira, the culture’s founder, avoided village stays lasting more than a day and took measures to leave towns after two days, all to ensure he would never make a friend or gain a kind ear. Outside of hermit monasticism, many monastics of other cultures at least have friends. He also started the practice of Sallekhana, a form of meditation through which one kills oneself through slow, gradual starvation (while other cultures, like the Buddhist Sokushinbutsu, have similar practices, no other large culture exercised such practices as frequently as the Jains).
While we would argue that Jains’ focus on suffering for its own sake seems extremely self-indulgent (coming from a cultural background that does not see even human suffering as a negative), Jain asceticism seems to produce positive externalities unrelated to its explicit mandates. While we have seen figures that strain credulity, such as reports suggesting that, despite comprising just 0.4% of India’s population, Jains pay as much as 24% of the nation’s personal income tax,[[179]](#_ftn179) it is inarguable that Jains represent one of the most educated cultures in the world—not to mention one of the wealthiest cultures on average.[[180]](#_ftn180)
Despite being both dramatically better educated and wealthier than other cultures who live alongside them, Jains are (so far as we can tell) more respected by their cohabitating cultures than any other cultural group that has achieved this status. Usually, when a minority culture is dramatically wealthier than the majority culture, the difference breeds enmity (take Jews as an easy example). Specifically, cultures like these suffer from the “middleman minority” phenomenon, whereby a minority group ends up becoming more educated than its surrounding society because it reliably acts as a neutral third party to mediate business transactions (being they are usually neither culturally nor genetically related to the people doing business).[[181]](#_ftn181) Somehow the Jains have not only escaped this trap but managed to be fairly well-liked by their neighbors.[[182]](#_ftn182) We suspect Jains’ intense focus on not leading others to suffer must be a significant contributing factor on this front.
Other cultures, like the strictly-pacifist Quakers, also share this halo effect—however, not all pacifist cultures do. The Israeli Haredim[[183]](#_ftn183) are largely “otherized,” discriminated against and disliked by groups you would assume to be their cultural allies. Perhaps Israeli Haredim pacifism fails to win popularity points because it is publicly framed as: “We have more important things to do” as opposed to “we suffer to ensure we don’t hurt other people.” The Anabaptists, such as the Amish, represent another pacifist cultural cluster whose pacifism has put them in hot water. In their case, we suspect the enmity comes from their being surrounded by cultures that generally see violence as a positive (e.g., cultures that see them as traitors for not participating in wars).
Is it worth it to incorporate pacifism into a freshly-designed cultivar? Probably not if you care about female empowerment. The two communities that practice both non-violence and have something that even begins to flirt with gender equality (Jains and Quakers) both have vanishingly low birth rates, and we suspect these factors may be connected. Focusing on non-violence means not seeing one’s community as being in a zero-sum game with the world. Such a viewpoint can rob a culture of one of the biggest motivators for a high birth rate. On the other hand—if you abandon gender equality but keep pacifism, you might be fine (in terms of birth rate, at least), as two of the highest-birth-rate cultures on earth are nonviolent (the Haredi and the Anabaptists).
Mortification practices represent another extreme relationship some cultures have with pain, asceticism, peace, and suffering. Probably the most famous of these is the self-flagellation practiced by a number of Roman Catholic sects—and to a lesser extent by some Sikh sects. Our read of these practices is that they are wildly misread. While historically, self-flagellation served as a form of self-punishment in an attempt to change God’s mind on an issue (see the flageolets and the plague), the practice in general is more focused on learning to control one’s own emotional state. For example, people focus on the Opus Dei for self-flagellation while ignoring that the Opus Dei also has the mandate to be cheerful around others—these practices are two sides of the same emotional control coin.
This is true for most cultures that indulge in suffering and teach their adherents that learning to embrace it is a positive. For example, both the Calvinists and related Puritan cultures hold that people can better themselves by learning to endure suffering and contextualize positive emotional states as intrinsically corrupting. Even adhering to a secular Calvinist tradition, Simone often reminds me, “the only real, lasting happiness, contentment, and satisfaction are biological and psychological rewards for the successful pursuit of one’s values—all other positive emotional states should be viewed with extreme suspicion.” Here we should note that Calvinist cultivars don’t practice intentional self-harm for self-harm’s sake, seeing it as a self-indulgent waste of the short lives we are gifted. Rather, Calvinists consider opportunities to master suffering in the meaningful pursuit of a goal to be a blessing.
As an example, Simone has chosen to work through labor and delivery, handling things like sales calls in the midst of unmedicated labor. She sees the challenge as an opportunity to further her self-mastery. In fact, the first person to hold our first baby was one of our company’s controllers because she came to the hospital to go over accounting information with Simone. I don’t come anywhere close to her level of temperance, but consider myself lucky to have someone setting such aggressive goalposts for what is possible.[[184]](#_ftn184)
There are manifold downsides to choosing this cultural perspective. The Calvinist choice to contextualize suffering as a neutral state explains in part why Calvinists were known and derided for not donating to charities involved in the alleviation of suffering. Lauding suffering can also lead to what most cultures would see as negative outcomes, such as Mother Teresa setting up her clinics in a way that was designed to increase and prolong suffering, as she thought suffering brought people closer to God.[[185]](#_ftn185)
[[1]](#_ftnref1) A meme is an idea inspected through the lens of evolutionary units. Similar to a virus, a successful meme effectively uses humans to replicate itself. Successful memes are, therefore, more common and pervasive.
[[2]](#_ftnref2) While religions and cultures have sometimes been able to convert large groups of non-adherents during highly constrained periods of history and within highly constrained geographies, this is an exception and not the rule. Most cultures and religions spread through high birth rates and conquest. We explain the fundamentals behind this later in the book.
[[3]](#_ftnref3) Jews evolved a less stringent handwashing practice long before Islam: Leviticus 15:11 “The person who is touched by one who has a discharge without ringing his hands in water must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handwashing_in_Judaism
[[4]](#_ftnref4) In these cultures, the option to maintain a polygynous relationship is only really exercised by wealthy and powerful men. In contrast, normal men still live monogamously. A culture does not need every man to have multiple wives to be polygynous, as obviously that is impossible. In other words, the majority of relationships within a culture can be monogamous, and that culture can still be categorized as polygynous (in fact, this is frequently the case in polygynous cultures).
[[5]](#_ftnref5) These stats are detailed in Henrich, Boyd, and Richardson 2012 (The puzzle of monogamous marriage) but originally came from Murdock’s 1967 “Ethnographic Atlas: A Summary.” The calculation itself comes from p. 282 of Daly and Wilson’s book “Sex, evolution, and behavior” (1983)
[[6]](#_ftnref6) Polygamy – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/polygamy
[[7]](#_ftnref7) “5–10% of men actually have several wives simultaneously” (Helen Fisher’s estimate) in societies in which polygyny is permitted. This makes it seem as though allowing polygyny culturally but practicing monogamy individually is the “default” human behavior. Nevertheless, what matters in a culture is who ultimately reproduces, and genetic evidence shows most of our ancestors came out of polygynous relationships (depending on the period of history), with 67% of our ancestors being female and 33% male.* To be more specific, humans are probably polymorphic and can change their optimization between polygyny and monogamy but default to polyamory when resources and cultural allowance permit.
