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The Bell Curve

Shaun · commentary · Watch on YouTube

Psychology & human behaviorEvolution & geneticsSocial issues & culture

What it is

Shaun's roughly 2.7-hour video essay on The Bell Curve. It covers intelligence, the g factor, IQ tests, IQ versus environment and the politics behind the book, with a critical reading of the sources.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN commenters most often cite it as a thorough, well-sourced debunking of The Bell Curve and of popular IQ claims.

  • 6 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2019, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “The video is well-researched; I've been a long-time fan of the creator for putting out quality stuff.”

    Well-researched explanation of problems with IQ and The Bell Curve

    AgentME, 2020-01 · Strong recommendation · in “Life Is Driven by Network Effects”

  2. “It took a good chunk of my Sunday to get through it, but it was really enjoyable”

    Two-hour essay on psychometrics, heritability and g-factor using The Bell Curve as case study

    tjnaylor, 2023-04 · Strong recommendation · in “American IQ Scores Have Rapidly Dropped, Proving the 'Reverse Flynn Effect'”

  3. “I think this video [1], does a good job of attacking a lot of race science and intelligence”

    Thorough critique of race science and intelligence claims, 2.5 hours

    wdbbdw, 2020-01 · Recommendation · in “'Cancel Culture' Comes to Science?”

  4. “I'd very much recommend "The Bell Curve"[1], a breakdown of the book of the same name.”

    Breakdown of the book and how IQ was constructed

    sascha_sl, 2022-07 · Recommendation · in “University Profs' Criticism Led to Retraction of Math Paper on Gender (2018)”

  5. “informative and well-researched (articles and books are cited)”

    Informative, well-researched, cited, entertaining long video

    geraldalewis, 2023-04 · Recommendation · in “American IQ Scores Have Rapidly Dropped, Proving the 'Reverse Flynn Effect'”

  6. “If you want an hours-long discussion of that in the context of the book, The Bell Curve, have a look at”

    Hours-long discussion of IQ's validity in context of the book

    pfooti, 2024-11 · Recommendation · in “Hey, wait – is employee performance Gaussian distributed?”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: the bell curve, iq, psychometrics, race science, heritability

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