Pets & Domesticated Animals
The role of domesticated animals in human evolution and the development of human civilization is undeniable. Dogs enhanced our ancestors’ hearing and sense of smell thousands of times over, allowing them to hunt dramatically more effectively than they would otherwise be able to. Dogs even played critical roles in the domestication of animals that required shepherding and protection, like sheep and goats.
Cats on the other hand, had a hand (or should we say paw!) in helping small tribes transition to large-scale civilization. Before cats were domesticated, it was incredibly hard to store grain without it becoming infested with mice. After embarking on their partnership, humans just left their obligate carnivore feline friends at grain silos, where they conveniently ate the mice and not the grain. This partnership allowed for food to be stored in times of abundance then distributed in times of scarcity. This logistical feat necessitated the development of a more sophisticated government apparatus and was one of humanity’s first steps to civilization. While today we’ve mostly forgotten the critical role felines played in the development of human civilization, it certainly was not lost on people during this transition, as can be seen by groups like Egyptians of the period going so far as to deify cats.
The manners in which cultivars relate to domesticated animals differs widely. At one point in an interview with a tribal family in Africa, an anthropologist inquired about their relationship with “their dog,” referring to a dog that came inside and fell asleep in a corner of their hut. The anthropologist’s wording confused the family, which explained to him it was not their dog; it was just a dog that happened to sleep in their house. From their perspective, the dog was just another autonomous member of the village.
Under current Islamic law, having a dog around during prayer invalidates that prayer, hence most Islamic cultivars are fairly “anti-dog.” With such being the case, it will come as a shock to people that, “according to several authoritative accounts of his life and teachings, the Prophet Muhammad himself prayed in the presence of dogs.”[[189]](#_ftn189) In fact, dogs were frequently seen around the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina, the second holiest site in the world for Muslims after the Kaaba, for the first couple centuries after Muhammad’s death. It seems as though Islamic culture did not start seeing dogs as unclean until after the development of centralized trash authorities.[[190]](#_ftn190) (The article cited here offers a great writeup on this subject if it piques your interest.)
Islamic cities were more sophisticated than their Christian “Dark Age” correlates and in response to the spread of disease, they developed dedicated authorities to remove trash from cities. Before these trash authorities were created, dogs helped to clean city streets and thus were beneficial. After they lost one of their core urban utilities, dogs became nothing but pests. It could be argued that the difference in views of dogs between western European cultivars and their Islamic counterparts is primarily due to Islamic cities’ earlier invention of sanitation practices and the denser nature of Islamic urban centers.
This dislike of dogs is actually fairly common across urban-focused cultures, such as Jewish culture. The Talmud is quite explicit in its criticism of dog ownership and Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (the Fiddler on the Roof guy) at one point said: “If a Jew has a dog, either the dog is no dog, or the Jew is no Jew.” General Jewish distaste for dog ownership can be seen in the stats, with only 5% of Israelis owning a dog, a rate more than four times lower than general dog ownership in the United States.[[191]](#_ftn191) There is a common myth among the Jewish community that this dislike of dogs began after the Holocaust, however considering that Rabinovich’s quote is dated to 1903, that supposition appears to be unfounded.
It is unclear when Jewish sentiments against dog ownership first arose. For example, Geoffrey Miller[[192]](#_ftn192) argues the presence of thousands of dogs in a cemetery near Ashkelon dating from the 5th century BC shows Jews of the period were fond of dogs, while Lawrence Stager argues that Ashkelon was a Phoenician city during that period.[[193]](#_ftn193) In the paper “Dogs in Jewish Society in the Second Temple Period and in the Time of the Mishnah and Talmud,”[[194]](#_ftn194) Joshua Schwartz observes that “most of the Jewish sources from the Second Temple period and the time of the Mishnah and Talmud continue to maintain the negative attitude toward dogs expressed in the Biblical tradition” and concedes “it is improbable that dogs in Jewish society were the objects of the same degree of affection as they received in the Graeco-Roman world or the Persian world.”
Islamic and Jewish anti-dog attitudes are pragmatic for people who live in cities. Dogs make a ton of sense if you are trying to herd animals, protect livestock on a farm, hunt, or protect rural property, but make little sense for people living in a city and can even be quite dangerous. However, for the same reasons, rural cultivars are usually pro-dog.
On the subject of dogs for defense: It may not just be a stereotype that dogs are objectively effective at preventing crime. Neighborhoods with higher levels of dog ownership also tend to have lower levels of homicide, robbery, and aggravated assaults.[[195]](#_ftn195) Admittedly, it may not be dogs themselves that prevent the crime; the association could be totally correlational—or perhaps dogs work as an effective signal. After all, if rural cultivars are in favor of both dog and gun ownership, criminals are going to learn after a while that breaking into a house with a dog is much more likely to plant lead in your temple.
It should come as no surprise that our inherited Calvinist and Scottish/Irish/English cultures in which we grew up in are rabidly pro-dog—to the extent that it would be seen as not borderline child abuse, but actual child abuse, to raise a kid without a dog in the family. Our family canine cultural biases extend to dog breeds as well, with our cultural tradition seeing dogs that do not work (e.g., Chihuahuas, Bull Dogs, etc.) as being a sign of moral failure in their owners—even though we do not work our dogs. This is illogical and perhaps related to a cultural memory of dogs being a tool of utility to the family while also having a place within it.
We find ourselves wondering whether people’s inherited affinities for dog ownership are the product of mere cultural memory or an intuition that might serve some purpose in our current and future society. The research on this topic seems to indicate that dog ownership during childhood positively impacts kids’ immune systems,[[196]](#_ftn196) reduces allergies,[[197]](#_ftn197) increases physical health,[[198]](#_ftn198) and improves EQ.[[199]](#_ftn199) (While studies correct for this, it is critical to note that dog ownership is also heavily associated with higher socioeconomic status.) Ultimately, we’ve decided that dog ownership is warranted not just traditionally, but also logically, hence our having a dog.
