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Racist Pseudoscience in Academia and Beyond

Episode 21 of the Half the Answer podcast, hosted by Liberal Currents, titled "Racist Pseudoscience in Academia and Beyond" was published on July 10, 2025 and runs 75 minutes.

July 10, 2025 ·75m · Half the Answer

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Summary

Caitlin and Trent talk to anthropologist Rebecca Sear about the troubling trend in academia of allowing scientific racism, or the pseudoscientific belief that humans can be divided into genetically distinct racial groups with discrete measurements for things like IQ, personality traits, and behavior, to persist and present itself as a legitimate academic pursuit. They discuss how political activists have helped fund projects that propel scientific racism into the academic literature, popular media, and public policy.Resources:Musk on birth rates https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EPrNsxf-AUYJD Vance: “I want more babies in the United States” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23XJ2SqI8FARFK, Jr. on “healthy kids” and COVID https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/well/rfk-jr-cdc-children-covid-vaccines-data.htmlOrigin of Eugenics https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/origins-eugenicsHistory of Eugenics https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/educational-resources/timelines/eugenics Galton on “selection” 1883 https://archive.org/details/cu31924028925332/page/n325/mode/2upEugenics in the 1920s https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20speople-improving-the-nations-stock-for-great-and-greater-britain-eugenics-in-the-1920s/ Eugenics Record Office https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/368657 ‘National IQ’ datasets: https://osf.io/26vfb_v1Dark Money https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/215462/dark-money-by-jane-mayer/ Merchants of Doubt https://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/ Collins Family profile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnd1Taw4CEE&t=174s Polygenic embryo selection https://theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/science-fictions-are-outpacing-science Bo Winegard defending race science https://www.aporiamagazine.com/p/sasha-gusev-is-wrong?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webWinegard accused of eugenics https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/03/12/assistant-professor-says-hes-been-fired-because-he-dared-talk-about-human-populationWilliam Shockley on Firing Line https://youtu.be/7JOIqkh2ms8?si=rxH8Ym7_4SU0PYPR Richard Haier on Lex Fridman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9RxrsvcS-k Peter Singer on disabled newborns https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2017/04/now-peter-singer-argues-that-it-might-be-okay-to-rape-disabled-people

Episode Description

Caitlin and Trent talk to anthropologist Rebecca Sear about the troubling trend in academia of allowing scientific racism, or the pseudoscientific belief that humans can be divided into genetically distinct racial groups with discrete measurements for things like IQ, personality traits, and behavior, to persist and present itself as a legitimate academic pursuit. They discuss how political activists have helped fund projects that propel scientific racism into the academic literature, popular media, and public policy.


Resources:

Musk on birth rates https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EPrNsxf-AUY


JD Vance: “I want more babies in the United States” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23XJ2SqI8FA


RFK, Jr. on “healthy kids” and COVID https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/well/rfk-jr-cdc-children-covid-vaccines-data.html


Origin of Eugenics https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/origins-eugenics


History of Eugenics https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/educational-resources/timelines/eugenics


Galton on “selection” 1883 https://archive.org/details/cu31924028925332/page/n325/mode/2up


Eugenics in the 1920s https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20speople-improving-the-nations-stock-for-great-and-greater-britain-eugenics-in-the-1920s/


Eugenics Record Office https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/368657


‘National IQ’ datasets: https://osf.io/26vfb_v1


Dark Money https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/215462/dark-money-by-jane-mayer/


Merchants of Doubt https://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/


Collins Family profile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnd1Taw4CEE&t=174s


Polygenic embryo selection https://theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/science-fictions-are-outpacing-science


Bo Winegard defending race science https://www.aporiamagazine.com/p/sasha-gusev-is-wrong?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web


Winegard accused of eugenics https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/03/12/assistant-professor-says-hes-been-fired-because-he-dared-talk-about-human-population


William Shockley on Firing Line https://youtu.be/7JOIqkh2ms8?si=rxH8Ym7_4SU0PYPR


Richard Haier on Lex Fridman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9RxrsvcS-k


Peter Singer on disabled newborns https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2017/04/now-peter-singer-argues-that-it-might-be-okay-to-rape-disabled-people

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