Jack Arcalon

why are there no Afribbean nerds?


   First, I want to make clear I don't have a racist bone in my body. In fact many of my best friends are disadvantaged minorities.
Who am I kidding, not that many of my best friends are disadvantaged minorities.
The USA has two separate but equal cultures. To avoid controversy let's call them Eurasian and Afribbean. Actually there are more cultures but let's ignore them too.

The difference between them is not like Japan and Denmark, but like Mars and Venus.
They speak similar languages but are different from each other. Immensely, incredibly, unbelievably different. Though some parts (desire for status, conformity effects, porn interest) may not be.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I personally couldn't "make it" in Afribbean society.
We know Eurasians have done many evil things, but could Afribbeans be indirectly responsible for the division?

A polite theory is that Afribbeans are generalists, while Eurasians are specialists. Some Eurasian genes are 'broken', mutated versions of Afribbean ones.
Eurasians can carry thoughts too far, get more obsessed, and function better in small but complex interest groups of similarly afflicted individuals. They have longer time horizons, but can more easily reinvent themselves.
That type of focused insanity can stimulate economic growth. The first home of humanity, where our ancestors evolved, is now on the periphery. Afribbean languages have the most complex grammars but the smallest vocabularies.

As far as I can see, there is only one important difference between the groups: Afribbeans are MUCH less likely to be nerds. The only one I met was severely autistic.
They say that Afribbeans are genetically less intelligent, as defined by Eurasians. But perhaps the two groups are optimized for different environments. Most Eurasians wouldn't last a day with a tribe of Afribbean veldt hunters. It's a matter of strength, reflexes, endurance, stamina, coordination. A weakness can be considered a strength and vice versa. Being a nerd is a weakness in Afribbean circles. Unfortunate but unalterable, and I say that as someone who prefers to date black women.

Something that others may call racism does exist.
Past and present temperaments mean the two groups couldn't relax together. They don't know the norms and assumptions, and have different interests. Hidden rules are hard.
A very different society would invent common interfaces anyone could use, without covering up their genetic diversity.
The only way to transcend racism, if such a thing were possible, would be to go beyond it. Instead of race, people might be divided into a million categories - interests, obsessions, experience, skills, intelligence personality types.





The best hard SF novel ever written: Infinite Thunder by Jack Arcalon.
Buy the book
Read the chapters


09-3/12-5/14-8/18-12/22