The biggest risk, culturally speaking, of pets in the modern world comes not from disease but their ability to somewhat satiate people’s hunger for parenthood. Most humans feel an instinct to have kids, and just like pornography, pet ownership can be used to masturbate and relieve that biological drive. You see this every time someone talks about their dog or cat as their “baby” and treats their pet in such a way.
Cultures found the idea of having sex with animals disgusting long before they cared about consent or animal wellbeing. Sex with animals is one of the many pathways that leads to nonproductive sexual relief and hence lower birth rates, and recall that any culture that allows for lower birth rates will ultimately be outcompeted by one with higher birth rates. Within the culture we are intentionally building for our House, pets are framed as a tool for improving children and protecting the family that must never be used to satiate a hunger for companionship or other emotional and sexual desires. Our children will be strongly discouraged from getting a dog before having kids or as “practice” for having kids—Simone always told me a dog would be a reward for having kids and I think that is a good way to frame it.
We lack a thesis on modern cat ownership. Studies show religious service attendance to be negatively correlated with cat (but not dog) ownership and that atheists are more likely to own cats. It would seem, then, that cat ownership has some sort of correlation with low faith.
Are there any cultivars that dislike cats in the same way some dislike dogs? It appears that Hindu culture (outside of followers of Shashti) generally views cats negatively. It should hardly be surprising that a culture which promotes vegetarianism would not be keen to care for—and regularly feed meat products to—an obligate carnivore pet.
Dogs, Our Evolutionary Partners
Throughout most of this book, we frame cultural traditions in terms of their efficacious effects. Here we have to break from the pretense of always being logical or goal-oriented . When we explain to our kids why we have a dog and why we expect them to as well, we don’t cite studies or explain that we come from a tradition of people who lived in rural environments; rather, we tell them the “cultural truth.”
Dogs have worked with our species since before we could write and maybe even before we could speak. Compared to our canine companions, we are blind—dogs can hear four times better than us and smell between 10,000 to 100,000 times better than us. For millennia, dogs have been willing to put their lives at risk to protect us. When they joined us, we were the lesser partners.
Let’s be clear: Current studies suggest that dogs voluntarily joined us. Some canines that specialized in scavenging around human scrap piles likely evolved a tolerance for humans and started working together with us—it’s not as though dogs were captured and tamed by humans. To our knowledge, cats are the only other animal that joined us in a willing partnership. This is why we make glue from horses and eat veal and lamb while generally treating the bodies of dogs and cats the same as we treat those of humans.
Humans’ partnership with dogs is, however, different from our relationship with cats. While a cat that died protecting a human would be remarkable, dogs have been so devoted to us that we see dogs dying on humans’ behalf as being routine. Even if dogs offer little to humanity today, we never forget that when they joined our species, they did so as equal partners who have more than paid the debt in that partnership. When House Collins spreads across the galaxy, dogs will still be beside us because we always remember our debts no matter how many generations it takes to fully pay them off. That is what it means to have integrity. Remember: We may not always be the smartest species in a partnership. The artificial intelligences and species we partner with in the future may look at how we treated our past partner species to judge how humans deserve to be treated as an intellectually inferior partner species. Should we turn our backs on dogs, we don’t deserve to be treated well by our future partners.
To explore why there aren’t many cultivars in the United States with strong connections to specific geographies, check out: “Geographic Flexibility” on page 798 of the Appendix. (In short, geographic inflexibility likely evolved to offset underestimations of how hard it was historically to find new, unoccupied land upon decamping from one’s present territory.)
[[1]](#_ftnref1) Keim, Brandon. “Brain Scanners Can See Your Decisions before You Make Them.” Wired, Conde Nast, 13 Apr. 2008, https://www.wired.com/2008/04/mind-decision/. Smith, K. Brain makes decisions before you even know it. Nature (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2008.751, Soon, C. S., Brass, M., Heinze, H. J., & Haynes, J. D. (2008). Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain. Nature neuroscience, 11(5), 543–545. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2112, Soon CS, He AH, Bode S, Haynes JD. Predicting free choices for abstract intentions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Apr 9;110(15):6217-22. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1212218110. Epub 2013 Mar 18. PMID: 23509300; PMCID: PMC3625266,
Bode S, He AH, Soon CS, Trampel R, Turner R, Haynes J-D (2011) Tracking the Unconscious Generation of Free Decisions Using UItra-High Field fMRI. PLoS ONE 6(6): e21612. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0021612,
Koenig-Robert, R., Pearson, J. Decoding the contents and strength of imagery before volitional engagement. Sci Rep 9, 3504 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39813-y
[[2]](#_ftnref2) Schachter, S., & Singer, J. (1962). Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state. Psychological Review, 69(5), 379–399. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0046234, from https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1963-06064-001
[[3]](#_ftnref3) https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-snapshot-sequence-of-the-choice-procedure-during-a-manipulation-trial-A_fig1_7554338
[[4]](#_ftnref4) … beyond having played a role in compiling memory that may influence subconscious decision making.
[[5]](#_ftnref5)See: Choice Blindness https://www.lucs.lu.se/fileadmin/user_upload/lucs/2011/01/Choice-Blindness-summary.pdf
From: The Choice Blindness Lab. LUCS. (n.d.). Retrieved December 29, 2022, from https://www.lucs.lu.se/research/choice-blindness-lab/home/
[[6]](#_ftnref6) Fisher, M., & Keil, F. C. (2015). The curse of expertise: When more knowledge leads to miscalibrated explanatory insight. Cognitive Science, 40(5), 1251–1269. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12280
[[7]](#_ftnref7) “Awake” brain surgery (also known as awake craniotomy) is performed on awake and alert patients when removing tumors to ensure important parts of the brain are not damaged.
[[8]](#_ftnref8) Malcolm used to be a neuroscientist and worked with brain surgeons, so he heard about this phenomenon frequently but cannot find a good record of it in a peer-reviewed paper. For the closest approximation, see: Resnick, Brian. “Wilder Penfield Redrew the Map of the Brain—by Opening the Heads of Living Patients.” Vox, Vox, 26 Jan. 2018, https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/1/26/16932476/wilder-penfield-brain-surgery-epilepsy-google-doodle.
