Let me lay out my belief in a straightforward fashion. All of the below are well-established by rigorous science, though language varies from person to person and study to study.
On the Obviousness of Inequality
● What makes any human distinguishable from other humans can be deconstructed. For the purposes of this discussion, I will call these deconstructed components "traits."
● All human traits are measurable. That is, they can be quantified along a scale.
● This scale can be understood as having a "less desirable" end and a "more desirable" end.
● Some traits are universallydesirable. In other words, no one would honestly choose to have an IQ of 80 over one of 120. Similarly, there is no advantage to having an asymmetrical face.
● Other traits are contextuallydesirable. Consider height. Very tall heights are preferable for basketball, while mid-range heights are preferable for football. Shorter heights are preferable for gymnastics.
● Some traits can be highly influenced by effort (e.g. fitness level); others cannot (e.g. height). All traits can be affected by effort or environment to varying degrees, but genetics gives humans left and right limits for all traits.
● The aggregate of varying traits yields widely divergent performance on a huge variety of tasks that are valued by humans.
● Traits leading to high-performance are not equally distributed. In other words, life does not operate like a character sheet where you have a certain number of points to distribute. It's a roll of the dice, with some people getting good rolls over and over, and others getting much less.
On the Misguided Pursuit of Equality
The above interplay of genetics, alongside complex environment interaction, is extremely complex.
Humans have not yet invented methods to alter genetic ranges of trait desirability, although methods to alter performance inside of said range are well established. In other words, you can read extensively and work on math and logic problems and your effective IQ will be boosted toward the higher end of its natural range, but you will not exceed your genetic limits. Similarly, one can focus on sprinting and drop 100m times, but it unless genetic gifts are present, this person will not be an Olympic sprinter.
Given the above, it is unrealistic to tell a 5'6" teenager that his hard work will lead him to the NBA. Sure, it has happened, but the odds are very slim. Similarly, it is unrealistic to tell a person of average IQ that pursuit of his dreams of a PhD in particle physics is wise.
Any programs that systematically reward under-performance in a given, defined field, for any reason, are counter-productive, and only serve to slow the advancement of the human condition.
I find all of the above to be obvious. In fact, I think the vast majority of people find the above to be obvious. Unfortunately, for various reasons arising largely out of social justice crusades founded on politcal dogma, we must ignore these elephants in the room and sacrifice reason on the alter of political correctness.
