Someone with a lot of funding *really* has to make an extensive dataset on 100m dash times, 1500m dash times, DL/Squat/Bench 5RMs, pushups/pullups #, combined with a bunch of personal data (including the variables mentioned here) and training history. Even better if the data is longitudinal. We can’t keep relying on grip strength lol
The main reason Black people are especially overrepresented in sports is probably faster maturation time. Whites are super overrepresented in walk-ons, probably because they didn’t stand out in their youth but became stand-outs in college. Fast-twitch bias is great for certain sports but Blacks are most overrepresented in basketball which is more slow-twitch. They benefit from long limbs which give them higher jumps but they’re obviously beat in the height department by dinaric cave giants like Jokic.
Super interesting, love the high level cohen's d breakdown for AA in NFL / NBA.
On the gay steroid use, it's not implausible for there to be actual signal there, although I haven't seen any data to this effect. This is because network effects and smaller isolated groups spread trends and can drive large differentiation relative to the averages.
So the 3% figure for straight HS boys is corroborated several places, and if you do the next cut, it's majority football players - the small local group of football players is driving almost all of it. They all communicate with each other, see each other's workouts, talk to each other, etc.
It's not implausible that gay HS boys have a similarly tight clique and culture that could lead to higher steroid use than the overall mean, especially given the fact that gay men are generally more fitness and appearance oriented.
Any time one looks at time or adoption studies, one should look at foster children. As Rob Henderson showed, foster children massively underperform in academics. If genetics explains athletic success, there should be a measurable group of athletes who spend years in the foster care system.
I recall closely inspecting Wikipedia's "edit history" on its page for "the Warrior Gene"; All papers, and there were many, that linked it to being more present in Blacks got rapidly memory-holed – because this gene consistently predicts "violence" and "crime-proneness".
Meanwhile, "the Warrior Gene" (which is, again, more prevalent in Blacks) also predicts higher athletic prowess/sports performance – especially in high-pressure/high-stress contexts.
So, as Kevin Dutton argues regarding Psychopathy: Things are a lot complexer than black-and-white Manichaeanism.
I like the general tone of the post. However, your phrase with "lack a Dota 2 gene" reminded me of the dumb Twitter posts about certain groups "not having a pilot gene". Any reasonable person knows there is no "pilot gene", but a combination of say 5-10 traits or aptitudes could lead to one group outperforming another as pilots on average and at the high end of performance.
Also, the key factor in African dominance in the NBA is proportionally longer arms, even when matched with similarly tall Caucasian people.
Jews are not that different physically from most Mediterraneans like Italians or Greeks in a broad sense. The athletic differences are only in evidence compared to Northern Europeans, who are indeed taller and have bigger bodies.
The real dichotomy in non-boxing sports where "power"( which is admittedly vague) is an advantage is more Blacks/Whites vs East Asians/Hispanics. The proportion of Africans is much higher in top soccer teams than East Asians, or Hispanics with little Euro ancestry. If you doubt ethnic aptitudes for the NFL, see how many Polynesian players there have been compared to Hispanic ones.
>I like the general tone of the post. However, your phrase with "lack a Dota 2 gene" reminded me of the dumb Twitter posts about certain groups "not having a pilot gene".
That was essentially the point, that it wouldn’t make sense for Koreans to be genetically gifted at LoL but not Dota 2
Maybe I don't know enough about videogames, but maybe those two have different aptitudes or key skills? Like the basketball vs football advantage coefficients that you tabulated. Just spitballing.
Someone with a lot of funding *really* has to make an extensive dataset on 100m dash times, 1500m dash times, DL/Squat/Bench 5RMs, pushups/pullups #, combined with a bunch of personal data (including the variables mentioned here) and training history. Even better if the data is longitudinal. We can’t keep relying on grip strength lol
The main reason Black people are especially overrepresented in sports is probably faster maturation time. Whites are super overrepresented in walk-ons, probably because they didn’t stand out in their youth but became stand-outs in college. Fast-twitch bias is great for certain sports but Blacks are most overrepresented in basketball which is more slow-twitch. They benefit from long limbs which give them higher jumps but they’re obviously beat in the height department by dinaric cave giants like Jokic.
