The brilliant, influential anthropologist, Henry Harpending, sadly died yesterday after being unable to recover from a recent stroke. He was co-author of the important book, The 10,000 Year Explosion. with the humorous and equally brilliant Gregory Cochran. Together, they have stood against the goliath of leftist ideology which insists no evolution has occurred in human groups over the past 10,000 years. Showing that the radical changes in lifestyle brought about by the Neolithic Revolution, particularly by agriculture and state monopolization of violence and domestication of the populace, they have enabled us to answer questions relating to differences in IQ, time preference and other socio-biological differences which create major differences in culture. Yes, geography is a factor, but Henry described a beautiful dance in which genes, geography and all other significant factors influenced one another. How sad that those who build on his work are shunned, such as Nicholas Wade's controversial A Troublesome Inheritance, which detonated the foundation of the mainstream and saw that he lost his job as science editor of the New York Times.
These men are no racists. Henry Harpending was a scientist and cared too much about others and, especially about empirical facts, to let baseless accusations from the magisterium stop him. He described himself as a bleeding heart libertarian to me and you can still hear him describe both his journey to libertarian thinking and the importance of genetic realism in his talk at the H.L. Mencken Club. The facts are not to be feared, as they inform our decisions. Truth and freedom are the friends of peace; its enemies are ignorance and coercion.
RIP Henry. You were a gent and knightly scientist in an era of PC tenure-seeking.
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