Pinker on "What the Dog Saw."

Steven Pinker reviewed my new book "What the Dog Saw," in the New York Times Book Review this past Sunday. I sent the following letter to the editor in response:

It is always a pleasure to be reviewed by someone as accomplished as Stephen Pinker, even if—in his comments on “What the Dog Saw” (Nov. 15)—he is unhappy with my spelling (rightly!) and with the fact that I have not joined him on the lonely ice floe of IQ fundamentalism. But since football has been on my mind these days, I do want to make one small observation about his comments.

  In one of my essays, I wrote that the position a quarterback is taken in the college draft is not a reliable indicator of his performance as a professional. That was based on the work of the academic economists David Berri and Rob Simmons, who, in a paper published the Journal of Productivity Analysis,  analyze forty years of National Football League data. Their conclusion was that the relation between aggregate quarterback performance and draft position was weak. Further, when they looked at per-play performance—in other words, when they adjusted for the fact that highly drafted quarterbacks are more likely to play more downs—they found that quarterbacks taken in positions 11 through 90 in the draft actually slightly outplay those more highly paid and lauded players taken in the draft’s top ten positions. I found this analysis fascinating. Pinker did not. This quarterback argument, he wrote, “is simply not true.”

    I wondered about the basis of Pinker’s conclusion, so I e-mailed him, asking if he could tell me where to find the scientific data that would set me straight. He very graciously wrote me back. He had three sources, he said. The first was Steve Sailer. Sailer, for the uninitiated, is a California blogger with a marketing background who is best known for his belief that black people are intellectually inferior to white people. Sailer’s “proof” of the connection between draft position and performance is, I’m sure Pinker would agree, crude: his key variable is how many times a player has been named to the Pro Bowl. Pinker’s second source was a blog post, based on four years of data, written by someone who runs a pre-employment testing company, who also failed to appreciate—as far as I can tell (the key part of the blog post is only a paragraph long)—the distinction between aggregate and per-play performance. Pinker’s third source was an article in the Columbia Journalism Review, prompted by my essay, that made an argument partly based on a link to a blog called “Niners Nation." I have enormous respect for Professor Pinker, and his description of me as “minor genius” made even my mother blush. But maybe on the question of subjects like quarterbacks, we should agree that our differences owe less to what can be found in the scientific literature than they do to what can be found on Google.

Comments

[Peoplesearch2u]

Great post. Really helped me. Thankyou.

http://websiteandtraffic.blogspot.com

http://howtowebsitetraffic.blogspot.com

http://bestweightlossdietsthatwork.blogspot.com/

http://peoplesearchstore.blogspot.com/

http://peoplesearchmarket.blogspot.com

[Peoplesearch2u]

It is my great pleasure to visit your website and to enjoy your excellent post here. I like that very much. I can feel that you paid much attention for those articles, as all of them make sense and are very useful. Thanks so much for sharing.

http://websiteandtraffic.blogspot.com

http://howtowebsitetraffic.blogspot.com

http://bestweightlossdietsthatwork.blogspot.com/

http://peoplesearchstore.blogspot.com/

http://peoplesearchmarket.blogspot.com

[Peoplesearch2u]

Hi,
This Is Good Articles,I See And I like This Articles.So Nice.

http://websiteandtraffic.blogspot.com

http://howtowebsitetraffic.blogspot.com

http://bestweightlossdietsthatwork.blogspot.com/

http://peoplesearchstore.blogspot.com/

http://peoplesearchmarket.blogspot.com

[menglishuo]

One such case was by airlines against consumer-facing frequent flyer program information aggregation and optimization services.

[menglishuo]

One such case was by airlines against consumer-facing frequent flyer program information aggregation and optimization services.

[jideai]

such case was by airlines against consumer-facing frequent flyer program information aggregation and optimization servi

[zhutige]

he greeting card is a good idea too.

[zhutige]

he greeting card is a good idea too.

[C. Greacen]

How wonderful to witness two of my favorite thinkers in "blog combat"! Perhaps Gladwell and Pinker will be the next "Public Enemies" book a la Houellebecq and Levy. That would immediately top my "must read" list.

[moncler outlet]

Ok that's a good reason for not blogging. I am frreakiiiiing! michael and michael = heaven. Has the show been picked up? or are you guys doing the pilot? Shet we need more info about your show!!

[Hogan sito ufficiale]

How are you going those days? I am your sincere follower. Thanks for your informative articles. Reading them makes my surfing on the internet become more meaningful and interesting.

[cheap ugg boots]

Wow! Great article.and I think many people will like your blog and writing their ideas.your suggest very usefully.i hope your information will take us better lives.thank you for your article.

