
Seth Walsh
The man in the mirror is my only threat
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TAILS using ChatGPT on a YouTube post to try and win a non-arguement. Moving the goal posts.
- IQ and parental wealth predict adult income at similar magnitudes (meta-analysis β≈.27 vs β≈.26). sciencedirect.com
- Only ~15-25 % of income variance is tied to IQ; the majority comes from education, social networks, luck, and inherited resources. ifstudies.org
- Higher family SES raises children’s IQ over time; environment and capital feed cognition, not just genes. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Adoption into richer, cognitively stimulating homes lifts average IQ by 10-15 points; child IQ shows modest positive correlation with adoptive parents, not zero. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govpnas.org
- “70 % of lottery winners go broke” is folklore; longitudinal data find bankruptcy rates below 2 % and lasting gains in life satisfaction. forbes.comacademic.oup.com
- About 16 % of NFL players file bankruptcy within 12 years; the driver is short earning windows and poor financial planning, not measured low IQ. abi.org
- Post-war wealth shocks level inequality briefly; asset ownership, policy, and social capital quickly reinstate class gaps—far from a one-generation IQ reset. wid.world
Long-term success is multicausal: cognitive ability matters, but so do capital, institutions, non-cognitive skills, and chance.
- IQ and parental socioeconomic status predict adult income at comparable strength; meta-analysis finds no “overwhelming” IQ edge researchgate.net
- Family resources boost cognition across childhood; adoption into higher-SES homes raises mean IQ ≈ 10-15 points and shows modest positive links with adoptive-parent IQ—not zero pnas.orgpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- “70 % of lottery winners go broke” is urban legend; long-run studies show winners largely retain wealth and report higher life satisfaction, with bankruptcy rare time.com
- Among NFL retirees only 15-16 % file bankruptcy within 12 years—nowhere near 70–80 %, and earnings level doesn’t predict who fails nber.org
- Wartime wealth destruction produced temporary equality; capital ownership and policy—not IQ—drove the quick rebound in class gaps (see Piketty’s 20th-century data) en.wikipedia.org
Outcome drivers are multifactor: cognitive ability, family capital, education quality, social networks, policy, and chance—not IQ alone.
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