Elite Human Capital

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Elite Human Capital (EHC) is a far-right technocratic elitist syncretic ideology, meme and political-philosophy fixating on IQ. It emerged in 2023 by Anatoly Karlin, an alt-right activist. The ideology was picked-up and developed by Richard Hanania in 2024. Karlin and Hanania have a long history of espousing white supremacism, racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and misogyny online but they now claim to be "liberals" who support EHC, which they claim is anti-racist, philo-Semitic, pro-LGBT and supports women's reproductive rights. EHC is a meme on social media such as X. It should not be confused with human capital which is a concept used by economists.

One has to wonder why anyone would take these two characters seriously about this IQ-based ideology, when they have both been actively destroying their own brains, Karlin through glue sniffing and Hanania through gasoline huffing.

“”I suffer from glue addiction. I huff it every day.

—Karlin

“”Spent like 40 seconds huffing gas this morning after filling up the car. Why is this so pleasurable? And why aren’t we making products that captures[sic] this feeling?

—Hanania

EHC ideology is undeniably far-right since it retains various of its core tenets such as "human-biodiversity" pseudoscience, eugenics and ableism (Karlin has stated EHC supports killing infants with disabilities). The ideology, however, is syncretic since it has adopted liberalism and some radical left-wing positions including "open borders" (Karlin has gone even further to argue to abolish nation-states to replace them with borderless "network-states") and defends LGBT rights but the ideology is capitalist. Karlin describes EHC as "super-globalism" and supports the World Economic Forum; the ideology is apparently influenced by billionaire tech figures from the Silicon Valley.^{[citation needed]}

Critics of the EHC ideology consider it to be more of a rebranding of Karlin/Hanania's alt-right or white nationalist views rather than a new ideology and that the liberal positions it adopts are mostly cosmetic since eugenics, race and intelligence and unjustified prejudices are still inherent in EHC. In this sense, the far-right syncretic ideology is like national anarchism and Nazbol. EHC is arguably important for understanding how neo-fascists change their tactics/aesthetics to rebrand themselves despite having few adherents.

Defining EHC

Karlin has never provided a straightforward definition of EHC but in a December 2023 blog post, he outlined the ideology as follows:

On average, stupid, close-minded conservatives have lost debates over the years, decades, and centuries to smarter people who embraced liberalism and openness. These progenitors of Elite Human Capital would have been the Aztec wise men who opposed human sacrifice; the philosophers of the Axial Age; the atheists of the medieval Islamic world. This vanguard of history coalesced into a coherent and self-sustaining ideological force during the Enlightenment, and has existed as an expanding global cluster ever since. Furthermore, since most viewpoint changes during debates accrue to onlookers, not the direct participants, the acceleration in information technologies from literacy to the Internet has likewise accelerated the pace of liberalization. Some of the most exalted paladins and champions of Elite Human Capital today might be the likes of Eliezer Yudkowsky, Steven Pinker, and Peter Singer. The reason that “Cthulhu swims liberal” (not Left!) reduces to the observation that Elite Human Capital, all else equal, prefers to promote sociopolitical orders that maximize discursive interactions – freedom of speech, market economics, free trade – because it views the economies of scale accruing from liberalization as being in its own interests on account of its confidence in its own capacity to remain at the top of the human antheap without having to rely on class privileges or ethnoracial particularism. This is reflected in the observation that free speech maximalism, free markets, and free sexuality (e.g. LGBT rights) has some of the very strong g loads as per the GSS surveys and other polls.

In a nutshell, Karlin argues an individual’s position on the social-liberal/social-conservative dimension is strongly correlated to an individual’s IQ or cognitive ability. Several studies, including by evolutionary psychologists, have claimed that liberals are on average more intelligent than social conservatives while other studies have found liberals are overrepresented in American academia (although a minority of studies have produced different results including one study showing "extremists both on the left and right being higher in verbal ability than centrists.") Furthermore, many studies have found individuals on average with higher intelligence tend to be more socially liberal on issues such as gay marriage, abortion and marijuana legalization. Based on these studies, Karlin argues that the most intelligent people are on average socially liberal, e.g., pro-abortion and support LGBT rights. Karlin is cautious not to equate liberalism with the "left" because some studies show fiscal conservatism is correlated with higher intelligence on average than socialism. For this reason, both Karlin and Hanania claim EHC is liberalism but not leftism and both defend capitalist economies such as in the US and Singapore. EHC therefore is social liberalism but right-wing in terms of economics. Based on the fact that people with these political views have higher IQs on average, Karlin argues for a form of technocracy and elitism involving them, and he believes that people with these views "are not just a cognitive triumph, but a spiritual and a moral one." Since EHC is very strongly based on and reveres intelligence (almost as IQ-fetishism), EHC disparages people with "low IQs". It is this part of the ideology where the far-right aspect of EHC displays itself in terms of eugenics and ableism. For example, Karlin has stated that EHC supports infanticide for people with Down syndrome (the average IQ of a young adult with Down syndrome is 50, equivalent to the mental age of an 8-or 9-year-old child) and he has described Down syndrome individuals "retards". It is clear he does not like people with intellectual disabilities. EHC has other Nazi-eugenics vibes with its obsession with countering dysgenics and Karlin has described himself as an "outspoken eugenicist." Contrary to Karlin's writings on dysgenics, there is no evidence that any dysgenic trend exists in human populations.

