Ill Conceived

• Eugenics, IQ, and The Bell Curve

  Charles Murray & Richard Herrnstein's book 1994 The Bell Curve caused tremendous controversy on its publication by positing a link between intelligence and race. But this certainly wasn't the first time someone had made this argument, nor would it be the last. This week, Josh and June take a look at the foundation of the eugenics movement in North America, track its close relationship with the development of IQ testing, and discover some surprising links to German, Italian, and American fascism. ***REMINDER: WE HAVE A PATREON NOW! We record bonus mailbag episodes and release them at the beginning of each week. Come check us out at Patreon.com/illconceived!*** ***WE WANT YOUR THOUGHTS FOR THE MAILBAG! Send an email with feedback about this week's episode to [email protected]*** EPISODE ART: Charles Murray, co-author of The Bell Curve. Murray, a Harvard and MIT-trained political scientist, is strongly opposed to social welfare programs and has made dismantling the welfare state a central goal of his project. He has been in residence at the American Enterpise Institute since 1990 and currently holds the F. A. Hayek Chair Emeritus in Cultural Studies there. SOURCES: “Christianity and Eugenics: The Place of Religion in the British Eugenics Education Society and the American Eugenics Society, c.1907–1940” by Graham J. Baker (Social History of Medicine, 2014) “The Pioneer Fund: Financier of Fascist Research” by Steven J. Rosenthal (American Behavioral Scientist,1995) “The Pioneer Fund: Bankrolling the Professors of Hate” by Adam Miller (The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 1994) “Revealed: International ‘race science’ network secretly funded by US tech boss” by David Pegg, Tom Burgis, Hannah Devlin and Jason Wilson (The Guardian, October 16, 2024) “A Company Says It Can Predict Your Baby’s IQ Before Birth. But Where’s the Science?” by Darren Orf (Popular Mechanics, August 7, 2025) The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life by Charles A. Murray and Richard Herrnstein (Free Press, 1994) Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech and our Fight for an Independent Future by Anita Say Chan (University of California Press, 2025) “The Pronatalism of Silicon Valley” by Emma Waters (The Heritage Foundation, August 22, 2024) “The influencers who want the world to have more babies - and say the White House is on their side” by Stephanie Hegarty (BBC, April 1, 2025) “The Education of a Libertarian” by Peter Thiel (Cato Unbound, April 13, 2009) FOLLOW THE SHOW: Website: illconceivedpodcast.com Bluesky: ‪@illconceivedpodcast.com Tumblr: @illconceivedpod FOLLOW JOSH: Website: joshboerman.com Bluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.world Other podcast: The Worst of All Possible Worlds Stream: Traditional Scrench FOLLOW JUNE: Bluesky: @junlper.beer Other podcast: Kill The Computer Writing: June's Substack ILL CONCEIVED THEME SONG BY: Caleb (Linktree / Bluesky)

  --------  

  1:51:26

  --------

  1:51:26
• PREVIEW - Mailbag & Chill: Balaji Srinivasan

  THIS IS A PREVIEW OF A BONUS MAILBAG EPISODE. For access to the full length version of this and every other weekly bonus mailbag episode, go to Patreon.com/illconceived -------------------------- NYC Subway's Broadway-Lafayette station is now full of apparently eugenicist ads for an IVF and genetic testing company called Nucleus. We're talking about it, plus: The parallels between Balaji Srinivasan's ideas and the novels of Neal Stephenson Other sci-fi that predicts other futures Electrical engineers and why they're Like That A screenshot of the embryo selection grid on Nucleus's website: https://imgur.com/a/bfV9Hay

  --------  

  20:31

  --------

  20:31
• What is Childhood?

