Comment by unfortunate_conflict_of_data on The Fear of Common Knowledge · 2008-07-11T04:25:00.000Z · LW · GW

the abrupt end to the jobs of Larry Summers and James Watson

As far as I'm aware, Summers merely claimed more variance in intelligence among males ("more prodigies, more idiots" as Pinker says) which is something a number of sane people have argued for. On the other hand, Watson seemed to claim an innate inferiority among black people. He certainly seemed to be on dubious ground.

(But it's possible to be charitable to Watson and interpret him as only claiming environmental causes for an intelligence difference. He also later hinted he had been misquoted.)