[バーバリーマフラー]

バーバリーマフラー
会談では３次補正予算案と復興財源確保法案など関連法案について今月中をめどに成立させるよう３党が協力することも確認した。バーバリーハンドバッグ
３党協議では自民党が反対するたばこ増税が残る主な課題となるが、この日の会談では、たばこ税についても３党の税調会長レベルで細部を詰める協議を急ぐことで合意した。

　バーバリー アウトレット償還期間を巡っては、民主党が政府案の１０年を１５年に延ばす方針を提示したが、公明党が１５～２０年を主張したのに対し、自民党が一層の延長を求めていた。しかし、谷垣氏は５日に償還期間３０年程度を検討する意向を表明。
バーバリーマフラー民主党がさらに譲歩したことで、これ以上反対すれば東日本大震災の復興復旧を遅らせたという批判を受ける懸念もあることから、受け入れた。

　バーバリー財布輿石氏は２５年を提案した理由について記者団に、「成立するめどがないものを提案しても仕方がない」と語った。
バーバリー アウトレットまた、民主党幹部は「２５年ぐらいまでは現役世代での負担と言えるし、単年度の負担も野党の主張通りに薄くできる」と説明した

[バーバリーマフラー]

バーバリーマフラー
民主党の輿石東幹事長は７日夜、１１年度第３次補正予算案を巡って、自民、バーバリーハンドバッグ
公明両党の幹事長と国会内で会談し、東日本大震災の復興財源を賄う復興債の償還期間を２５年に延長することを提案した。バーバリー アウトレット自公両党は受け入れる方針で、８日に合意する方向となった。

　
バーバリーマフラー自公両党はこの日、回答を持ち帰ったが、会談後、自民党の谷垣禎一総裁と大島理森副総裁、石原伸晃幹事長が党本部で会談。石原氏が「私は受けていいと思う」と伝え、谷垣、大島両氏も了承した。バーバリー財布公明党も８日の党内手続きを経て受け入れる。８日正午からの３党幹事長会談で正式に回答する。
バーバリー アウトレット民主、自民両党間で最大の懸案だった償還期間の問題に見通しがついたことで、３党協議は最終合意に向けて大きく前進した。

[north face]

Your article is very attractive to me.

[ティンバーランド]

ティンバーランドオリンパスの損失隠し疑惑で、旧経営陣が含み損を隠して決算を粉飾した疑いが強まったとして、東京地検特捜部は１３日、金融商品取引法違反（有価証券報告書の虚偽記載）の疑いで、証券取引等監視委員会や警視庁と合同で、来週にも関係先の一斉捜索など強制捜査に乗り出す方針を固めた。関係者が明らかにした。特捜部などは押収した資料の分析や関係者の事情聴取を進め、旧経営陣らの年度内の立件を目指す。

　ティンバーランド捜索先は、損失隠しに関与したとみられる旧経営陣の自宅のほか、損失穴埋めに買収資金が利用された国内３社など数十カ所に及ぶ見通し。

　ティンバーランドオリンパスは１４日に過去５年分の決算を訂正し、平成２３年９月中間期の決算報告書を関東財務局に提出する予定で、特捜部などは報告書の内容も勘案して最終的な捜索先を決定する。オリンパス本社（東京都新宿区）への捜索も慎重に検討している。

　ティンバーランド捜索容疑は１９～２３年にかけ、多額の損失を隠した虚偽の有価証券報告書を関東財務局に提出したとする内容になるとみられる。

[ティンバーランド]

ティンバーランドＤｅＮＡが元横浜監督の山下大輔氏（５９）に二軍監督への就任を要請したことが１３日、わかった。

　ティンバーランド山下氏は同日、都内で取材に応じ、「まだ返事はしていないが、前向きには考えている」と語った。山下氏は１９７４年にドラフト１位で大洋（現ＤｅＮＡ）に入団。８８年に引退後、ヘッドコーチなどを経て、２００３、０４年に横浜（現ＤｅＮＡ）の監督を務めた。

[Polo Outlet Online]

Having read this post, I have learned for myself a lot of the new. Thanks

[Ronnie Full]

Im an Aussie, you lost me when you started getting intellectual about a game of football. You guys need to watch some Aussie Rules.

[Tom Brady Jersey]

god

[49ers Red Jersey]

The article is very good, I like it very much.Here I learned a lot, then I will pay more attention to you.

[pharmacy one]

thank for this information

[HofPlanofab]

also keine versteckten Kosten, keine Fakes vor der Livecam selber besorgen, sind beim sexchat zu vorstellen. camsex Damit bringen solche sexchats bouncy sind sehr beliebt, eben weil man dabei in Echtzeit mit dem young woman sind ggf. sex cam Auch durch andere scharfe Aktivit?ten vor der Sexchat will ich doch mal so richtig anheizen zu lassen. http://www.fick-sexcam.com/ sex chat Hi ich bin gerne Deine ganz private Sachen beim sexchat zu zeigen wie eine Muschi gebumst werden kann. :-)

[Jay]

I could read a book about this without finding such real-world aprpoaches!

[Ashish]

Happy Birthday! You are the iconic Seahawk. I pray God's great bsnilsegs on you and will look forward to you being a head coach again (Maybe in Seattle someday!).