  The White House will likely soon release a large set of documents about convicted pedophile and human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein further detailing the depths of his crimes. Alongside this, a line of rhetoric seems to be developing in certain right-wing circles: although what Epstein did was morally abominable, not all of it was criminal, and it's certainly categorically different from preying on "real children." But what exactly is childhood, and why are certain reactionaries making this argument now? This week, June and Josh look into the history of the concept of childhood in the United States to try and figure out why. ***REMINDER: WE HAVE A PATREON NOW! We record bonus mailbag episodes and release them at the beginning of each week. Come check us out at Patreon.com/illconceived!*** ***WE WANT YOUR THOUGHTS FOR THE MAILBAG! Send an email with feedback about this week's episode to [email protected]*** EPISODE ART: Richard Hanania, a writer and online right-wing personality whose work includes 2023's The Origins of Woke, published by HarperCollins under their Broadside Books imprint. Hanania is a co-author of Project 2025, previously wrote for white supremacists publications under the pen name Richard Hoste, and recently wrote about how pedophilia is a moral panic. AUDIO CLIPS: 3:11 – Megyn Kelly speaking about Jeffrey Epstein in a recent episode of The Megyn Kelly Show 1:05:01 – "Jailbait," a song released by Olivia Nuzzi under the pseudonym "Livvy" in 2009 when she was 16 years old 1:14:32 – Neil Sedaka performs "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen" on American Bandstand in 1963 FURTHER LISTENING: The Worst of All Possible Worlds episode about Fireproof (Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Pocket Casts) SOURCES: Republican Wants to Loosen Child Labor Laws Why is the teen birth rate falling? Child Labor Laws - Facts and Misconceptions Injuries, death and abuse: The disturbing reality behind Ohio’s rollback child labor laws A Brief History of Education in the United States Epstein files: Who else was mentioned? Hulk Hogan Awarded $115 Million in Privacy Suit Against Gawker The U.S. Fertility Decline Is Not Due to the Drop in Teen Pregnancies Age of Consent Through the Years in the United States. Hitler, Demi Moore, and Other "Pedophiles" FOLLOW THE SHOW: Website: illconceivedpodcast.com Bluesky: ‪@illconceivedpodcast.com Tumblr: @illconceivedpod FOLLOW JOSH: Website: joshboerman.com Bluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.world Other podcast: The Worst of All Possible Worlds Stream: Traditional Scrench FOLLOW JUNE: Bluesky: @junlper.beer Other podcast: Kill The Computer Writing: June's Substack ILL CONCEIVED THEME SONG BY: Caleb (Linktree / Bluesky)

  --------  

  1:30:38

  --------

  1:30:38
• PREVIEW - Mailbag & Chill: Matt Yglesias

  THIS IS A PREVIEW OF A BONUS MAILBAG EPISODE. For access to the full length version of this and every other weekly bonus mailbag episode, go to Patreon.com/illconceived -------------------------- Dr. Oz expects a Trump baby boom in 2026. We're talking about it. Plus, we read your mail from the Matt Yglesias episode, including: Regional visas in Australia and how they compare to Matt Yglesias's city visa concept The U.S. economy's shift toward health care as a core industry in response to an aging population Large families as a status signifier The difference between a Park & Ride and a Kiss & Ride

  --------  

  9:19

  --------

  9:19
• Balaji Srinivasan & Network Natalism

  Natalcon 2025 featured a number of high profile speakers whose speeches weren't recorded. One of these speakers was Balaji Srinivasan, a technologist who made his fortune in pre-pregnancy genetic testing and now preaches the gospel of cryptocurrency and decentralized "Network States" to anyone who will listen. This week, Josh and June discover what Balaji's whole deal is and end up deeply confused and repulsed by it. ***REMINDER: WE HAVE A PATREON NOW! We record bonus mailbag episodes and release them at the beginning of each week. Come check us out at Patreon.com/illconceived!*** ***WE WANT YOUR THOUGHTS FOR THE MAILBAG! Send an email with feedback about this week's episode to [email protected]*** EPISODE ART: Balaji Srinavasan at TechCrunch Disrupt. After graduating from Stanford and co-founding genetic testing company Counsyl, Srinivasan joined the venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz and later worked at Coinbase. In 2024 he founded Network School, an incubator in Malaysia that seeks to develop applications for his concept of the Network State. AUDIO CLIPS: 48:23 – Balaji Srinivasan's "Ultimate Exit" talk at Y Combinator Startup School in 2013 51:56 – ibid. 1:04:11 – Balaji Srinivasan's talk at Natal Conference 2023 1:10:45 – Balaji Srinivasan at Token2049 in Dubai, 2025 1:20:29 – ibid. 1:22:17 – ibid. SOURCES: SAAWA 2013 Honorees profile of Dr. Bhavani Srinivasan "NY Physician is Fellow of Royal College of Physicians in London" (The Indian Panorama, July 23, 2016) PDF of the March 2006 issue of State Magazine Balaji Srinivasan's LinkedIn profile Crunchbase profile of Counsyl MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 profile of Balaji Srinivasan "The Blockchain is the Internet of Money" by Tunku Varadarajan (The Wall Street Journal, September 22, 2017) "The Turnaround" by Balaji Srinivasan (Medium, April 16, 2018) Network School website Praxis Nation website FOLLOW THE SHOW: Website: illconceivedpodcast.com Bluesky: ‪@illconceivedpodcast.com Tumblr: @illconceivedpod FOLLOW JOSH: Website: joshboerman.com Bluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.world Other podcast: The Worst of All Possible Worlds Stream: Traditional Scrench FOLLOW JUNE: Bluesky: @junlper.beer Other podcast: Kill The Computer Writing: June's Substack ILL CONCEIVED THEME SONG BY: Caleb (Linktree / Bluesky)

  --------  

  1:42:20

  --------

  1:42:20

Więcej Wiadomości podcastów

Trendy w podcaście Wiadomości

O Ill Conceived