>The main reason Black people are especially overrepresented in sports is probably faster maturation time.
I honestly don't think that's a bad theory
Michael Mackelvie breaks down what makes elite athletes elite: Sight. (Also, the ability to predict.)
https://youtu.be/qIG1ZT3-a_A?is=xtKAwjx0ZsbazS9e
Fascinating.
Are you planning on doing similar breakdowns of artistic and musical ability?
No
Europeans are currently the dominant race in boxing. The best boxer of all time is Ukrainian.
Super interesting, love the high level cohen's d breakdown for AA in NFL / NBA.
On the gay steroid use, it's not implausible for there to be actual signal there, although I haven't seen any data to this effect. This is because network effects and smaller isolated groups spread trends and can drive large differentiation relative to the averages.
So the 3% figure for straight HS boys is corroborated several places, and if you do the next cut, it's majority football players - the small local group of football players is driving almost all of it. They all communicate with each other, see each other's workouts, talk to each other, etc.
It's not implausible that gay HS boys have a similarly tight clique and culture that could lead to higher steroid use than the overall mean, especially given the fact that gay men are generally more fitness and appearance oriented.
Any time one looks at time or adoption studies, one should look at foster children. As Rob Henderson showed, foster children massively underperform in academics. If genetics explains athletic success, there should be a measurable group of athletes who spend years in the foster care system.
I recall closely inspecting Wikipedia's "edit history" on its page for "the Warrior Gene"; All papers, and there were many, that linked it to being more present in Blacks got rapidly memory-holed – because this gene consistently predicts "violence" and "crime-proneness".
Meanwhile, "the Warrior Gene" (which is, again, more prevalent in Blacks) also predicts higher athletic prowess/sports performance – especially in high-pressure/high-stress contexts.
So, as Kevin Dutton argues regarding Psychopathy: Things are a lot complexer than black-and-white Manichaeanism.
https://www.psypost.org/elite-army-training-reveals-genetic-markers-for-resilience/
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240216-speed-or-endurance-how-your-genes-can-help-you-run-better
I like the general tone of the post. However, your phrase with "lack a Dota 2 gene" reminded me of the dumb Twitter posts about certain groups "not having a pilot gene". Any reasonable person knows there is no "pilot gene", but a combination of say 5-10 traits or aptitudes could lead to one group outperforming another as pilots on average and at the high end of performance.
Also, the key factor in African dominance in the NBA is proportionally longer arms, even when matched with similarly tall Caucasian people.
Jews are not that different physically from most Mediterraneans like Italians or Greeks in a broad sense. The athletic differences are only in evidence compared to Northern Europeans, who are indeed taller and have bigger bodies.
The real dichotomy in non-boxing sports where "power"( which is admittedly vague) is an advantage is more Blacks/Whites vs East Asians/Hispanics. The proportion of Africans is much higher in top soccer teams than East Asians, or Hispanics with little Euro ancestry. If you doubt ethnic aptitudes for the NFL, see how many Polynesian players there have been compared to Hispanic ones.
>I like the general tone of the post. However, your phrase with "lack a Dota 2 gene" reminded me of the dumb Twitter posts about certain groups "not having a pilot gene".
That was essentially the point, that it wouldn’t make sense for Koreans to be genetically gifted at LoL but not Dota 2
Maybe I don't know enough about videogames, but maybe those two have different aptitudes or key skills? Like the basketball vs football advantage coefficients that you tabulated. Just spitballing.
It's the same type of game -- MOBA. Some of the dota 2 designers worked on LoL.
“black people have ectomorphic physiques”
East Africans. But west Africans tend to be mesomorphic.
I believe they tend to be ectomorphic as well (relatively longer limbs with shorter torsos). Just slightly more muscle mass.