- It would be possible to get this number without polygyny if you had a very very high female death rate, but data does not support this as a cause. We wrote a whole book on this subject (The Pragmatist’s Guide to Sexuality), so check it out if it interests you.
Lippold, S., Xu, H., Ko, A., Li, M., Renaud, G., Butthof, A., Schröder, R., & Stoneking, M. (2014). Human paternal and maternal demographic histories: Insights from high-resolution Y chromosome and mtDNA sequences. Investigative Genetics, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/2041-2223-5-13 From, https://investigativegenetics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/2041-2223-5-13 Jason A. Wilder, Zahra Mobasher, Michael F. Hammer, Genetic Evidence for Unequal Effective Population Sizes of Human Females and Males, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Volume 21, Issue 11, November 2004, Pages 2047–2057, https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msh214 from, http://hammerlab.biosci.arizona.edu/publications/Wilder_2004_MBE.pdf
[[8]](#_ftnref8) See: Bonelli R, Dew RE, Koenig HG, Rosmarin DH, Vasegh S. Religious and spiritual factors in depression: review and integration of the research. Depress Res Treat. 2012;2012:962860. doi: 10.1155/2012/962860. Epub 2012 Aug 15. PMID: 22928096; PMCID: PMC3426191.
[[9]](#_ftnref9) This is likely why prohibitions against same-sex relations have been nearly universal in widely practiced traditional cultures that have withstood the test of time. However, if technologies enabling same-sex couples to have their own kids become more affordable, these prohibitions could end up getting flipped in the distant future of our species. For example, lesbian couples would be able to breed at twice the rate of heterosexual couples—we muse on how such a culture could be structured later in the book.
[[10]](#_ftnref10) Fun fact: Malcolm’s favorite, most respected religious denomination is that led by the Calvary Chapel Association and Simone’s the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
[[11]](#_ftnref11)AbdAleati, N. S., Mohd Zaharim, N., & Mydin, Y. O. (2016). Religiousness and Mental Health: Systematic Review Study. Journal of religion and health, 55(6), 1929–1937. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-014-9896-1
[[12]](#_ftnref12) Latin America and the Caribbean to Reach Maximum Population Levels by 2058, issued as a press release by the United Nations’ Public Information Unit Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on July 11th, 2019. https://www.cepal.org/en/pressreleases/latin-america-and-caribbean-reach-maximum-population-levels-2058
[[13]](#_ftnref13)Macrotrends’ report on India Fertility Rate 1950-2022: https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/IND/india/fertility-rate
[[14]](#_ftnref14) “China’s population could halve within next 45 years, new study warns” published by the South China Morning Post on October 1st, 2021. https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2190995/chinas-population-could-halve-within-next-45-years-new-study-warns
[[15]](#_ftnref15) McHugh, P. (2021, February 16). Fertility among immigrants and native-born Americans. CIS.org. from https://cis.org/Report/Fertility-Among-Immigrants-and-NativeBorn-Americans
[[16]](#_ftnref16) According to the United Nations Population Division United Nations. (n.d.). World population prospects – population division. United Nations. from https://population.un.org/wpp/
[[17]](#_ftnref17) Tooze, A. (2022, October 15). Chartbook #161 Iran’s contested demographic revolution. #161 Iran’s contested demographic revolution. from https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-161-irans-contested-demographic?fbclid=IwAR02R-9s7xj0VDG7h9fZk59bhP8yTyKzJqPzTbq6EnU6RAegWbx7Z6zXOtQ
[[18]](#_ftnref18) Tooze, A. (2022, October 15). Chartbook #161 Iran’s contested demographic revolution. #161 Iran’s contested demographic revolution, from https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-161-irans-contested-demographic
[[19]](#_ftnref19) Author, N. (2020, August 20). Main factors driving population growth. Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, 2023, from https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2011/01/27/future-of-the-global-muslim-population-main-factors/
[[20]](#_ftnref20) “Mormon Fertility: 6 indicators” published on the Eternal Anglo blog on March 19th, 2021: https://eternalanglo.com/mormon-fertility-6-indicators
[[21]](#_ftnref21) Korea’s fertility rate drops even further to 0.81 in 2021 published by the Korea Times on July 3rd, 2022. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2022/02/281_324402.html
[[22]](#_ftnref22) 40.5 kids, 16.4 grandkids, 6.6 great-grandkids.
[[23]](#_ftnref23) Bailey, M. Currie, J. Schwandt, H. (2022, October) The Covid-19 Baby Bump: The unexpected increase in U.S. fertility rates in response to the pandemic. National Bureau Of Economic Research from https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w30569/w30569.pdf
[[24]](#_ftnref24) Except maybe Israel, but more on that later.
[[25]](#_ftnref25) Also, declining interest rates increase the “real” value of equities directly by reducing market yield on securities and indirectly by subsidizing new economic activity. This drives increased transaction volume that’s interpreted as increases in total consumption rather than an added tax burden, which obscures the extent of inflation. We have already “spent” that option for the most part, going from interest rates of 20% in the 80s to only a few percentage points at the time of this book’s publication.
[[26]](#_ftnref26) Productivity: Output per hour worked. Our World in Data. from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/labor-productivity-per-hour-pennworldtable
[[27]](#_ftnref27) We acknowledge that governments may begin to experiment with some wild and innovative debt instruments designed to prop up financial market increases, but whether or not such yet-untested experiments will work is pure conjecture. We would be unwilling to bet the next generation’s collective savings that a Deus ex machina will sweep in to save financial markets when their core fundamental drivers change.
[[28]](#_ftnref28) If you are wondering why we don’t just use our connections with various groups of powerful, influential people to ensure they (1) recognize the risks we have identified and (2) contribute to efforts addressing them: Being a nerdy freshman at the same high school as the cool kids doesn’t mean the cool kids are going to listen to you—it merely grants you insight into what the cool kids are saying and doing.
[[29]](#_ftnref29) See: Why Has Detroit Continued To Decline? by Scott Beye, published Jul 31, 2018,11:58pm EDT https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottbeyer/2018/07/31/why-has-detroit-continued-to-decline/?sh=5474d9be3fbe
[[30]](#_ftnref30) It’s easy to process that 7.2% of the budget goes to paying off debt in NYC without noticing that 33% of payroll expenses are paying off already-accrued pensions. Tracking all the fixed expenses for accrued services on a city’s payroll is very difficult. If we had to make an estimate for most major American cities, fixed expenses for accrued services are probably close to 25% of the budget, but 50% makes the math easier to demonstrate.
