Meritocracy and Political Leadership in China

Putting this tweet thread here for future reference. If you read this blog you may want to follow me on Twitter as I sometimes say things there that might be of interest.

In my conversation with @RichardHanania on his podcast we discussed meritocracy and political leadership in PRC. This short video gives a good overview of how it works. Keep in mind CCP ~ 100M people or ~10% of adult population! 1/4https://t.co/dgLrW25fM8

— steve hsu (@hsu_steve) July 16, 2022

PRC civil service exam appears highly g-loaded and is taken by 1-2M people each year. Further promotion depends on performance over ~20y timescale, purportedly monitored by a dedicated and independent I/O sub-org. 2/4https://t.co/W5YC2juWRI

— steve hsu (@hsu_steve) July 16, 2022

For example, Yuan Jiajun, frmr gov. of Zhejiang province and Central Committee member, is a PhD in Aero Eng and ran the manned spaceflight program. Resumes of top PRC leaders are qualitatively different from those of western politicians... 3/4https://t.co/CWqjnLdfyT

— steve hsu (@hsu_steve) July 16, 2022

Academic studies of how this all works yield conflicting results, see e.g. https://t.co/lFrLv7O7xJ

However most people familiar with the process believe that the CPC *is trying* to promote meritocracy even at the highest levels of government. 4/4

— steve hsu (@hsu_steve) July 16, 2022

Sweet Tweet Treats

For mysterious reasons, this old tweet has attracted almost 200k impressions in the last day or so:

Nature, Nurture, and Invention: analysis of patent, SES, IQ data from Finland. "IQ matters more than all family background variables combined" ... "IQ direct effect ... almost five times as large as that of having a high-income father"https://t.co/O6txxW4tTL pic.twitter.com/YN8EWzWqcZ

— steve hsu (@hsu_steve) December 13, 2017

If you like that tweet, this one might be of interest as well:

Low SES does not decrease heritability of cognitive ability (N=300k). PNAS, editor J. Heckman, 24k twins! "largest study to date... matched birth and school administrative records... no evidence of SES moderation of genetic influence on test scores..." https://t.co/KGIFiwzOrf pic.twitter.com/rHvqA1eUSa

— steve hsu (@hsu_steve) December 19, 2017

I'm always amazed that so many people have strong opinions on topics like Nature vs Nurture, How the World Works, How Civilization Advances (or does not), without having examined the evidence.

Me and Twitter

No, I'm not on Twitter. I don't need to be immersed in distracting stimulus -- the web is bad enough. My thoughts are already shallow; don't force my brain to swim in even shallower water :-)

I met Twitter founder Evan Williams a few years ago, before Twitter was anywhere near a big thing. He told me about Blogger, which he sold to Google, and then the inevitable "So what are you working on now?" question came up.

He described Twitter to me, and two thoughts entered my mind. The first shows I am old, or out of touch, or have no feel for Web 2.0 consumer startups: "Who would use that?" I said to myself.

The second thought, which I actually verbalized, turns out to be a good question (still unanswered) and shows I may have VC potential: "How are you going to monetize that?" :-)

Here is a great talk by Williams about his podcasting startup Odeo, which somehow spun out Twitter. Note it's from 2005, but his insights on entrepreneurship are great; he's a low-key midwestern guy like me (from Nebraska).


Nevertheless, this Twitter feed cracked me up today:
http://twitter.com/shitmydadsays

"You need to flush the toilet more than once...No, YOU, YOU specifically need to. You know what, use a different toilet. This is my toilet."
1:07 PM Aug 23rd from web

"Don't touch the bacon, it's not done yet. You let me handle the bacon, and i'll let you handle..what ever it is you do. I guess nothing."
11:15 AM Aug 22nd from web

"Your mother made a batch of meatballs last night. Some are for you, some are for me, but more are for me. Remember that. More. Me."
8:57 AM Aug 21st from web

"Your brother brought his baby over this morning. He told me it could stand. It couldn't stand for shit. Just sat there. Big let down."
9:35 AM Aug 20th from web

"Love this Mrs. Dash. The bitch can make spices... Jesus, Joni (my mom) it's a joke. I was making a joke! Mrs. Dash isn't even real dammit!"
9:28 AM Aug 19th from web

"The dog is not bored, it's a fucking dog. It's not like he's waiting for me to give him a fucking rubix cube. He's a god damned dog."
10:43 AM Aug 18th from web

"I didn't live to be 73 years old so I could eat kale. Don't fix me your breakfast and pretend you're fixing mine."
11:24 AM Aug 3rd from web