4 chapters across the catalog
Adam Curry and Mo Facts read through a extensive list of donors, executive producers, and "boosters" who supported the show during its hiatus. They highlight a donation from a family in Seattle who credited the show with giving them the confidence to research medical choices. Mo discusses his background in music production and the possibility of releasing instrumentals through Podcasting 2.0.
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) is discussed as having significant loopholes regarding "gene-lining." This leads to a history of the IQ test, originally developed by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon in 1905 to help struggling students. The hosts argue that the test was quickly corrupted for use at Ellis Island and in the military to create erroneous racial hierarchies and gatekeep elite opportunities.
Charles Murray, co-author of The Bell Curve, discusses the "intractable" one-standard-deviation IQ gap between races. He acknowledges Thomas Sowell's "Flynn effect" argument but claims the gap has stopped narrowing since the 1970s. The hosts argue that "re-norming" tests and affirmative action policies reinforce the idea of inherent inferiority rather than addressing the root causes of the disparity.
College Board CEO David Coleman introduces the "adversity score," a metric designed to provide context on a student's social and economic background. The hosts criticize this as a "douchebag" approach that reinforces victimization rather than fixing the underlying issues in poor communities.