[[31]](#_ftnref31) Southwood, B. (2022, July 26). How crime worsens sprawl. from https://bensouthwood.substack.com/p/how-crime-worsens-sprawl
[[32]](#_ftnref32) “Life expectancy (from birth) in the United States, from 1860 to 2020”* published by Aaron O’Neill on Statista on June 21st, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1040079/life-expectancy-united-states-all-time/
[[33]](#_ftnref33) Bouchard TJ Jr, McGue M. Genetic and environmental influences on human psychological differences. J Neurobiol. 2003 Jan;54(1):4-45. doi: 10.1002/neu.10160. PMID: 12486697. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/neu.10160 Christopher T Dawes, Aaron C Weinschenk, On the genetic basis of political orientation, Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 34, 2020, Pages 173-178, ISSN 2352-1546, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.03.012, From, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352154620300553
[[34]](#_ftnref34) Hatemi, P. K., Medland, S. E., Klemmensen, R., Oskarsson, S., Littvay, L., Dawes, C. T., Verhulst, B., McDermott, R., Nørgaard, A. S., Klofstad, C. A., Christensen, K., Johannesson, M., Magnusson, P. K., Eaves, L. J., & Martin, N. G. (2014). Genetic influences on political ideologies: Twin analyses of 19 measures of political ideologies from five democracies and genome-wide findings from three populations. Behavior Genetics, 44(3), 282–294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-014-9648-8 from, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4038932/
[[35]](#_ftnref35) Reuter, M., Frenzel, C., Walter, N., Markett, S.A., & Montag, C. (2011). Investigating the genetic basis of altruism: the role of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 6 5, 662-8 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21030481/
[[36]](#_ftnref36) Gregory, A. M., Light-Häusermann, J. H., Rijsdijk, F., & Eley, T. C. (2009). Behavioral genetic analyses of prosocial behavior in adolescents. Developmental science, 12(1), 165–174. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00739.x
[[37]](#_ftnref37) Vogl, T. S., & Freese, J. (2020). Differential fertility makes society more conservative on family values. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(14), 7696-7701.
[[38]](#_ftnref38) Kerry, N., Al-Shawaf, L., Barbato, M., Batres, C., Blake, K. R., Cha, Y., Chauvin, G. V., Clifton, J. D., Fernandez, A. M., Galbarczyk, A., Ghossainy, M. E., Jang, D., Jasienska, G., Karasawa, M., Laustsen, L., Loria, R., Luberti, F., Moran, J., Pavlović, Z., … Murray, D. R. (2022). Experimental and cross-cultural evidence that parenthood and parental care motives increase social conservatism. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 289(1982). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0978 from, https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2022.0978
[[39]](#_ftnref39) Vogl, T. S., & Freese, J. (2020). Differential fertility makes society more conservative on family values. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(14), 7696–7701. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1918006117, from https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1918006117
[[40]](#_ftnref40) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_authoritarian_personality
[[41]](#_ftnref41) Costello, T. H., Bowes, S. M., Stevens, S. T., Waldman, I. D., Tasimi, A., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2022). Clarifying the structure and nature of left-wing authoritarianism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 122(1), 135–170. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000341, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_authoritarian_personality#Left-wing_authoritarians
[[42]](#_ftnref42) Christian Kandler; Edward Bell; Rainer Riemann (2016). “The Structure and Sources of Right-wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation”. European Journal of Personality. 30 (4): 406–420. doi:10.1002/per.2061. S2CID 152253763.
[[43]](#_ftnref43) Meisenberg, G. (2021) Non-cognitive correlates of fertility in the United States, London conference on Intelligence
[[44]](#_ftnref44) Stephan, W. (2021). Rapid evolutionary adaptation in response to selection on quantitative traits. Life, 11(8), 797. https://doi.org/10.3390/life11080797 from, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8398862/
[[45]](#_ftnref45) See: https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/did-america-have-christian-founding From: Hall, M. D. (2020). Did America have a Christian founding? separating modern myth from historical truth. Religious Studies Review, 46(1), 108-109. https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.14492
[[46]](#_ftnref46) Like most of this cultural strain, George Washington was pretty inventive with his religion. His speeches lead to the belief that he was a mix of Deist, Calvinist, and Anglican. https://ourfoundingtruth.blogspot.com/2009/09/another-calvinist-founding-father.html (We qualify Simone’s relation because George Washington had no kids. Being a distant niece, there are tons of people who can make the same claim as Simone, plus Simone’s mother and older relatives are obviously more closely related to George Washington than she is.)
[[47]](#_ftnref47)Famously this was first proposed by Weber, M. (1904). Die protestantische ethik und der geist des kapitalismus. Recent research supports that this is more than just a claim and likely has a large element of truth behind it. Luzer, D. (2013, September 4). Study: The Protestant work ethic is real. Pacific Standard. from https://psmag.com/economics/protestant-worth-ethic-real-65544
[[48]](#_ftnref48)See: https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/did-america-have-christian-founding From: Hall, M. D. (2020). Did America have a Christian founding?: Separating modern myth from historical truth. Religious Studies Review, 46(1), 108–109. https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.14492
[[49]](#_ftnref49) As can be seen with Malcolm’s family, branches that did not secularize converted from Calvinist traditions to more mainstream Christian branches. For historical examples of this phenomenon, consider individuals like William Ellery Channing, who was born a Calvinist in the early 1800s only to lead a huge chunk of Calvinists away from the denomination by founding the very-low-birth-rate Unitarian movement.
[[50]](#_ftnref50) Pichler, I., Fuchsberger, C., Platzer, C., Çalişkan, M., Marroni, F., Pramstaller, P. P., & Ober, C. (2009). Drawing the history of the Hutterite population on a genetic landscape: Inference from Y-chromosome and mtdna genotypes. European Journal of Human Genetics, 18(4), 463–470. https://doi.org/10.1038/ejhg.2009.172
[[51]](#_ftnref51) Religion in Latin America, Chapter 5: Social Attitudes, by Pew Research & Benjamin Wormald
[[52]](#_ftnref52) Fitzgerald, C. (2019, May 8th). Over 80% of Irish adults drink alcohol, and the rate is set to increase. TheJournal.ie. from https://www.thejournal.ie/alcohol-study-4622415-May2019/
[[53]](#_ftnref53) Secular Calvinism is a form of cultural Calvinism passed between generations. In the 21st century, it is usually associated with strict atheism. Most cultural Calvinists who also remained theologically Calvinist were absorbed into other Christian cultures. The growing group of recently converted Theological Calvinists usually have more in common with Evangelical Protestant or Pentecostal cultivars than traditional American Calvinist culture (thus why the concept of a cultivar is important). All three of these groups have little in common with the Dutch Calvinist cultivar, which evolved almost totally independently.
[[54]](#_ftnref54) We say “Calvinist” and not “Puritan” as our families mostly hail from the second wave of Calvinist immigrants, which were predominantly Scottish and Irish and who settled in the backcountry. This group was significantly more isolationist and independent than the community-centric Puritans. (If you are a fan of Albion’s Seed, this was a group that had the religious and cultural beliefs of people who settled in New England but came with the group that settled in the backcountry.)
[[55]](#_ftnref55) For more of Scott Alexander’s fairly accurate take on Calvinist culture, read the article “Puritan Spotting” (Malcolm’s score: 48). It shows that while we may seem like weirdos from the perspective of modern American society, we are such generic representatives of our birth culture that we border on being an offensive stereotype. https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/03/12/puritan-spotting/
[[56]](#_ftnref56) For a fairly succinct summary of the Calvinist theological argument, check out the YouTube video, It’s Good To Be A Calvinist: https://youtu.be/V1w8wz0uL5E
[[57]](#_ftnref57) The potentiality of branching timelines (in which we believe) does not interfere with our belief in predestination. If there are multiple timelines, they branch because of quantum fluctuations—not conscious decisions.