[[9]](#_ftnref9) “Why Koko (Probably) Couldn’t Talk (Sorry) | The Deep Dive.” YouTube, Soup Emporium, 5 May 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7wFotDKEF4. Accessed 15 July 2022.
[[10]](#_ftnref10) Lillian Tara, one of our test readers, left a comment on this paragraph that quite resonates: “You can’t really be “good” and a relativist. Good implies a value judgment—A is better than B, along a certain value hierarchy. Nice means nothing, nice just means nonthreatening/harmless/weak.”
[[11]](#_ftnref11) In the case of my (Malcolm’s) dad, someone threatened to blow up our house. I also know the Klan tried to have my grandad killed at one point, but don’t know the details beyond that.
[[12]](#_ftnref12) Higher education R&D expenditures, by source of funds: FYs 1972–2020 https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf22312/figure/1
[[13]](#_ftnref13) “Running on autopilot” entails living at the whims of pre-programmed biological and emotional drives without intentional and critical contemplation.
[[14]](#_ftnref14) Sapience is a unifying distinction among all sufficiently complex intelligences. Whether an entity is human, an alien, or an artificial intelligence, the moment its intelligence reaches a level of complexity at which it is able to ask: “Why am I doing this?” and rewrite its objective function or utility function based on its knowledge of the universe, it becomes the same, broad “type of thing” as all other sapient entities. We go over this in a lot more detail in the chapter on AI apocalypticism on page 633.
[[15]](#_ftnref15) Note: The governance structure described in The Pragmatist’s Guide to Governance, which sounds a lot like this one, is not for the Index but for House Collins. We chose very similar systems for our House and the Index because we believe in the model. Although, their differing scopes and purposes necessitate some variation.
[[16]](#_ftnref16) Until the Index has at least ten Houses, we will act as the Governor.
[[17]](#_ftnref17) A former Governor can be put on a list to be removed from the Vote of Continuity (and the veto process on Governor decision) via the unanimous decision of those elected by the three voting bodies every time a new Governor is chosen (only one name can be added to the list per election cycle). If a name is put on the list twice, the Governor in question is removed, making removal a “two strikes” action. Note: No House can be excommunicated if it has a member in the House of Continuity. Even deceased members must be removed through the formal removal process for their House to be excommunicated. It is intentionally difficult to excommunicate any House that has been a member of the Index for generations. Gaining a Vote of Continuity should be a source of significant pride for any House that wins the privilege.
[[18]](#_ftnref18) This branch can rewrite the way the governing structure works with a 70% vote. This action is only meant to be undertaken to address future technology. Questions like: Once it becomes possible to replicate someone’s consciousness and upload it somewhere where it endures past the individual’s death, will their uploaded, digital selves be treated as humans for voting purposes? What about fully sapient artificial intelligences? We attempted to make the system easy to alter, enabling future Index members to adapt to these sorts of developments without our writing commandments about technology with limits we don’t understand. While we would like AIs to have a vote, there are many ways an AI vote might be abused to break the Index’s governing system.
[[19]](#_ftnref19) Voting power = (The number of kids in the House under 20) + (The number of kids raised in the House over 20 who have stayed active in the Index) 2 + (The number of grandkids produced by members raised within that House) 2. This system is designed to reward Houses not just for successfully producing the next generation but for creating a new generation of members who largely choose to stay in that culture and raise future generations within it. Essentially, the Index rewards cultures that do the core job of “being a culture” well (by imparting fitness to participants) with more influence. The system is also intentionally designed to give older Houses significantly more power to incentivize kids to try and reform (rather than flippantly abandon) their ancestral Houses should they have room for improvement.
[[20]](#_ftnref20) Note: We expect things like the cut-off age for this vote and member qualifications to be modified with time. For example, this system could be inordinately manipulated by a House that adopts tons of kids while doing a poor job at raising them, meaning these adoptees exit the Index once they gain independence. Should such abuses arise, the Governor may need to change how this vote is considered at a future date with the idea that the vote’s purpose is to weigh Houses by likely future population.
[[21]](#_ftnref21) The core idea here is that Houses that sacrifice more for the Index deserve greater influence over its function. This vote may need to be adjusted should something like a war or dangerous exploration cause House members to forego more lucrative opportunities, endure serious hardship, or even die in service to the Index (i.e., the opportunity cost endured by House members should be counted in some way as contributed wealth). Other adjustments might include an interest modifier to investments in the Index, alterations that diminish the power of a single very wealthy individual (e.g., quadratic voting), or absolute limits on the total voting power any one House may have within this realm (e.g., no House may gain more than 30% of the total Vote of Sacrifice).
[[22]](#_ftnref22) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJClm_J1cV0
[[23]](#_ftnref23) Pearce, E., Launay, J., & Dunbar, R. I. (2015). The ice-breaker effect: Singing mediates fast social bonding. Royal Society Open Science, 2(10), 150221. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150221
[[24]](#_ftnref24) Kokal, I., Engel, A., Kirschner, S., & Keysers, C. (2011). Synchronized drumming enhances activity in the caudate and facilitates prosocial commitment–if the rhythm comes easily. PloS one, 6(11), e27272. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0027272
[[25]](#_ftnref25) Wiltermuth, S. S., & Heath, C. (2009). Synchrony and Cooperation. Psychological Science, 20(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02253.x
[[26]](#_ftnref26) Macdonald, K., Germine, L., Anderson, A., Christodoulou, J., & McGrath, L. M. (2017, July 17). Dispelling the myth: Training in education or neuroscience decreases but does not eliminate beliefs in neuromyths. Frontiers. from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01314/full, Tarr, B., Launay, J., & Dunbar, R. I. (2016). Silent disco: dancing in synchrony leads to elevated pain thresholds and social closeness. Evolution and human behavior: Official journal of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, 37(5), 343–349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.02.004
[[27]](#_ftnref27)Pearce, E., Launay, J., & Dunbar, R. I. (2015). The ice-breaker effect: Singing mediates fast social bonding. Royal Society Open Science, 2(10), 150221. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150221 from https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.150221
[[28]](#_ftnref28) This role-switching practice manifests through dynamics seen since ancient times, such as a reversal of social status (seen in many medieval festivals where the wealthy would act like paupers and the paupers like high-status individuals), masquerade-style parties (where people’s faces are covered and they assume different roles), tribal ceremonies in which people are inhabited by spirits (sometimes of ancestors), ceremonies involving participants getting “possessed,” and “furry-like parties” where people take on animal personas.
