Can progressives be convinced that genetics matters?
People strongly want to believe that intelligence doesn&#x27;t have a strong genetic component, I think mainly for moral reasons.<p>If not everyone can be expected to learn and be proficient in everything due to genetics, then suddenly <i>merit itself</i> is also based strongly on luck, and now the belief that people with greater merit should have better lives no longer seems fair. Intelligence is now just another gift to the fortunate who are destined to have a better life. How can you feel good about using your considerable advantages to the detriment of others if your merit is the result of a jackpot paid out at birth?<p>Even if you believe that with enough time and perseverance you can overcome your lack of intelligence compared to another person, you have to ignore the fact that having to spend more time on something (but actually, everything) than everyone else will put you further and further and further behind everyone else in a way that compounds quickly.<p>Modern society is ostensibly structured this way: the smart will win. If intelligence becomes genetic, it can instead be said that &quot;the lucky will win.&quot; And successful people desperately want that to not be the case, because they want to believe they deserve their considerable advantages. And they want to be guilt free about the miserable lives some people lead; it&#x27;s <i>their fault</i> for being stupid, after all.