HBD Fundamentals

I’ve been meaning to put this page together for some time. Every once in a while, we are faced with the task of explaining (or defending) the fundamentals of Human BioDiversity (HBD), such as genetic inheritance, the reality and significance of IQ, the reality of biological sex and race differences. I often found myself digging up references that demonstrate these basic principles. Now, I’m going to put these basal references in a single, easy follow list.

This is a non-exhaustive list of important reading and videos reviewing the evidence we have for biological human differences. This is the “required reading” so to speak, and is meant to be a fairly quick and dirty introduction for the newcomer to the topic that is also easy to follow and navigate. I will continue to update this list as time goes on.

The next time you’re in a debate with a blank-slatist or other HBD-denier, just point them to this page. 😉

Table of Contents:

Start with (key reading):

Top of the list: Pinker, Steven (2002). The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. Viking.

Harris, Judith Rich (1998). The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do. Free Press. Revised and Updated edition, 2009.

Harris, Judith Rich (2006). No Two Alike: Human Nature and Human Individuality. W.W. Norton.

Cochran, Gregory & Harpending, Henry (2009). The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution. Basic Books.

Frost, Peter (2011). Human nature or human natures? Futures, 43, 740–748.

Clark, Gregory (2014). The Son Also Rises: Surnames and the History of Social Mobility. Princeton University Press.



On biological sex differences:

A video of a debate between Steven Pinker and Elizabeth Spelke – Edge: THE SCIENCE OF GENDER AND SCIENCE (2005)

The video from the above site has been removed, but can be found here. The above text contains a transcript of the debate and each presenter’s slides.