[[29]](#_ftnref29) According to Charles Burney, whose History of Music (1776) was the first important treatise in its field, Calvinists disallowed all instrumental music in Geneva for 100 years after the Reformation and that all music, except for psalm singing, was outlawed. Later scholars have argued this to be an exaggeration but one that contains more than a grain of truth.
[[30]](#_ftnref30)Sparrow, B., Liu, J., & Wegner, D. M. (2011). Google effects on memory: Cognitive consequences of having information at our fingertips. Science, 333(6043), 776–778. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1207745 from https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/dwegner/files/sparrow_et_al._2011.pdf
[[31]](#_ftnref31)Medlin, R. (2006). Homeschooled Children’s Social Skills. Home School Researcher, 17(1), 1–8. from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED573486.pdf
[[32]](#_ftnref32) Bui, Q., & Miller, C. C. (2018, August 4). The age that women have babies: How a gap divides America. The New York Times., from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/04/upshot/up-birth-age-gap.html
[[33]](#_ftnref33) Nomaguchi, K., & Milkie, M. A. (2020). Parenthood and Well-Being: A Decade in Review. Journal of marriage and the family, 82(1), 198–223. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12646 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7326370/
[[34]](#_ftnref34) We don’t want to sound elitist and are not saying Yale is not a great university, it is just not getting the best of the best anymore and hasn’t for decades. It ranges between 3 and 8 in different ranking tables. If you are a club of the best of the best at the 8th-best university you are just another fraternity. https://www.topuniversities.com/where-to-study/north-america/united-states/ranked-top-100-us-universities
[[35]](#_ftnref35)Bouchard, T. J., & McGue, M. (2002). Genetic and environmental influences on human psychological differences. Journal of Neurobiology, 54(1), 4–45. https://doi.org/10.1002/neu.10160 from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/neu.10160
[[36]](#_ftnref36) While some historians dispute the historicity of Krypteia, 1. Stop being such a killjoy and 2. Ancient Greek historians have a track record of not believing certain accounts because they can’t relate to them and Krypteia may very well be a victim of this prejudice (for example, many historians didn’t believe that the Greeks could have charged in full armor at the battle of Marathon “because it was impossible” until a college sports team tried it and proved it to be entirely doable … and fairly normal per their training).
[[37]](#_ftnref37) Jargon, J. (2021, October 20). Teen girls are developing tics. Doctors say TicTok could be a factor. The Wall Street Journal. from https://www.wsj.com/articles/teen-girls-are-developing-tics-doctors-say-tiktok-could-be-a-factor-11634389201?mod=e2tw Kale, S. (2021, November 16).’The unknown is scary’: Why young women on social media are developing Tourette’s-like tics. The Guardian. from https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/nov/16/the-unknown-is-scary-why-young-women-on-social-media-are-developing-tourettes-like-tics
[[38]](#_ftnref38) Müller-Vahl, K. R., Pisarenko, A., Jakubovski, E., & Fremer, C. (2021). Stop that! it’s not Tourette’s but a new type of mass sociogenic illness. Brain, 145(2), 476–480. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awab316 https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/145/2/476/6356504?fbclid=IwAR19xC1sXRIoVCOJjDaGVsPVq4HZAxowmMNO01PUBP6kF1yQN9Ux8L0mjrE&login=false
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[[40]](#_ftnref40) Weiss, S. (2022, September 6).Hurts so good. The Free Press, from https://www.thefp.com/p/hurts-so-good
[[41]](#_ftnref41) Weiss, S. (2022, September 6).Hurts so good. The Free Press, from https://www.thefp.com/p/hurts-so-good
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[[44]](#_ftnref44) I, Simone, only made it through my teens by the skin of my teeth—and don’t get me wrong, I feel so pathetic knowing that while Malcolm was actually facing serious adversity at youth prison camps, where he was beaten and starved—eating insects to survive—I was torturing myself. (More on Malcolm’s childhood in The Pragmatist’s Guide to Governance.)
[[45]](#_ftnref45) Windas, L. (2021, February 14). 6 things spoonies need from you. Lauren Windas Nutrition. from https://www.laurenwindas.com/journal/6-things-spoonies-need-from-you
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[[47]](#_ftnref47) Chong, Woei Lien (2002). China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: Master Narratives and Post-Mao Counternarratives. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780742518742
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[[49]](#_ftnref49) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnneR1Q9uK4
[[50]](#_ftnref50) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RFFwhbVqeU&ab_channel=Whatifalthist
[[51]](#_ftnref51) Todd, E. (1989). The explanation of ideology: Family, structures and Social Systems. Basil Blackwell.
[[52]](#_ftnref52) We couldn’t find any peer-reviewed articles on this phenomenon but did find it attested to in multiple sources (I, Malcolm, first heard it on a tour of the Synagogue in Prague). There is a chance it is apocryphal but the chance seems low given the specifics of how the law was applied and how common bribes were during that period. My guess is that it might not have been super widespread but happened a few times and spread as a story because it is juicy and aligns with people’s preconceptions. Regardless, I can’t find anything arguing against it, it makes sense in historical context, and it is interesting, so we are leaving it in.
