Harris, Christakis, Damore and the Ladies

Sam Harris talks to Nicholas Christakis about his new book, Blueprint. (I read the book. It is very ambitious. The first half did not convince me but I liked the second half.)

At the end, Harris nudges Christakis to comment on the Damore case,  which Harris feels is connected to what Christakis writes about the failed attempt in Israeli communes to raise children separate from their mothers.

Listen closely when Damore comes up. To me, it sounds like Harris is hearing Christakis saying things he doesn't actually say.

The more choice and opportunities people have, the more impact individual interests will have on the distribution of careers etc. This is analogous to the somewhat counterintuitive conclusion of heritability studies. Once you accept it, it is obvious and inescapable.

BUT what influences individual interests? Christakis talks about founder effects in astrophysics and the fact that pink isn't a girly colour in India. But Harris only seems to hear that if biological Women get to choose really really freely, they will choose being stay-at-home moms and not programming.