Grit + Technology + Eugenics = A Recipe for Profit and Control
HOW RACIST IS GRIT? READ ON
The Eugenicists of the 19th and 20th centuries used “science” and ideologies of “progress” to establish, and perpetuate racist, and classicist, diagnostic practices; notably viastandardized testing. Most creators of standardized testing were members of the Eugenics movements- so it follows that as standardized testing is gradually losing steam in the 21stcentury, and is being replaced by daily, ongoing, online game-based and competency-based assessments, that these new evaluations too are founded, and driven by, the Eugenics movement. In fact. Ken Previti has noted as much recently here.
These “new” tech-driven assessments are grounded in the SAME research developed by the SAME authors who created standardized testing in the early 1900’s. Many of us know by now the narrative of “grit” promulgated by Angela Duckworth has its scholarly roots in the Eugenics movement, as is documented by Duckworth’s own reliance on the work of Sir Galton as defense for her theory. Many have exposed Galton for what he was: A Eugenicist.
In other words, “the new eugenics will make great use of the identification and prediction powers of dataveillance to cull the ‘invalids’ from the herd, perhaps even before they exhibit any “invalid” traits.”
There’s more down this rabbit hole to explore around grit, eugenics and artificial intelligence. So let’s go:
First let’s begin with Sir Galton’s role model Dr. Raymond Cattell. Duckworth cites Cattell six times in her Grit theory.
Despite his direct and profound relationship to the eugenics movement and his recognition by the Nazi Party for the birth of The Beyondists, his work is benignly promoted in scholarly circles.
“Beyondism is based on the hypothetical premise that evolution of groups, like individuals, is based on ‘survival of the fittest’ … Cattell entertains controversial speculations about natural selection based not only on the separation of groups but also the restriction of “external” assistance to “failing” groups from “successful” ones, and by arguing for “survival of the Grit + Technology + Eugenics = A Recipe for Profit and Control | BustED Pencils: