I tried to  explain what was happening, but at the end, I could tell that he was still in a fog. You said that low IQ was not the cause of their inability to be “good soldiers”. IQ tests are more accurate than personal anecdotes. Writing home to his fiancee, Hamilton (2015: 18) wrote to her that Gupton’s dogtags “provide him with endless fascination.”. Murdoch was then found to have schizophrenia and was sent on home medical discharge. Bova's editorial, while not as cynically eliminationist, still pretends that the only answer is perpetuation of a distinction that doesn't exist biologically. Gupton was only given menial jobs by this sergeant. There is at least one great story he missed (which I can’t think of now) but it’s been anthologized, if I’m not mistaken. we pride ourselves on producing the best ebooks you can find. Kornbluth, Pohl states that "The Marching Morons" is a direct sequel to "The Little Black Bag": it is easy to miss this, as "Bag" is set in the contemporary present while "Morons" takes place several centuries from now, and there is no character who appears in both stories. I tell you who else is an idiot.
The phenomenon we at first imagine may not even exist. And people keep pushing them. Kornbluth, Pohl states that "The Marching Morons" is a direct sequel to "The Little Black Bag": it is easy to miss this, as "Bag" is set in the contemporary present while "Morons" takes place several centuries from now, and there is no character who appears in both stories. Hamilton (2015: 45) then describes another member of “The Muck Squad” but in a different platoon who “was unfazed by the dictatorial authority of his superiors.” When an officer screamed at him for not speaking or acting correctly he would then give a slightly related answer.

I was correcting that statement and it was not in reference to whether you thought personal anecdotes trumped IQ tests but instead to whether IQ is can be considered causal in this instance. But you’re not in the military. Their throws were pathetic little trajectories” (Hamilton, 2015: 62). “The Rocket of 1955” (Stirring Science Stories, 1939)

It’s strange to me that Korbluth and Pohl collaborated together since their writing styles seem almost polar opposites. But, in the wrong way. The other men in his group would immediately sprint, tiring themselves outs, they could not—according to Hamilton—“grasp or apply what the sergeants told them about the need to maintain a steady pace (not too slow, not too fast) throughout the entire mile.”, Hamilton then discusses another instance in which sergeants told a soldier that there was a cat behind the garbage can and to pick up a cat. What did they say and how is it relevant to my argument? "Myers takes issue with the obvious elitism of the story, as well as its attempt to ground the intellectual class distinction in biology. This decision was made by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Lyndon B. Johnson. saying “IQ” rather than “intelligence” or whatever sounds (pseudo) scientific and therefore confuses dumb people like melo and peepee. IQ is not a thing like the intramolecular, or intraatomic energy of particles, aka temperature. Comment by Thomas Parker - February 6, 2018 7:06 pm. It’s been a couple of decades since I read The Space Merchants, but I remember it as being a very pointed satire, and I would think in this era of “Mad Men,” it would just as relevant. Very interesting.

His Share of Glory: The Complete Short Fiction of C. M. Kornbluth. The Best of Fredric Brown

Required fields are marked *. Bruh, I’m not making hereditarian claims. Never mind, though: newspapers have periodically been noting this phenomenon for years. Also I’ll be waiting on that response. You summarize the future society as “no longer car[ing] about thinking all that deeply about anything”, but the story is really arguing that, if unintelligent people keep having more children than intelligent people, the human race will become less intelligent. “The Remorseful” (Star Science Fiction Stories No. The Best of Edmond Hamilton Dude my argument doesn’t rest on whether the tests were constructed purposefully to the creator’s biases or not. Give them fair opportunities. If the AFQT has a .8 correlation to IQ like you stated then the former predicts the latter to some degree. We do not need IQ tests to identify such individuals who clearly suffer from learning disabilities and other abnormalities (Sigel, 1989). Their mental disabilities are why they score low on IQ tests and subsequently why they are not good soldiers.

if rr were in basic training he would talk to arnold at night. “Most of the men failed to get any points at all because they were disqualified for getting up on their knees. What does my being anonymous have to do with my arguments? It appears that there is indeed a law (10 USC Sec. I’d be Special Training, too!