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[[54]](#_ftnref54) Norwood, J. (2013, September 13). A boy named “humiliation”: Some wacky, cruel, and Bizarre Puritan names. Slate Magazine. from https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/09/puritan-names-lists-of-bizarre-religious-nomenclature-used-by-puritans.html
[[55]](#_ftnref55) Coffey , B., & McLaughlin, P. (2009). From Lawyer to Judge: Advancement, Sex, and Name-Calling. https://www.abajournal.com/files/NamesNLaw.pdf
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Figlio, D. (2005). Boys named Sue: Disruptive children and their peers. https://doi.org/10.3386/w11277
[[56]](#_ftnref56) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middleman_minority
[[57]](#_ftnref57) One editor doubted this which feels … insane to us. If you would like more evidence, contrast this map of fertility rates—https://brilliantmaps.com/fertility-rates/—with this map of nations in which gay is criminalized: https://www.humandignitytrust.org/lgbt-the-law/map-of-criminalisation/ As for within a country, contrast these maps: https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/10/health/us-fertility-rate-replacement-cdc-study/index.html https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps
[[58]](#_ftnref58) 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.
[[59]](#_ftnref59) 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
[[60]](#_ftnref60) 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
[[61]](#_ftnref61) Micheletti, A., Ge, E., Zhou, L., Chen, Y., Zhang, H., Du, J., & Mace, R. (2021). Religious celibacy brings inclusive fitness benefits. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 289,1877 https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/5gur7
[[62]](#_ftnref62) Not only is this system 100% not intentional, but the Catholic Church has spent centuries fighting against it. However, the data is also crystal clear that within the Church, gay Catholics are dramatically more likely to join the clergy than their straight counterparts.
[[63]](#_ftnref63) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_clergy_in_the_Catholic_Church
[[64]](#_ftnref64) Stuard, Elizabeth. Roman Catholics and Homosexuality, quoted by Kate Saunders in Catholics and Sex. Saunders, K., & Stanford, P. (1992). Catholics and sex. Heinemann.
[[65]](#_ftnref65) Echard, E. (2019, March 16). Catholic priest sex abuse scandals: How the media shapes the public perception of child abuse in the Catholic Church. Juris Magazine. from https://sites.law.duq.edu/juris/2019/03/16/catholic-priest-sex-abuse-scandals-how-the-media-shapes-the-public-perception-of-child-abuse-in-the-catholic-church/
[[66]](#_ftnref66) Ganna, A., Verweij, K. J., Nivard, M. G., Maier, R., Wedow, R., Busch, A. S., Abdellaoui, A., Guo, S., Sathirapongsasuti, J. F., Lichtenstein, P., Lundström, S., Långström, N., Auton, A., Harris, K. M., Beecham, G. W., Martin, E. R., Sanders, A. R., Perry, J. R., Neale, B. M., & Zietsch, B. P. (2019). Large-scale GWAS reveals insights into the genetic architecture of same-sex sexual behavior. Science, 365(6456). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat7693 from https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aat7693
[[67]](#_ftnref67) Staff, B. (2022, September 21). 10 Saudi kings with several wives and kids. News18., from https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/10-saudi-kings-with-several-wives-and-kids-6005833.html
[[68]](#_ftnref68) For example: In Iran being gay is punishable by death while being trans is not, so social institutions push gay people to have gender reassignment surgery.
[[69]](#_ftnref69) Shaiful Bahari, I., Norhayati, M. N., Nik Hazlina, N. H., Mohamad Shahirul Aiman, C. A., & Nik Muhammad Arif, N. A. (2021). Psychological impact of polygamous marriage on women and children: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-021-04301-7 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34903212/, Al-Krenawi, A. (2016). Psychosocial impact of polygamy in the Middle East. Springer. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292358998_Psychosocial_Impact_of_Polygamy_in_the_Middle_East
[[70]](#_ftnref70) Two of our editors strongly disagreed with this point and presented an alternate answer. Specifically, they argued that being gay is correlated with being open to new ideas on both the genotypic and phenotypic level and it is this differentiating factor which leads them to have higher rates of success as cultural exporters. In other words, while it is still important to protect gay people, their utility to a culture is due to correlation and not causation.
[[71]](#_ftnref71) Kendall, M. (2021, October 6). Why dress codes can’t stop sexual assault. The Washington Post. from https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/04/13/why-dress-codes-cant-stop-sexual-assault/
[[72]](#_ftnref72)Levine, N. E., & Silk, J. B. (1997). Why polyandry fails: Sources of instability in polyandrous marriages. Current Anthropology, 38(3), 375–398. https://doi.org/10.1086/204624
[[73]](#_ftnref73) Sharifa. (2021, July 23). How common polygamy is in Saudi Arabia — statistics, Saudi women’s voices and all. Saudi Girl Travel. from https://saudigirltravel.com/how-common-polygamy-is-in-saudi-arabia-statistics-saudi-womens-voices-and-all
[[74]](#_ftnref74) Time Inc. (1949, June 13). Israel: Perquisites for Polygamists. Time. from https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,800300,00.html
[[75]](#_ftnref75) Public Broadcasting Service. (n.d.). Polygamy and the church: A history. PBS. from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/mormons-polygamy/
[[76]](#_ftnref76) While arranged marriages have equal rates of love within them compared with non-arranged marriages, they have dramatically lower divorce rates. So when you factor in survivorship bias, arranged marriages are way more likely to have both partners in love ten years in than the more progressive model.