[[58]](#_ftnref58) A culture actively dismissive if not outright hostile to art is not going to produce many artists who don’t hold a grudge against it. This, combined with the culture seeing most charity and positive emotional states as sinful is why Calvinist archetypes in culture are almost universally antagonists (more on this in the Appendix section “Calvinist Stereotypes in Media”
[[59]](#_ftnref59) It would be inaccurate to claim that Calvinist culture never produces art. Famous books like The Pilgrim’s Progress and Gilead are both products of Calvinist culture, as is the song Amazing Grace by John Bunyan. However, like most Calvinist-inspired media, they are meditations on faith, man, and man’s place in the world—not unlike everything in the Pragmatists Guide series. They were written with a purpose other than self expression or entertainment.
[[60]](#_ftnref60) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_Spirit_of_Capitalism
[[61]](#_ftnref61) Ironically, while Malcolm’s family had some well-known capitalists during the era of communist threat (his grandad was a Republican congressman), they were also well-known socialist revolutionaries during the time of the Robber Barons, with Thomas Hickey writing in the Rebel (Texas’ largest socialist newspaper) in 1911 that he hoped the Collins family would “increase until they cover the earth with the clean clear water of Socialism,” praising the “strain of radicalism” that ran through “the veins” of the Collins family. Historically, they have been fairly unmoored from any political team and have gravitated to whichever faction best maximizes individual freedom. For example, when Malcolm’s great-great-grandad Vinson Collins was in office, his big cause entailed ensuring women’s suffrage. la Teja Jesús F de. (2016). Lone Star unionism, dissent, and resistance: Other sides of Civil War Texas. University of Oklahoma Press. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinson_Allen_Collins
[[62]](#_ftnref62) Segal, M. (2013, December 10). As Cool As the Other Side of a Calvinist. Desiring God. from https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/as-cool-as-the-other-side-of-a-calvinist
[[63]](#_ftnref63) Among Malcolm’s ancestors alone, there was Warren J. Collins (Malcolm’s direct ancestor), who ran the Big Thicket Jay Hawkers (a paramilitary who fought the Confederacy); his brother Jasper Collins, who was one of the founders of the Free State of Jones, and the man who Newton Knight credits as turning him against the Confederacy; his brother Riley Collins, another founding member of the Free State of Jones who later joined the Union army; Simeon Collins who died fighting for the Free State of Jones; and Malcolm’s great-great-great uncle, James Morgan Valentine, the Free State of Jones’ first Lieutenant. Some sources suggest that Newton Knight, the founder of the Free State of Jones, was raised by the Collins family, but it is unclear what that means—perhaps the Collins family ran some sort of extremist Primitive Baptist (a branch of Calvinist) church at the time. For backing on our claim that 15 out of 50 members of the Free State of Jones were direct relatives of the Collins family, see the book: Lone Star Unionism, Dissent, and Resistance: Other Sides of Civil War Texas by Jesús F. de la Teja.
[[64]](#_ftnref64) A good example of this comes from the practice shown in the children’s book, The Witch of Blackbird Pond. In which, acting out passages of the Bible was framed as sinful because it might cause another person to interpret the Bible the way they did instead of through independent reasoning. By priming a person to see the world in a certain way, one risks robbing them of an element of personal agency. In some modern Calvinist churches, this means that when a church does have a preacher, they must read the Bible in order (rather than skipping around) because picking and choosing passages could incept the listener with the preacher’s biases.
[[65]](#_ftnref65) Jeongsoo Kim & Gabriela Sanchez-Soto (2011) Higher fertility among the first-generation Korean immigrants in the U.S.: An assimilation mechanism towards a new way of living, from https://paa2019.populationassociation.org/uploads/191215#
[[66]](#_ftnref66) April 2021 General Conference. (2022) “2021 Statistical Report for the April 2022 Conference.” Newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 2 Apr. 2022, https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/2021-statistical-report-april-2022-conference.
[[67]](#_ftnref67) Noyce, David. (2019, Oct 24) “This Week in Mormon Land: Convert Retention Rates around the World, Reaching out to Asylum Seekers, and Disappearing Bibles.” The Salt Lake Tribune, https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/10/24/this-week-mormon-land/.
[[68]](#_ftnref68) Toronto, James A, et al. (2020) “Why Some Dropped out: Religious Studies Center.” Why Some Dropped Out | Religious Studies Center, https://rsc.byu.edu/mormons-piazza/why-some-dropped-out.
[[69]](#_ftnref69) April 2021 General Conference. “2020 Statistical Report for the April 2021 Conference.” Newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 3 Apr. 2021, https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/april-2021-general-conference-statistical-report.
[[70]](#_ftnref70) Brooks, Joanna. (2012, Feb 3) “Mormon Numbers Not Adding Up.” Religion Dispatches, https://religiondispatches.org/mormon-numbers-not-adding-up/.
[[71]](#_ftnref71)It took until 1928 for Vilhjalmur Stefansson to discover how Inuit culture was getting enough vitamin C to stay alive. It turns out that their practice of undercooking meats is what allowed them to live without fear of scurvy, something unknown to science at that time. It turns out raw muktuk is pound for pound as good a source of vitamin C as orange juice.
[[72]](#_ftnref72) Lyman Stone (2018, Feb 8) How Long Until We’re All Amish?
https://medium.com/migration-issues/how-long-until-were-all-amish-268e3d0de87
[[73]](#_ftnref73)Alexander, S. (2022, August 11). Astral codex ten: Scott Alexander. Substack. from https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/will-nonbelievers-really-believe
[[74]](#_ftnref74)Stone, L. (2022, August 8). America’s growing religious-secular fertility divide. Institute for Family Studies. from https://ifstudies.org/blog/americas-growing-religious-secular-fertility-divide
[[75]](#_ftnref75) We stole the word “wishy thinking” from the Spacestar Ordering scene in IT Crowd (Series Four, Episode Three: “Spaceology”), which does a great job of describing—and satirizing—this phenomenon.
[[76]](#_ftnref76)Tiara, C. (2015, June 5). The pop culture pagans who draw power from Tumblr. VICE. from https://www.vice.com/en/article/d73q3x/the-pop-culture-pagans-who-draw-power-from-tumblr
[[77]](#_ftnref77) Tiara, C. (2015, June 5). The pop culture pagans who draw power from Tumblr. VICE. from https://www.vice.com/en/article/d73q3x/the-pop-culture-pagans-who-draw-power-from-tumblr
[[78]](#_ftnref78) Beldi, L. (2019, April 19). Why is the phantom such a huge cultural phenomenon in Papua New Guinea? ABC News. from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-19/why-is-the-phantom-such-a-huge-phenomenon-in-png/11029406
[[79]](#_ftnref79) Pandey, G. (2011, February 15). An ‘English goddess’ for India’s down-trodden. BBC News. from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12355740
[[80]](#_ftnref80) If success is defined by a culture’s ability to conquer its neighbors and spread.
[[81]](#_ftnref81) Rich, A. (2012) Gender and Spirituality: Are Women Really More Spiritual?
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1293&context=honors
[[82]](#_ftnref82) Bonelli R, Dew RE, Koenig HG, Rosmarin DH, Vasegh S. (2012, Aug 15) Religious and spiritual factors in depression: review and integration of the research. Depress Res Treat. 2012;2012:962860. doi: 10.1155/2012/962860. Epub PMID: 22928096; PMCID: PMC3426191.