The test used while the US was in Vietnam was the AFQT (Armed Forces Qualifying Test) (Maier, 1993: 1). When asked if he had shaved one morning, he “replied with a rambling of pronouncements about body odor and his belief that the sergeants were stealing his soap and shaving cream” (Hamilton, 2015: 45).
If you are comparing this work Rich Playboys, Mad Scientists, and Venusian Monsters: The Best of Stanley Weinbaum by James McGlothlin

In fact, I’d rank it just below The Left Hand of Darkness as one of the greatest science-fiction novels ever written. The sea-bound society that has developed on these ships only has legends about “land dwellers.” Impending disaster forces one of the ships to head inland as a last ditch effort, but with great fear and trepidation. a significant text string to help us to locate the error. This fallacy was a classic argument for eugenics, and in the early 20th century it led to atrocities in the US like involuntary sterilizations of people who were judged to be “inferior” based on their IQ scores, mental health or race. For an interesting and insightful take on science fiction done in an original voice, I can’t recommend The Best of C. M. Kornbluth enough. Cyril M. Kornbluth (July 2, 1923 – March 21, 1958) was an American science fiction author and a notable member of the Futurians.

you, please include your email address. In relation, have you seen modern heresy’s new critique on ken Richardson? I was intrigued by Thomas Parker’s reaction to The Syndic–it’s always been one of my favorites. But it’s not a completely hopeless story, for all of that. send you an email message telling you why. A true classic. Kornbluth’s long time friend and collaborator Frederik Pohl (1919-2013) served as editor; he also provided an introduction and brief intros to each story. But these men would hesitate in order to study the arros and think about which way to go. There aren’t many stories from the 1950s that can do that any more. I reserve the right to prohibit all comments, to delete or edit all or any portion of any comment made, and to ban any commenter or IP address from making any comments to this blog. (It was sung to the tune of the famous Jody songs, as in “Ain’t no use goin’ home/Jody’s got your girls and gone.”). AFQT is a “proxy” for IQ. Do you mean between two different tests? It’s not irrelevant though. A Shaper of Myths: The Best of Cordwainer Smith by James McGlothlin This report is anonymous. Afrocentrist Debunked, Should 'Race' Be a Factor in Dating? | Southern Italians and Ashkenazi Jews: What Is the Connection? Gupton was also not able to make his bunk to Army standards, so Hamilton and another soldier did it for him. (2004, 28), The laws in some countries, such as the United States, do not allow individuals with IQs below 80 to serve in the military because they lack adequate trainability. But he was a great boot-shiner, having the shiniest boots in the barracks. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. I also think the two of the other three Pohl/Kornbluth novel collaborations are very strong (Gladiator-at-Law, Wolfsbane) though Search the Sky is an oddly half-baked collage derivative of some of their other, better works – it’s not awful, but it’s not necessary. They’re not as different as I’m sure you’d like to believe but either way the analogy stands. In any case, one’s IQ is not causal in regard to their inability to, say, become a soldier as other factors are important, not a reified number we call ‘IQ.’ Their IQ scores were not their downfalls. Our previous coverage of the Classics of Science Fiction line includes (in order of publication): Smugglers, Alien Vampires, and Dark Dimensions: The Best of C. L. Moore by James McGlothlin For some random reason, this post from the Scienceblogs era Pharyngula, “There are no marching morons“, is getting some sudden attention, so I thought I’d bring it here. “Shark Ship”, with its intensely pessimistic view of human nature, remains his most disturbing story, in my view. “Whitewashing” Vs Anti-Semitism! So the military redid the AFQT scoring in 1980 and the head psychometrician of one of the major branches of the military gave the results to Herrnstein and Murray for use in “The Bell Curve.”. Your email address will not be published. It was true that most of us were unimpressive physical specimens—overweight or scrawny or just plain unhealthy-looking, with unappealing faces and awkward ways of walking and running.