[[77]](#_ftnref77) Ingraham, C. (2019, March 29). The share of Americans not having sex has reached a record high. The Washington Post. from https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/03/29/share-americans-not-having-sex-has-reached-record-high/
[[78]](#_ftnref78) As this study shows, “a man’s sex appeal to women is bolstered insofar as he bests other men in sports, business, or art. In contrast, men’s mate choices are largely indifferent to which women outperform other women in those arenas.” Baumeister, R. F., Reynolds, T., Winegard, B., & Vohs, K. D. (2017). Competing for love: Applying sexual economics theory to mating contests. Journal of Economic Psychology, 63, 230–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2017.07.009
[[79]](#_ftnref79) Worst-Online-Dater, W.-O.-D. (2015, March 25). Tinder Experiments II: Guys, unless you are really hot you are probably better off not wasting your time, Medium. from https://medium.com/@worstonlinedater/tinder-experiments-ii-guys-unless-you-are-really-hot-you-are-probably-better-off-not-wasting-your-2ddf370a6e9a
[[80]](#_ftnref80) Kincaid, J. (2009, November 19). Okcupid checks out the dynamics of Attraction and your love inbox. TechCrunch. from https://techcrunch.com/2009/11/18/okcupid-inbox-attractive/
[[81]](#_ftnref81) Greitemeyer, T. (2007). What do men and women want in a partner? Are educated partners always more desirable? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43(2), 180–194. https://doi.org/10.1037/e514412014-117 from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022103106000345
[[82]](#_ftnref82) Kincaid, J. (2009, November 19). Okcupid checks out the dynamics of Attraction and your love inbox. TechCrunch. from https://techcrunch.com/2009/11/18/okcupid-inbox-attractive/
[[83]](#_ftnref83) Laken, P. van der. (2022, December 6). Two Tinder Experiments: An Unequal Economy. Paulvanderlaken.com. from https://paulvanderlaken.com/2019/07/31/two-tinder-experiments-an-unequal-economy/
[[84]](#_ftnref84) Greitemeyer, T. (2007). What do men and women want in a partner? Are educated partners always more desirable? PsycEXTRA Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/e514412014-117
[[85]](#_ftnref85) This is usually not a durable practice—though there are exceptions. Some stable cultures do use a method like this. For example, in one extreme weather culture, a woman may marry brothers to keep birth rates down while ensuring that the kids she has are at least genetically related to each husband.
[[86]](#_ftnref86) Liberals and atheists smarter? Intelligent people have values novel in human evolutionary history, study finds. (2010). American Sociological Association. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100224132655.htm Kanazawa et al. Why Liberals and Atheists Are More Intelligent. Social Psychology Quarterly, 2010; DOI: 10.1177/0190272510361602
[[87]](#_ftnref87) University of British Columbia. “Monogamy reduces major social problems of polygamist cultures.” ScienceDaily, 24 January 2012. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120124093142.htm We go very deep on this topic in The Pragmatist’s Guide to Sexuality so if you find this interesting, you can dig in more there.
[[88]](#_ftnref88) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mME0NXRQHuc
[[89]](#_ftnref89) Fatherhood and Motherhood in Colonial America. Digital history. (n.d.) from https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/topic_display.cfm?tcid=83
[[90]](#_ftnref90) Salmon, F. (2022, July 2). What happened when the rich stopped intermarrying? Axios. from https://www.axios.com/2022/07/02/what-happened-when-the-rich-stopped-intermarrying
[[91]](#_ftnref91) Goñi, M. (2022). Assortative matching at the top of the distribution: Evidence from the world’s most exclusive marriage market. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 14(3), 445–487. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20180463 from https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257%2Fapp.20180463&from=f
[[92]](#_ftnref92) Hurley, D. (2005, April 19). Divorce rate: It’s not as high as you think. The New York Times. from https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/health/divorce-rate-its-not-as-high-as-you-think.html
[[93]](#_ftnref93) C.Dallett Hemphill, “Women in Court: Sex Role Differentiation in Salem, Massachusetts, 1636-1683,” WMQ3 39 (1982) via Fischer, D. H. (2018). Albion’s Seed: Four British folkways in America. Oxford University Press.
[[94]](#_ftnref94) Wicks, A. (2022, February 2). Study reveals how much sex you’ll have in your lifetime. from https://www.complex.com/life/2016/05/how-much-sex-lifetime-study.
[[95]](#_ftnref95) IAC Publishing. (2020, March). What percentage of our lives are spent working? Reference., from https://www.reference.com/world-view/percentage-lives-spent-working-599e3f7fb2c88fca, Naber, A. (n.d.). One third of your life is spent at work. Gettysburg College. Retrieved December 25, 2022, from https://www.gettysburg.edu/news/stories?id=79db7b34-630c-4f49-ad32-4ab9ea48e72b#
[[96]](#_ftnref96) For example, someone who enjoys assuming traditional female roles is going to have a much easier time living with someone who prefers to assume traditional male roles than someone who also prefers to assume traditional female roles.
[[97]](#_ftnref97) Wilcox, W. B., & Nock, S. L. (2006). What’s Love Got to Do with It? Equality, Equity, Commitment and Women’s Marital Quality. Social Forces, 84(3), 1321–1345. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3844442
[[98]](#_ftnref98) Probably the most common counter example comes from Orthodox Jews who, passing down Jewish identity matrilineally, make it slightly easier for a Jewish woman to marry outside the religion and still have fully accepted Jewish kids than a Jewish man.
[[99]](#_ftnref99) Mogul, R. (2020, July 5). One of India’s richest minority groups enjoys some of Mumbai’s best rents. Here’s why. CNN. from https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/04/india/india-parsi-colony-intl-hnk/index.html
[[100]](#_ftnref100) Simone here: Let’s get real. How do you even manage to not end up at a lower weight if you are breastfeeding? You aren’t allowed to drink alcohol and are burning calories like crazy. And I say this as someone who can only breastfeed for a couple of months because of osteoporosis.
