"The Pressure to Conform is Enormous": Steve Hsu on Affirmative Action, Assimilation and IQ Outliers

Steve Hsu is a Professor of Theoretical Physics and Professor of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. He returns to the CSPI Podcast for a wide-ranging discussion of various personal, political, and technical topics, including his attempted cancelation from Michigan State, thoughts on Russia-Ukraine, affirmative action, macroeconomics, and why top physics talents prefer theoretical over practical pursuits (If you haven’t seen Steve’s first appearance on the podcast, you can watch it here: /   • The Future of Humanity Is IVF Babies ...  )

The conversation begins with Steve explaining what it was like growing up one of the few Asian kids in a predominantly white town and reflecting on the nature of assimilation. He and Richard continue their discussion of the Russia-Ukraine war and European geopolitics before moving on to affirmative action and civil rights law. They talk about the Harvard Asian case, the highly subjective nature of legal decisions, and whether employment markets are rational enough for the college degree to lose value if universities scrap standardized tests.

Next, Steve tells Richard about his attempted cancelation from Michigan State, where he was pressured to step down from his role as Vice President of Research after a leftist student group attacked him on Twitter over his blog posts and podcasts. They talk about the intrusion of activists into academia, and how this has negatively impacted the STEM fields and social sciences. This leads to a discussion of whether economics is a more valuable and rigorous social science than the others, and whether micro and macroeconomics are comparable or reconcilable.

In the last part of the podcast, Steve and Richard talk about what traits and dispositions lead some people to go against the crowd and resist conformity, and why the path to scientific and technological innovation is laden with disbelief and ridicule from peers. Using the examples of Jeff Bezos and Richard Feynman, Steve explains how those with exceptionally high IQs are often able to effortlessly solve problems and optimize systems with little to no background or technical knowledge. They conclude by considering the possibility that policy should be oriented towards recognizing and rewarding the few geniuses and innovators whose work leads to disproportionate social and material gains. A transcript of the full conversation is available here: https://richardhanania.substack.com/p...

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00:00 American society, growing up as child of immigrants
18:43 Russia-Ukraine conflict (eve of invasion), geopolitical implications (China, India, Germany, EU)
38:32 Affirmative Action, Harvard case at SCOTUS
54:37 Woke leftists at university, destruction of meritocracy, STEM vs Social Justice, Sokal Hoax
1:25:11 Academic economics, 2008 credit crisis, Do Economists test theories?
1:33:13 Maverick thinking, Agreeableness, Aspergers, Pressure to conform
1:39:40 Far-tail intelligence, Jeff Bezos and Physics, progress in science and tech

Richard Hanania, “Lessons from Forecasting the Ukraine War.” https://richardhanania.substack.com/p...
Adam Tooze, “Putin’s Challenge to Western Hegemony.” https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/char...
Rob Lee. “Moscow’s Compellence Strategy.” https://www.fpri.org/article/2022/01/...
Anatoly Karlin. “Regathering of the Russian Lands.” https://akarlin.substack.com/p/regath...
Steve Hsu, “Joe Cesario on Police Decision Making and Racial Bias in Deadly Force Decisions (Manifold Episode #11).” https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2020/06...
Steve Hsu, “ManifoldOne Podcast Episode#3: Richard Hanania on Wokeness, Public Choice Theory, & Geostrategy.” https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2022/02...
Steve Hsu, "Manifold Podcast #6: Richard Sander on Affirmative Action, Mismatch Theory, and Academic Freedom.” https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2022/03...
Alan Sokal, “Sokal Hoax.” https://physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal...
Wikipedia, “Grievance Studies Affair (Sokal Squared).” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grievan...
Eric Kaufmann, “Academic Freedom in Crisis: Punishment, Political Discrimination, and Self-Censorship.” https://cspicenter.org/reports/academ...
Steve Hsu, “Bezos Quotes.” https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2013/10...