Americans are the weirdest people in the world

It turns out that the way we Americans think is very different (and at one end of a normal distribution) than the rest of the world.  I think I always knew that.  A very good and interesting summary is here.

Once again after closer scrutiny, a bedrock assumption about how the world works (deep down everybody is the same and wants the same things) is called into question:  in other words, how do you know what you know?  This is important because much of 'progressive' social policy is based upon the certainty of social scientists that they 'know' what is 'scientifically' right.  This is despite the typical profile of 'progressive' social scientists who support 'progressive' social innovations conducting research that surprisingly have 'progressive' results that are then reviewed by a panel of  'progressive' peers and trumpeted by 'progressive' journalists in impeccably 'progressive' publications that are then cited by 'progressive' activists to persuade 'progressive' politicians and judges to make 'progressive' policy changes that they are certain will be 'progressive'.

For example, if people from different cultures reason differently, then perhaps immigration from different cultures will have different effects on society.  Perhaps some groups will do well in our culture and others won't - perhaps northern Europeans will and the Hmong won't.  And if we really don't have a good bead on human behavioral diversity or even clearly understand what is 'core' among us, then how confident are we about the impact of changing bedrock cultural norms as we are in the process of doing with marriage?

In contrast to progressivism (aka modern liberalism rebranded for the 21st century to avoid the taint that 20th century liberal policies gave it) conservatism is takes a skeptical view on what we think we know and argues that since we almost certainly understand less than we think about ourselves we should be cautious in revising the machinery by which we relate to and govern each other.  This doesn't mean that reform and change are banned, it simply recognizes that it is a lot easier to break something important than to improve it.

Tragically, our current crop of 'progressives' are busily changing virtually anything they can get their hands on.  Unsurprisingly, we are in a period of intensifying social and economic chaos.

So again and all together this time:  how you know what you know?