[[101]](#_ftnref101)Marshall, L. (2018, November 21). The more pain you expect, the more you feel, new study shows. CU Boulder Today. from https://www.colorado.edu/today/2018/11/14/more-pain-you-expect-more-you-feel-new-study-shows
[[102]](#_ftnref102) Goldberg, C. (2022, May 26). DNA testing for embryos promises to predict genetic diseases. Bloomberg.com. from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-05-26/dna-testing-for-embryos-promises-to-predict-genetic-diseases
[[103]](#_ftnref103)Garber, M. (2012, June 30). The IVF panic: ‘All hell will break loose, politically and morally, all over the world.’ The Atlantic. from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/06/the-ivf-panic-all-hell-will-break-loose-politically-and-morally-all-over-the-world/258954/
[[104]](#_ftnref104)Livingston, G. (2020, July 31). A third of U.S. adults say they have used fertility treatments or know someone who has. Pew Research Center. from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/07/17/a-third-of-u-s-adults-say-they-have-used-fertility-treatments-or-know-someone-who-has/
[[105]](#_ftnref105)Anafi, M. (2022, February 2). New NWLC report finds over 30 states legally allow forced sterilization. National Women’s Law Center. from https://nwlc.org/press-release/new-nwlc-report-finds-over-30-states-legally-allow-forced-sterilization/
[[106]](#_ftnref106) University of Oxford. (2012, December 6) IVF children more likely to have asthma. from https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2012-12-06-ivf-children-more-likely-have-asthma
[[107]](#_ftnref107) Bay, B., Mortensen, E. L., & Kesmodel, U. S. (2013). Assisted reproduction and child neurodevelopmental outcomes: A systematic review. Fertility and Sterility, 100(3), 844–853. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2013.05.034 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/243966426_Assisted_reproduction_and_child_neurodevelopmental_outcomes_A_systematic_review
[[108]](#_ftnref108) Person. (2018, September 17). IVF children may face higher health risks as they get older. Healthline. from https://www.healthline.com/health-news/children-born-via-ivf-face-higher-health-risks
[[109]](#_ftnref109) Kuiper, D. B., Koppelman, G. H., la Bastide-van Gemert, S., Seggers, J., Haadsma, M. L., Roseboom, T. J., Hoek, A., Heineman, M. J., & Hadders-Algra, M. (2019). Asthma in 9-year-old children of subfertile couples is not associated with in vitro fertilization procedures. European Journal of Pediatrics, 178(10), 1493–1499. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-019-03436-2
[[110]](#_ftnref110) Roser, M. (2019, June 11). Mortality in the past – around half died as children. Our World in Data. Retrieved December 25, 2022, from https://ourworldindata.org/child-mortality-in-the-past
[[111]](#_ftnref111) Like autism, prosociality, political views, etc. For sources, see the chapter: “Humanity’s Genetic Shift.”
[[112]](#_ftnref112) Some have protested our choices, saying: “You are getting your embryos biopsied for nothing and that could introduce negative effects, so it is not harmless.” We find this argument strange because almost all embryos used in IVF are biopsied; it is a normal part or the process in which you check for really obvious problems outside of the more scandalous stuff that we do (e.g., is this an euploid embryo or not?).
[[113]](#_ftnref113) Bartels, J. M., Ryan, J. J., Urban, L. S., & Glass, L. A. (2010). Correlations between estimates of State IQ and FBI crime statistics. Personality and Individual Differences, 48(5), 579–583. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.12.010 from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886909005169?fbclid=IwAR2p4tX7W9rEmXgxCx8PUIIQHBF5k4I9xcgSnQ5uXWuegRPP6_DksWwPE7M
[[114]](#_ftnref114) Okbay, A., Wu, Y., Wang, N. et al. (2022). Polygenic prediction of educational attainment within and between families from genome-wide association analyses in 3 million individuals. Nat Genet 54, 437–449 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-022-01016-z
[[115]](#_ftnref115) “Loss aversion in behavioral economics refers to a phenomenon where a real or potential loss is perceived by individuals as psychologically or emotionally more severe than an equivalent gain. For instance, the pain of losing $100 is often far greater than the joy gained in finding the same amount.” Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/loss-psychology.asp
[[116]](#_ftnref116) Obviously, our conception of God is different from mainstream conceptions, but this explanation applies to both of them.
[[117]](#_ftnref117) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_drowning_man
[[118]](#_ftnref118) Goldberg, C. (2022, May 26). DNA testing for embryos promises to predict genetic diseases. Bloomberg.com. from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-05-26/dna-testing-for-embryos-promises-to-predict-genetic-diseases
[[119]](#_ftnref119) Smith, M. (2022, August 31). Women not having kids get richer than men. Bloomberg.com. from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-31/women-not-having-kids-get-richer-than-men
[[120]](#_ftnref120) “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
[[121]](#_ftnref121) Fernand Braudel argues that Islam is specifically a synthesis of an urbanized, ancient, near-eastern culture of mercantile towns and Bedouins invented by an urbanite.
[[122]](#_ftnref122) Loffing, F., Hagemann, N., & Strauss, B. (2012). Left-handedness in professional and amateur tennis. PLoS ONE, 7(11). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0049325,
Wood, C. J., & Aggleton, J. P. (1989). Handedness in ‘fast ball’ sports: Do lefthanders have an innate advantage? British Journal of Psychology, 80(2), 227–240. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1989.tb02316.x
Hagemann, N. (2009). The advantage of being left-handed in Interactive Sports. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 71(1648. https://doi.org/10.3758/app.71.7.1641
[[123]](#_ftnref123) “An inquisitor was an official … in an inquisition—an organization or program intended to eliminate heresy and other things contrary to the doctrine or teachings of the … faith. … Inquisitors sought out the social networks that people used to spread heresy.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisitor
[[124]](#_ftnref124) Scott, L. (2022, December 23). Whistleblower files complaint to Congress over Twitter suspending journalists. VOA.from https://www.voanews.com/a/whistleblower-organization-files-complaint-to-congress-over-twitter-suspending-journalists/6888490.html
[[125]](#_ftnref125) Siddiqui, P. (2010, May 12). Deoband fatwa: It’s illegal for women to work, Support Family: India News – Times of India. The Times of India. from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/deoband-fatwa-its-illegal-for-women-to-work-support-family/articleshow/5919153.cms
[[126]](#_ftnref126)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 from https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/did-america-have-christian-founding
[[127]](#_ftnref127)Smith M. (2022, September 6). 1. Demographic portrait of Muslim Americans. Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project. from https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/07/26/demographic-portrait-of-muslim-americans/
[[128]](#_ftnref128) 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
[[129]](#_ftnref129) Editor Lillian Tara wrote, “So just like individual liberal brains are marked by versatility/novelty, cosmopolitan cities (liberal cultures) are too! This goes with liberal relativism—there’s less of a “stay and defend our way of life” because the way of life is less objectively sacred.”
[[130]](#_ftnref130) The Jews of Habban South Yemen, Jewish Communities in Exotic Places, by Ken Blady, Jason Aronson, Inc, Northvale, New Jersey, Jerusalem, 2000, page 32
[[131]](#_ftnref131) You could argue that the Jewish insurgency in Palestine is a counter-example, but it was not in response to a pogrom.