[[83]](#_ftnref83) Marston, EG, Hare, A, Allen, JP (2010). Rejection sensitivity in late adolescence: Social and emotional sequelae. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 20(4), 959–982. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00675.x from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2990973/#R56, Harper MS, Dickson JW, Welsh DP. Self-Silencing and Rejection Sensitivity in Adolescent Romantic Relationships. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 2006;35(3):459–467. from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-006-9048-3, (Note: Have not read the source for the next two citations.)
Larson RW, Asmussen L. Anger, worry, and hurt in early adolescence: An enlarging world of negative emotions. In: Colten ME, Gore S, editors. Adolescent Stress: Causes and Consequences. New York: Aldine de Gruyter; 1991. pp. 21–41., Larson RW, Clore GL, Wood GA. The emotions of romantic relationships: Do they wreak havoc on adolescents? In: Furman W, Brown BB, Feiring C, editors. The Development of Romantic Relationships in Adolescence. New York: Cambridge Press; 1999. pp. 19–49.
[[84]](#_ftnref84) This is not an intentional decision anyone is making but just a natural part of cultural evolution. Those portions of a dying haven culture that can maintain themselves most vigorously will be those which exist in an environment closest to that in which it evolved (one of discrimination). As such, any incremental practice that appears within a sub-group by random mutation which subjects members to more or renewed discrimination will produce a more robust cultural display and increase the odds that the sub-group grows. Think of it like this: If a frog species develops in water, a closely related species adapting to land might retain water-filled egg sacs because it is “evolutionarily easier” than adapting to a 100% terrestrial lifecycle. Like animal evolution, cultural evolution is incremental, and often small cultural changes are enough.
[[85]](#_ftnref85) Kamins, T. L., Friedman, G., Wineburg, R., & Wiener, J. (2015, March 20). 96 percent of U.S. jews live in urban areas, Census Bureau reports. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. from https://www.jta.org/archive/96-percent-of-u-s-jews-live-in-urban-areas-census-bureau-reports
[[86]](#_ftnref86) https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/04/the-most-and-least-educated-u-s-religious-groups
[[87]](#_ftnref87) We discuss the unusual behaviors this has caused in Israel in this book’s Urban vs. Rural chapter, as modern Judaism, outside of the crypto-Jews, is a very urban specialist culture. When forced to take on all ecological niches in a society, Jewish cultivars will create micro-urban centers in rural areas.
[[88]](#_ftnref88) Haidt, J. (2013). The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. Vintage Books. from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ndepF_iet1v3trS6VDYwlTvgszw3Sl9n/view
[[89]](#_ftnref89) Nature Publishing Group. (n.d.). Nature news. from https://www.nature.com/nature-portfolio/editorial-policies, Science must respect the dignity and rights of all humans. Nat Hum Behav 6, 1029–1031 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01443-2 from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-022-01443-2
[[90]](#_ftnref90) Lee, J. (2022, October 19). NIH blocks access to genetics database. City Journal. from https://www.city-journal.org/nih-blocks-access-to-genetics-database?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
[[91]](#_ftnref91) It is rumored that the NIH genetics database and the U.K. Biobank shut down access because a team accidentally found father-daughter incest was 600,000% more common among Muslim immigrants than among the general U.K. population. If this is the case (and it almost certainly is, as it was tweeted by a widely published researcher in the field), it is a great demonstration of how the virus does not care about actual harm done. It does not care that thousands of little girls could be delivered from sexual abuse if this data were leveraged to develop compassionate policies—only that it can shield those living under its tyranny from offense. The virus corrupts positive intentions (such as those to fight Islamophobia) into pure evil, facilitating the rape of thousands of little girls. For more background, refer to the following tweet from Francisco C. Ceballos, a widely published population geneticist (https://scholar.google.co.za/citations?user=jmTjmbcAAAAJ&hl=en): https://twitter.com/monitoringbias/status/1590006016640692224
[[92]](#_ftnref92) Haidt, J., & Graham, J. (2007). When morality opposes justice: Conservatives have moral intuitions that liberals may not recognize. Social Justice Research, 20(1), 98–116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-007-0034-z from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11211-007-0034-z
[[93]](#_ftnref93) Though, the lawsuits certainly helped them along in this case.
[[94]](#_ftnref94) Greenwood, S. (2022, August 30). Black Americans are pessimistic about their position in U.S. society. Pew Research Center Race & Ethnicity. from https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2022/08/30/black-americans-are-pessimistic-about-their-position-in-u-s-society/ Hurst, Erik., Rubinstein, Y., and Shimizu, K. (2022.) Black-White inequalities have remained at about the same level in relative wage terms from 1980 to the present. Task-Based Discrimination. Unpublished working paper.
[[95]](#_ftnref95)Kaufmann E (2021, March 1) Academic Freedom in Crisis: Punishment, Political Discrimination, and Self-Censorship. Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology from https://cspicenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AcademicFreedom.pdf
[[96]](#_ftnref96)McLaughlin & Associates (2022) National undergraduate study 4-year full-time students under 25
https://files.constantcontact.com/6e23ce19301/9617d6cd-d850-47ac-a7a1-1aff50d7b2cd.pdf
[[97]](#_ftnref97)(2022, October 3) Campus expression survey. Heterodox Academy. from https://heterodoxacademy.org/campus-expression-survey/
[[98]](#_ftnref98) Scholars under fire database. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Retrieved December 29, 2022, from https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/scholars-under-fire
[[99]](#_ftnref99)Stevens, S. Goldstein, A. (2021, November 19). New Republic, Old Data: Article on UATX wrongly dismisses campus illiberalism problem. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. from https://www.thefire.org/new-republic-old-data-article-on-uatx-wrongly-dismisses-campus-illiberalism-problem/
[[100]](#_ftnref100)Schlott, R. (2022, July 19). Students reveal ‘Forbidden lessons’ taught at anti-woke University of Austin. New York Post. from https://nypost.com/2022/07/16/university-of-austin-students-share-anti-woke-forbidden-lessons/
[[101]](#_ftnref101)Meckler, L. (2022, September 11). New York set to force ultra-Orthodox schools to teach secular subjects. The Washington Post. from https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/09/09/hasidic-yeshiva-new-york-orthodox/
[[102]](#_ftnref102) Bouchard TJ Jr, McGue M. Genetic and environmental influences on human psychological differences. J Neurobiol. 2003 Jan;54(1):4-45. doi: 10.1002/neu.10160. PMID: 12486697. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/neu.10160) and Christopher T Dawes, Aaron C Weinschenk, On the genetic basis of political orientation, Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 34, 2020, Pages 173-178, ISSN 2352-1546, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.03.012. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352154620300553)
[[103]](#_ftnref103) Hatemi, P. K., Medland, S. E., Klemmensen, R., Oskarsson, S., Littvay, L., Dawes, C. T., Verhulst, B., McDermott, R., Nørgaard, A. S., Klofstad, C. A., Christensen, K., Johannesson, M., Magnusson, P. K., Eaves, L. J., & Martin, N. G. (2014). Genetic influences on political ideologies: twin analyses of 19 measures of political ideologies from five democracies and genome-wide findings from three populations. Behavior genetics, 44(3), 282–294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-014-9648-8 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4038932/
[[104]](#_ftnref104) Reuter, M., Frenzel, C., Walter, N., Markett, S.A., & Montag, C. (2011). Investigating the genetic basis of altruism: the role of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 6 5, 662-8.
