It was vetted more thoroughly than the typical academic paper. It received a glowing review by the NYT book review before the lefty thought police chimed in. Murray has several other books that are also very influential, and there are several books by other authors that are similar in thrust to TBC.
Influential with pseudo science racists like yourself. What happened was it didn't stand up to scrutiny and the dead guy's name was attached to lowly Murray. Clever though the institute, not real university position thing. I just realised that I don't just have to be CEO of my company, I can say I'm something like " F. A. Hayek Chair Emeritus in Cultural Studies" Maybe the cat can sponsor a chair. She likes chairs. You either have autism and so obsess in odd ways and/or you are a libertarian. Both states of being don't understand the actual humans in this world we live in. I just thought of a joke. What's the different between a fly and a libertarian? The fly eventually gets out the window.
The armed forces use cognitive testing, the Iowa tests given to 4th graders, the PSATs and SATs, the MCATS, GMATS and LSATs are all cognitive tests with known g loadings. They are replete throughout American society, and even more pervasive in other countries. Most of the data comes from these mainstream tests, not formal IQ test studies. You're on the kooky vociferous far left on this one. As I said, they're really angry because the illusion they're trying to create needs an absence of dissent. There are always unintended consequences. I'd rather be thought of as dull than lazy. Dull isn't a character trait. There's a better argument that we should spend more to help them with my rationale.
The simple fact is that of course there are average differences but cognitive science is still limited by the tools needed to investigate. A friend has an MRI scanning research company, they design scanners and AI systems to interpret the scans. He chatted with me six months ago about recent, just a few years ago study which found that Han Chinese and Caucasians have distinct differences but.. Of the four main regions identified, two were larger in Caucasians and two in Han. One can look up the function of these areas but its not as simple as this area larger, involved in memory, Asians better etc. The brain is a system which interacts with culture and is way way way beyond a Charles Murray to grasp. In a decade, we will have AI guided models that will enable deep insight, not some shit an old man good at promoting himself bashed together. Its always worth remembering that Einstein's brain who was a lowly patent guy himself, was not larger, it was a little smaller than average. It has some structures and folds, very small details that seem to be involved in making him special but we are just not there yet in the tools to really understand the mind as well as well do with other physical sciences. Until then, do feel free to look at clouds and tell us what books tell you the shapes mean.
Any objective observer would conclude that Murray and the cognitive scientists are a step above their critics, as evidenced by their thoroughness, mastery of the literature and statistics and the trains of thought in their writings.
Well I've heard that happiness is being easily impressed. Their peers say their work is sloppy but you won't read past the word toxic as it would affect your happiness level and we all know boomers just want to feel good. Hypnotherapy might be an idea but..
Murray is not in his field either. There is barely a field to call a field. Lacking the essential knowledge and tools to make scientific measurements of brain function, tools we are only just developing, many are as astrologers are to astronomers. But if the story they spin enthralls and makes you happy, sure, that random constellation is a lion with a specific personality.
Sorry, I had to change above. Writing in the back of a car. Murray did sloppy work as described by his peers. I feel very confident saying that had his writing partner not been dying of cancer, the first book would have been different.