[[132]](#_ftnref132) Yet another movie based on events with which my (Malcolm’s) family was heavily involved—direct ancestors of mine served as early members of the Swamp Fox’s (Francis Marion’s) forces.
[[133]](#_ftnref133) We suspect these numbers are biased, but can’t find any counter-examples. Regardless of how biased they are, the point stands: Israel was hugely outnumbered and out-supplied. https://israelforever.org/interact/blog/struggle_for_survival/
[[134]](#_ftnref134) Just look at this IQ-by-state heat map: https://www.zippia.com/advice/average-iq-by-state/ Or this IQ-by-country heat map: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IQ_by_Country.png
Or this map showing upwards mobility by geography in the US
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brookings-now/2015/06/02/these-maps-from-raj-chetty-show-that-where-children-grow-up-has-a-major-impact-on-their-lifetime-earnings
[[135]](#_ftnref135) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI0ZUhBvIx4&ab
[[136]](#_ftnref136) Cofnas, N. (2023). Still no evidence for a jewish group evolutionary strategy. Evolutionary Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-022-00352-x, Weinberg, J. (2022, December 30). Philosophy Journal hosts debate on “jewish influence” (updates: Article retracted; Journal gets new editor). Daily Nous. from https://dailynous.com/2022/01/03/philosophy-journal-hosts-debate-on-jewish-influence/
[[137]](#_ftnref137) Gallindoss, B. A. (2018, March 7). Jews make-up 19% of Forbes 200 World’s richest list. Jewish Business News. from https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2018/03/07/jews-make-19-forbes-200-worlds-richest-list/
[[138]](#_ftnref138) https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-members-of-the-117th-congress https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-members-of-the-116th-congress
[[139]](#_ftnref139) Saenger, P. (2006). Jewish Pediatricians in Nazi Germany: Victims of Persecution*. Children’s Hospital at Montefiore/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA. from https://www.ima.org.il/FilesUploadPublic/IMAJ/0/48/24103.pdf
[[140]](#_ftnref140) Backman, M. E. (1972). Patterns of mental abilities: Ethnic, socioeconomic, and sex differences. American Educational Research Journal, 9(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.2307/1162046 from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3102/00028312009001001
[[141]](#_ftnref141) Bachman, J. G. (1970). Youth in transition Vol. 2: the impact of family background and intelligence on tenth grade boys. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.
[[142]](#_ftnref142) https://www.worlddata.info/iq-by-country.php
[[143]](#_ftnref143) Lewin-Epstein, Noah; Cohen, Yinon (18 August 2019). “Ethnic origin and identity in the Jewish population of Israel”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 45 (11): 2118–2137.
[[144]](#_ftnref144) One friend (who we did not get permission to name publicly) suggested this discrepancy may be a product of many non-Jews fleeing to Israel during the collapse of the Soviet Union by bribing Rabbis and claiming to be Ashkenazi. As such, significantly less than 44.2% of Israel’s population may actually be Ashkenazi. (We add this to give full air to our opponent’s arguments.)
[[145]](#_ftnref145) Lewin-Epstein, Noah; Cohen, Yinon (18 August 2019). “Ethnic origin and identity in the Jewish population of Israel”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 45 (11): 2118–2137.
[[146]](#_ftnref146) Storfer, M. D. (1990). Intelligence and giftedness: The contributions of heredity and early environment. Jossey-Bass Publishers.
[[147]](#_ftnref147) Lynn, R. (2004). The Intelligence of American Jews. Personality and Individual Differences, 36(1), 201–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0191-8869(03)00079-5 from http://www-personal.umich.edu/~negisama/asdf2.pdf
[[148]](#_ftnref148) Lynn, R., & Kanazawa, S. (2008). How to explain high jewish achievement: The role of Intelligence and Values. Personality and Individual Differences, 44(4), 801–808. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2007.10.019 from https://personal.lse.ac.uk/kanazawa/pdfs/paid2008.pdf
[[149]](#_ftnref149) He justifies this frankly outlandish and weaselly claim like someone blowing glitter (citations) in your eyes and hoping you don’t notice he is using a ten-word vocabulary test as a way to test general IQ in a population both you and he know have an advantage on verbal intelligence. In his words, “For instance, in the standardization sample of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) the vocabulary subtest correlates 0.75 with the Full Scale IQ, more highly than any other subtest (Wechsler, 1958) and the Full Scale IQ is widely regarded as a good measure of general intelligence or Spearman’s g (Jensen, 1998). We are therefore able to examine the vocabulary scores as a measure of the verbal and general intelligence of the four religious/ethnic groups.”
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[[162]](#_ftnref162) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stLCurXu0fc
[[163]](#_ftnref163) We chose this term instead of “antisemitic” because “antisemitic” has become a word like “racist” or “eugenics” that is used to shut down ideas without fully considering them.
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[[173]](#_ftnref173) Intraculturally, this is not framed as: “Explosives training” but rather “kids playing with fireworks, building fireworks, throwing them at each other, and constructing potato cannons.” Families from my (Malcolm’s) cultural background would hear the term “Roman candle fight” and think: “normal childhood game” while, as an adult, I have learned people from other backgrounds find the idea of children shooting fireworks at each other to be inappropriate—even with parental supervision.
[[174]](#_ftnref174) I have to admit, I felt like my cousin (like 13 at the time) had a point (I am the type of guy who thinks a High Point is the perfect gun because it is cheap and hard to break). So, I asked my wife why she keeps this kind of weapon around and her response was something along the lines, “You may get a single chance to justifiably attack someone who is putting your family at risk. I want to get the most out of that experience.” While I logically know that answer should be concerning, my emotional mind finds it quite cute—I suppose it is cultural priming.
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[[176]](#_ftnref176) This is the one about which we are the least certain. While I (Malcolm) know I am the direct descendant of an Oliver Cromwell who lived around that time period, I have yet to confirm whether this was the Oliver Cromwell.
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