The Categories Were Made for Man, Not Man for the Categories (2014)
This is why I find movements like HBD so disgusting, despite their &quot;scientific&quot; origins. They start with a conclusion, the justification of race, and seek evidence to prove it. Of course, they find such evidence. Anyone looking to prove any conclusion can find evidence - even scientifically strong evidence. Heck, even psychics and supernaturalists have scientific evidence on their side! [1]<p>No matter the evidence though -- Categories aren&#x27;t facts.<p>&gt; <i>“If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have?” And the answer: “Four – because a tail isn’t a leg regardless of what you call it.”</i><p>Categories are useful _caches_ of information. We define &quot;limbs involved in the movement of the center of mass of a body&quot; as _legs_ because the concept is useful as a cached &quot;leg&quot;. If the concept stops being valuable, we will eventually purge it from the cache. The danger lies in mistaking the cached concept for the original value. [2] Race doesn&#x27;t predict anything; nowadays, the cached value, crime&#x2F;success&#x2F;happiness, is substituted for race, and the results are a reinforcing cycle. [3]<p>More relevant to HN, categories are why &quot;adversarial&quot; effects on many neural networks are so strong. NNs are training to categorize to exacting strategies - strategies not at all in mind by their creators. The apocryphal tank NN meme - that dataset bias led algorithms to detecting sunny skies instead of tanks -- comes to mind. [4] The story is made up, the moral somewhat muddled in the telling, but the surprise survives. What we reward and what we desire are separate things, and in the difference, the whole world lies.<p>[1]: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;slatestarcodex.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;04&#x2F;28&#x2F;the-control-group-is-out-of-control&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;slatestarcodex.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;04&#x2F;28&#x2F;the-control-group-is-ou...</a><p>[2]: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;slatestarcodex.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;05&#x2F;02&#x2F;causal-models-at-work&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;slatestarcodex.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;05&#x2F;02&#x2F;causal-models-at-work&#x2F;</a><p>[3]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.vox.com&#x2F;policy-and-politics&#x2F;2018&#x2F;3&#x2F;27&#x2F;15695060&#x2F;sam-harris-charles-murray-race-iq-forbidden-knowledge-podcast-bell-curve" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.vox.com&#x2F;policy-and-politics&#x2F;2018&#x2F;3&#x2F;27&#x2F;15695060&#x2F;s...</a><p>[4]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gwern.net&#x2F;Tanks" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gwern.net&#x2F;Tanks</a>