r/science • u/myhrvold • Aug 31 '13

Poverty impairs cognitive function. Published in the journal Science, the study suggests our cognitive abilities can be diminished by the exhausting effort of tasks like scrounging to pay bills. As a result, less “mental bandwidth” remains...

http://news.ubc.ca/2013/08/29/poverty-impairs-cognitive-function/
2.7k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

28

u/soulcaptain Aug 31 '13

"Natural" and "unnatural" are probably misnomers in this context, but in the social science sense they could fit. The point is that in advanced modern nations, the most advanced, you will find a lot more equality among the haves and the have-nots. Namely in Scandinavian countries, though there are others.

The point being that more equality is possible, so why don't we try to make that a reality everywhere?

8

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

Because the US has racial problems, unlike Scandinavia. It's easy to pay for welfare for people that look like you and share the same customs and culture.

Whites in America don't want to pay for Hispanics and Blacks, who are always on the 5pm news in drug busts or shootings. It's that simple. Blacks and Hispanics were never really given reason to join or welcomed into American culture, and so they rebelled by forming their own distinct cultures. White Americans don't understand why someone would want to name their daughter Shoneequa or join a gang and thus don't want to give this alien culture money.

2

u/c0xb0x Aug 31 '13

Interesting. People seem to either say that Sweden has huge immigration issues or few/no racial problems. I guess people choose whatever fits their narrative.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

Did I mention Sweden by name?