[[105]](#_ftnref105) Gregory, A. M., Light-Häusermann, J. H., Rijsdijk, F., & Eley, T. C. (2009). Behavioral genetic analyses of prosocial behavior in adolescents. Developmental science, 12(1), 165–174. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00739.x
[[106]](#_ftnref106) A paperclip maximizer is a hypothetical artificial intelligence whose utility function values something that humans would consider almost worthless—such as paperclips. It is used to illustrate how applying an AI that was smarter than all of humanity to a simple task, like “make paper clips,” might cause the AI to outsmart anyone trying to turn it off and eventually co-opt all known resources (including those needed to sustain humanity) to produce paperclips instead.
[[107]](#_ftnref107) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling_international_status_and_statistics#Germany
[[108]](#_ftnref108) Sadly, this study does not control for socioeconomic background, which likely massively biases the results. Still, doing nothing shouldn’t even be close to better than something we sacrifice our entire childhoods to undertake. How do Unschoolers Turn Out?, Vangelova, https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/37091/how-do-unschoolers-turn-out
[[109]](#_ftnref109)Harris, D. (2008, September 18). Most Americans Believe in Guardian Angels. ABC News. from https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=5833399
[[110]](#_ftnref110) We have developed some holidays for our kids around the concept of Future Police, which portray them in simple terms (e.g., they may feature humans in futuristic armor because that manifestation of Future Police is easier for kids to understand than, say, probability waves). This is similar to the visual representation of God as an old white guy with a long white beard sitting on a cloud that is commonly evoked despite lacking a strong canonical basis. Both are influenced by easy-to-relate-to pop culture (be it in the form of sci-fi movies or traditional artistic representations of Zeus).
[[111]](#_ftnref111) Nield, D. (2022, October 22). Study suggests spins of ‘brain water’ could mean our minds use quantum computation. ScienceAlert. from https://www.sciencealert.com/study-suggests-spins-of-brain-water-could-mean-our-minds-use-quantum-computation
[[112]](#_ftnref112) Simone says none of our readers will know what I am talking about here, but I think she is wrong. If you aren’t familiar with Roko’s Basilisk, the gist is that it’s a thought experiment stating a superintelligent artificial intelligence (that is otherwise good) would be motivated to torture anyone who knew it could exist in the future but who failed to contribute to its development.
[[113]](#_ftnref113) Yes, we were partially inspired by the Omnissiah (The Machine God) from the Warhammer universe. Yes, it is cringe, but so is almost anything that deviates from mainstream pop culture, so we may as well lean in. It represents a counter to this God in that the Omniscion is a post-mechanical and post-organic deity (at least as we understand mechanical and organic things). For more on this, see: “Institutional Families” on page 441.
[[114]](#_ftnref114) If you want to get into the weeds, Hicksites (one branch of Quakers) believe that the Inner Light is the primary source of truth and that the Bible is a secondary source, while Orthodox Quakers believe that the Bible is the primary source of truth. Both put a lot of weight on internal emotional experience but exactly where it sits relative to the Bible is up for grabs. This division shows how frequently an argument over standards of evidence can cause a cultivar to speciate.
[[115]](#_ftnref115) While many history books claim disproportionate Irish Catholic representation in the police force is entirely due to immigration timing, statistics showing that Hispanic Catholic immigrants also have a much higher opinion of police than other minority groups provide evidence that the Catholic framework for viewing the world is slightly more positively predisposed to police forces than other frameworks. Also, while the United States’ Hispanic population is still slightly underrepresented in the police force, its representation is increasing over time. We may see a similar situation to that we did with the Irish, in which Hispanics start to join in unusually high numbers a few generations after immigrating to the U.S.
[[116]](#_ftnref116) A close friend of ours who is a nun has told us that this cultural appeal to authority and hierarchy can create problems in their recruiting, with one of the metrics they must vet nun candidates along being: “Does this person actually want to submit to God or just want someone else to have control over their life?”
[[117]](#_ftnref117) Neil Gorsuch was raised Catholic and in Catholic culture but currently attends a Protestant church.
[[118]](#_ftnref118)García Portilla, J. (2022). “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” Contributions to Economics. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78498-0
[[119]](#_ftnref119) If you want to read more on the nuance of how the Catholic Church handled the Pope Gregory VII and the Harold III situation.
[[120]](#_ftnref120) Calvinist culture did not see God as an authority (hardly surprising for a culture with such distaste for authority figures). It presents less of a paternalistic view of God than other Protestant branches, rather God is seen more as an inescapable set of natural laws. Part of seeing the world through the eyes of predestination means God is not reactively punishing people—punishment is just a thing that happens—similar to how a stove is not “punishing” your hand by burning should you decide to place your hand on it. From the perspective of Calvinist tradition, God’s laws are like the laws of physics, as both underline reality and can be discovered through natural investigation and contemplation.
[[121]](#_ftnref121) Note: We will always say things like some Protestant cultures or many Judaic traditions because every culture has thousands of branches, and there will always be a number of those who see things differently. However, it is easier to contrast cultures if we talk about them in generalities.
[[122]](#_ftnref122)Science must respect the dignity and rights of all humans. (2022). Nature Human Behaviour, 6(8), 1029–1031. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01443-2
[[123]](#_ftnref123) To use a less charged example, suppose we used academic papers to find the length of a field that’s actually six units long. One day the academic journals say that they will not release any field measurements above six units long. Now, if three studies say a field is six units long, two say it’s five, and one says it’s four, we’ll overcorrect and assume it’s probably closer to nine. However, if they had released all the information upfront, we might have seen only two more studies showing seven and assumed its real length was six. This way, we’re further from the truth because they tried to “protect” it, and we now trust our incorrect judgment over theirs.
[[124]](#_ftnref124) “List of Common Misconceptions.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 July 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions.
[[125]](#_ftnref125)“A quest to abolish taxes ends.” Altoona Mirror, Oct 11, 1996, p. 8, “Long war against tax finally ends” The Intelligencer Record, Doylestown, Oct 10, 1996, Page A-12, Allan Rappleyea and Henry C. Clark, for the petitioner T. (1975, February 19). Estate of holdeen v. commissioner. Legal research tools from Casetext. Retrieved December 18, 2022, from https://casetext.com/case/estate-of-holdeen-v-commissioner,
(2021, August 2). Lawyer’s dream of abolishing taxes has become a legal nightmare. Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved December 18, 2022, from https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1994-02-27-9402270093-story.html,
Paul Collins (1970, January 1). Trust issues. Lapham’s Quarterly. Retrieved December 18, 2022, from https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/future/trust-issues
[[126]](#_ftnref126)Carroll, K. L. (1983). Maryland Quakers and Slavery. Quaker History Friends Historical Association, 72(1), 27–42. https://doi.org/10.1353/qkh.1983.0005
[[127]](#_ftnref127) Four points—for sources and additional detail:
- While slave ownership dropped to 10% by 1756, it was still mind-bendingly high when contrasted with slave ownership rates of other “abolitionist” cultivars.
- In case you are wondering: No, this difference in slave ownership rates cannot be explained just by Quakers being wealthier. For example, Jews were also wealthier, vis a vis other groups, during this period, and while they owned slaves at a high rate, it was still lower than that of Quakers, plus Jews didn’t share Quakers’ uniquely strong theological mandate against slavery. For more data on Jewish slave ownership, check out this article, which breaks down a few sources:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jews-and-the-african-slave-trade/
- Note: All of these stats are taken from before the Hicksite Orthodox schism within Quakerism in 1827. Hence, both groups should be seen as equally responsible.
- Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[128]](#_ftnref128) Rouan, R. (2021, July 16). Fact check: Stat grossly misleading about slave ownership in 1860. USA Today. Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/07/16/fact-check-social-media-post-underrepresents-slave-ownership-1860/7980243002/
[[129]](#_ftnref129) This estimate can be made by determining the percentage of Puritan communities that were Black (2%-2.5%), then marking that as the maximum percentage of Puritans who owned slaves. Given that some of these Black people were free and that many people owned multiple slaves, the true percentage of Puritans who owned slaves was probably 25% to 75% lower, making it between 0.5% and 2%. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, 2 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of the Census, 1976), 1:z1- 10; Moore, Notes on the History of Slavery in Massachusetts, 49–51.
[[130]](#_ftnref130) Who was a Primitive Baptist.
[[131]](#_ftnref131) Lane, R. M. (2012, October 23). Here slavery’s death began. Friends Journal. from https://www.friendsjournal.org/2010039/
[[132]](#_ftnref132) Abenaki. The Canadian Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/abenaki
[[133]](#_ftnref133) We cannot find clarification as to whether this figure is pre- or post smallpox.
[[134]](#_ftnref134) “Abenaki History.” Archived from the original on April 11, 2010. Retrieved March 20, 2010. http://tolatsga.org/aben.html
[[135]](#_ftnref135) Kenneth Lockridge, Literacy in Colonial New England: An Inquiry into the Social Context of Literacy in Early Modern West (New York, 1974), 13-23
[[136]](#_ftnref136) Cremin, American Education: The Colonial Experience (New York, 1974). as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[137]](#_ftnref137) Weiss, R. (2022, May 6). Study finds that a type of cancer in dogs is contagious. UCL News. Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2006/aug/study-finds-type-cancer-dogs-contagious Strakova, A et al: ‘Sex disparity in oronasal presentations of canine transmissible venereal tumour.’ Veterinary Record, July 2022. DOI: 10.1002/vetr.1794
[[138]](#_ftnref138) For more detail on that last point, see the chapter: “Urban vs. Rural Approaches to Charity” on p506. In short, many cultures hold that the correct way to deploy capital being used to improve the world is to start new, cash-positive companies under one’s personal control (this is the approach we take with the Collins Institute & The Pragmatist Foundation—also consider literally anything Elon Musk does). In such cases, the idea is that capital intrinsically corrupts any institution run by someone who did not personally earn it. Jewish culture (along with other urban specialized cultures) distributes philanthropic capital through secular organizations purpose-built for philanthropic capital distribution. The way Jewish culture deploys philanthropic capital perfectly aligns with the very strange (from our cultural perspective) level of trust the Effective Altruism community puts in institutions.
[[139]](#_ftnref139) Elizabeth Drinker Diary, 16.x. 1793, HSP. as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[140]](#_ftnref140) Watson, Annals of Philadelphia, I, 279. as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[141]](#_ftnref141) Perm to Stephen Crisp, 28 Feb. 1685, Papers of William Penn, III, 28. as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[142]](#_ftnref142) Edmund Morgan, “The Puritans and Sex,” NEQ 15 (1942), 591-607l as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[143]](#_ftnref143) Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[144]](#_ftnref144) Wells, “Quaker Marriage Patterns” as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[145]](#_ftnref145)A journey to the past at Penn State brandywine. Penn State Brandywine. (n.d.). Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://www.brandywine.psu.edu/journey-past-penn-state-brandywine
[[146]](#_ftnref146) Alan Anderson, “The Social Origins of Early Quakers, QH 68 (1979), 133-40
[[147]](#_ftnref147) Judith Diamondstone, “The Philadelphia Corporation. 1701-1776 (Thesis, Univ. of Pa., 1969), Daniel R. Gilbert, “Patterns of Organization and Membership in Philadelphia Club Life” (thesis, Univ. of Pa., 1952) as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[148]](#_ftnref148) Tolles, Meeting House and Counting House, 39. as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[149]](#_ftnref149) Note: When this quote is brought up in Albion’s Seed, the “very mean” part is brushed off but the citation used to brush it off is not germane to the topic. In fact most of what Fischer writes about Quakers makes them look like mean people who were just very certain of their own niceness and generosity, much like a modern-day Twitter flamer.
[[150]](#_ftnref150) James O. Knauss, Social Conditions among the Pennsylvania Germans in the Eighteenth Century (Lancaster, 1922) as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[151]](#_ftnref151) Jones, ed., Quakers in the American Colonies, 422 as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[152]](#_ftnref152) David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[153]](#_ftnref153) Ann Cooper Whitall Diary, 1st day, vii month, 1760, Haverford as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[154]](#_ftnref154) Jack D. Marietta, “Ecclesiastica Discipline in the Society of Friends, 1682-1776” (thesis, Stanford, 1968), 31-32 as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[155]](#_ftnref155) Boulter to Newcastle, 23 Nov. 1728, Wayland F. Dunaway, The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania (Chapel Hill, 1944), 20 as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed : Four British Folkways in America. New York : Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[156]](#_ftnref156) Pencak, W. (2002). Jews and Anti-Semitism in Early Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 126(3), 365–408. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20093547
From, https://www.jstor.org/stable/20093547?read-now=1&oauth_data=eyJlbWFpbCI6ImNvbGxpbnNtYWxjb2xtQGdtYWlsLmNvbSIsImluc3RpdHV0aW9uSWRzIjpbXX0&seq=17#page_scan_tab_contents
[[157]](#_ftnref157) Pencak, W. (2002). Jews and Anti-Semitism in Early Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 126(3), 365–408. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20093547, from
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20093547?read-now=1&oauth_data=eyJlbWFpbCI6ImNvbGxpbnNtYWxjb2xtQGdtYWlsLmNvbSIsImluc3RpdHV0aW9uSWRzIjpbXX0&seq=20#page_scan_tab_contents
[[158]](#_ftnref158) Pencak, W. (2002). Jews and Anti-Semitism in Early Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 126(3), 365–408. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20093547, from
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20093547?read-now=1&oauth_data=eyJlbWFpbCI6ImNvbGxpbnNtYWxjb2xtQGdtYWlsLmNvbSIsImluc3RpdHV0aW9uSWRzIjpbXX0&seq=20#page_scan_tab_contents
[[159]](#_ftnref159) This was specifically written in response to Quaker lawyer Miers Fisher 1784 efforts to push for the abolishment of the Bank of North America because it had too many Jewish investors.
[[160]](#_ftnref160) John Smith to James Pemberton, 20.v.1741, Pemberton Papers, HSP. as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[161]](#_ftnref161) Edin B. Bronner, William Penn’s “Holy Experiment”: The Founding of Pennsylvania, 1681-1701 (New York, 1962), 134-53; Gary B. Nash, Quakers and Politics: Pennsylvania, 1681-1726 (Princeton, 1968), 127-80. as cited in Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[162]](#_ftnref162) Post Editorial. (2022, May 22). Let the apparent insider payouts of BLM be a warning about any cause. New York Post. Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://nypost.com/2022/05/21/let-the-apparent-insider-payouts-of-blm-be-a-warning-about-any-cause/ , Chang, A., Fuller, J., & Fox, K. (2022, April 7). Secret $6 million home has allies and critics skeptical of BLM Foundation’s finances. NPR. Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://www.npr.org/2022/04/07/1091487910/blm-leaders-face-questions-after-allegedly-buying-a-mansion-with-donation-money
[[163]](#_ftnref163) And no, Scrooge is very clearly not meant to represent a Jewish person. People only started thinking this after the Calvinist population mostly died out and people were trying to place a wealthy stereotype they were not familiar with in their daily lives. Scrooge is Scottish and his nephew celebrates Christmas, moreover he dresses like a Calvinist stereotype (being tall/gaunt, and wearing white, black, and red) and even has a physical malady—a trait common across almost all stereotypical representations of Calvinists.
[[164]](#_ftnref164)Tuttle, B. (2016 Dec 09). How ebenezer scrooge got rebranded as a capitalist hero. Money. from https://money.com/ebenezer-scrooge-defense-charles-dickens-christmas-carol/
[[165]](#_ftnref165) https://infiniteconversation.com/
[[166]](#_ftnref166) https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/reincarnation
[[167]](#_ftnref167) Here’s a fun Malcolm fact—and lame claim to fame: For a few months in a slightly related job, I actually “ran” the office at the Smithsonian’s Evolutionary Anthropology Department on which the show “Bones” was based. I gained this privilege not because I was qualified to run anything (I was just a research fellow) but because everyone else was on a dig in Africa. I had just done fieldwork the last two years in a row, which made me less enamored with it than other people. The real “Bones” office is basically a glorified closet mostly full of … well, bones … (not even the biggest I was left alone in at the time) and definitely not the infinite-budget office and lab depicted in the show. Also, the office is only assigned to assist in criminal investigations about once every other year; no such assignments came through while I was there.
[[168]](#_ftnref168) “Everyone” = everyone who is redeemed by the atonement of Jesus Christ and excludes the sons of perdition (those who have denied the Son after the Father has revealed Him). https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/gs/hell?lang=eng
[[169]](#_ftnref169) The case for forced sterilization. Nonvoluntary Antinatalism. (n.d.). Retrieved January 6, 2023, from http://nonvoluntary-antinatalism.com/the-case-for-forced-sterilization/
[[170]](#_ftnref170) Tomasik, B. (2014, August 17). Is there suffering in fundamental physics? from https://reducing-suffering.org/is-there-suffering-in-fundamental-physics/#Does_consciousness_imply_suffering
[[171]](#_ftnref171) What’s in a Surname? Physique, Aptitude, and Sports Type Comparisons between Tailors and Smiths https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4498760/
[[172]](#_ftnref172) Functionally, this study’s results were incredibly subtle, with the Taylor result not being statistically significant, so don’t read into it too much (a person could argue that these researchers were just picking up nominative determinism effects—more on that later).
[[173]](#_ftnref173)Fryer, R. G. (2022, October 31). Opinion | affirmative action in college admissions doesn’t work – but it could. The Washington Post., from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/30/affirmative-action-supreme-court-college-admissions/
[[174]](#_ftnref174)Carroll, K. L. (1983). Maryland Quakers and Slavery. Quaker History Friends Historical Association, 72(1), 27–42. https://doi.org/10.1353/qkh.1983.0005
[[175]](#_ftnref175) Four notes and sources for your consideration:
- While slave ownership dropped to 10% by 1756, it was still mind-bendingly high when contrasted with slave ownership rates of other “abolitionist” cultivars.
- In case you are wondering: No, this difference in slave ownership rates cannot be explained just by Quakers being wealthier. For example, Jews were also wealthier, vis a vis other groups, during this period and while they owned slaves at a high rate, it was still lower that of Quakers, plus Jews didn’t share Quakers’ uniquely strong theological mandate against slavery! For more data on Jewish slave ownership, check out this article, which breaks down a few sources:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jews-and-the-african-slave-trade/
- Note: All of these stats are taken from before the Hicksite Orthodox schism within Quakerism in 1827, hence both groups should be seen as equally responsible.
- Fischer, David Hackett, 1935-. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
[[176]](#_ftnref176) Rouan, R. (2021, July 16). Fact check: Stat grossly misleading about slave ownership in 1860. USA Today. Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/07/16/fact-check-social-media-post-underrepresents-slave-ownership-1860/7980243002/
[[177]](#_ftnref177) This estimate can be made by determining the percent of Puritan communities that were Black (2%-2.5%), then marking that as the maximum percentage of Puritans who owned slaves. Given that some of these Black people were free and that many people owned multiple slaves, the true percentage of Puritans who owned slaves was probably 25% to 75% lower, making it between 0.5% and 2%.
U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, 2 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of the Census, 1976), 1:z1- 10; Moore, Notes on the History of Slavery in Massachusetts, 49–51.
[[178]](#_ftnref178) 25% Silicon Valley startup bosses, 58 top-notch global CEOS of Indian-origin: FM. Hindustan Times. (2022, September 11). from https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/25-silicon-valley-startup-bosses-58-top-notch-global-ceos-of-indian-origin-fm-101662884874688.html
[[179]](#_ftnref179) Kiran, S. (2020). Contributions of Jains to the Indian economy: A study. International Journal of Applied Research, 6(3), 238–240. from https://www.allresearchjournal.com/archives/2020/vol6issue3/PartD/6-3-83-338.pdf
[[180]](#_ftnref180)Starr, K. J. (2021, August 24). 6 facts about Jains in India. Pew Research Center. from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/08/17/6-facts-about-jains-in-india/
[[181]](#_ftnref181) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middleman_minority
[[182]](#_ftnref182) Note: While there is some evidence of mass Jain persecution in distant history, even some of the most famous events, like the Impalement of the Jains in Madurai, have a dubious historicity. Yes, Jains were persecuted, but when contrasted with other minority cultural groups like the Romani or the Jews, these persecutions were comparatively minor due to better inter-community relationships.
[[183]](#_ftnref183) Note: While American Haredim still face discrimination, they are less disliked by their surrounding culture than those in Israel (this is likely due to Hasidic Jews having employment rates roughly equivalent to surrounding cultural groups and not having ever been exempt from any U.S. draft (so far as we can find). Going forward, we will use the word Hasidic to refer to North American Haredim and “Haredim” or “Haredi” to refer to the Israeli group.
[[184]](#_ftnref184) A fairly accurate and funny depiction of the Calvinist relation to suffering can be found in the short YouTube skit: Puritan Roommate Finds Love. The short does a good job showcasing cultural features like nominative determinism and has a line we love to use: “Your alliteration sounds dangerously like poetry!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Z4Ec2H6mA
[[185]](#_ftnref185) Chénard, G. (2016, March 15). Should mother Teresa be canonized? The New York Times. Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/03/25/should-mother-teresa-be-canonized/mother-teresa-doesnt-deserve-sainthood, Larivée, S., Sénéchal, C., & Chénard, G. (2013). Les Côtés Ténébreux de Mère Teresa. Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, 42(3), 319–345. https://doi.org/10.1177/0008429812469894, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0008429812469894