Views and ideology

Anti-Semitism to philo-Semitism

Karlin and Hanania were formerly both anti-Semitic with the latter at one point sympathising with Holocaust denial. In 2018, Karlin admitted to being anti-Semitic:

I am not exactly a philo-Semite. Indeed, I qualify as an anti-Semite by the ADL’s standards, and RationalWiki would confirm. In general, I consider that Russians have quite a number of things to be unhappy about with Jews, from their massive overrepresentation in the NKVD to their current zeal in agitating against Russia.

Both now claim to have renounced their anti-Semitism and recently changed their view to become philo-Semitic in line with EHC because numerous IQ tests have shown Ashkenazi Jews have on average a high IQ (although estimates in the range of 112 to 115 are likely overestimations based on the dubious study "Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence" by Gregory Cochran). As of 2023, Karlin claims "my positions are now entirely philo-Semitic" and has described Jews as having "constituted the vanguard of Elite Human Capital (EHC) throughout history from Baruch Spinoza to Eliezer Yudkowsky." Despite previously having made conspiratorial rants against Zionists, Hanania now claims to favour Israel in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war and says he is friends with Jews and supports "Jewish power". In 2024, Karlin and Hanania were promoting reproductive technologies in Israel including IVF to increase the country's fertility rate. Karlin has argued for Jews to govern Ukraine on the basis "Ashkenazi Jews have 15-20 IQ points on Slavs. They would provide much better governance." Karlin's sudden alleged Damascene conversion to philo-Semitism has been questioned by some of his own followers after he attended a pro-Palestine march in London in November 2023. He has since though stated: "I don't support Palestinians per se but I do support Palestinian property rights and oppose Israeli war crimes." In 2024, Karlin came out in support of Israel against Hezbollah saying "The correct side in Israel vs. Hezbollah or Israel vs. Iran is crystal clear." He has criticised Iran as "human capital repellent". Karlin has made tweets supportive of the Israel Defense Forces and in October 2024 attended a pro-Israel meet up in Berlin, saying he wants to "safeguard the State of Israel".

Anti-LGBTQ+ to pro-LGBTQ+

Karlin and Hanania were formerly both homophobic and transphobic. In 2019, Karlin went as far as describing transgender (such as teaching about it in schools to children) as evil:

You don’t augment yourself in any way whatsoever by transitioning towards an ersatz version of the other sex. You become infertile and develop many hormonal and psychological problems. Actively pushing people into it, especially children, as seems to be increasingly happening in many Western countries, is evil.

In 2023, Karlin did a 180-degrees turn to support LGBTQ+ rights and said LGBTQ+ people are "incredible magnet for elite human capital":

Psychometric studies suggest that homosexuals are considerably smarter and more accomplished than normie heterosexuals, whereas outspoken homophobes are much duller than both. Furthermore, LGBTQ+ folx constitute incredible magnets for Elite Human Capital, and countries that center their rights send a strong signal affirming their commitment to rationalism and genuine viewpoint diversity.

In other words, Karlin changed his view on the basis some IQ tests show that homosexuals have on average a higher IQ than heterosexuals. However, other studies have doubted this and found little to no statistically significant differences in cognitive ability between homosexuals and heterosexuals. In April 2023 Karlin said he supported "gay parades" and later began to self-identity as genderless when interviewed by Hanania on his podcast: "Anatoly tells me about his decision to identify as an it/it and his calls for Russia to embrace LGBT as a way to align with the West and signal its new path forward." Throughout 2023, Hanania continued to make anti-LGBTQ+ tweets but in 2024 did a 180-degrees turn (presumably influenced by Karlin) and said: "People with IQs over 125 are much more likely to report same-sex attraction... If you're not gay, it might be because you're too stupid." and now claims to support gay rights saying: "There is nothing wrong with being a homosexual."

In August 2024, Karlin tweeted: "I do identify as queer but sadly I am not gay, though I'd love to have been, since it's very prestigious." and has gone as far as supporting and posting gay pornography on his X account. Karlin now suddenly claims to support gay marriage despite previously opposing it, writing: "Gay marriage is foundational to the resilience of Our Democracy." He refers to transgender people as "Trans folx" and says they "are courageous icebreakers towards the transhumanist Biosingularity", "are extremely prestigious and accelerate capitalism." He cites Emil O. W. Kirkegaard to claim transgender people have higher intelligence. This is an odd choice since more reputable sources than Kirkegaard had reported the same claim for decades, as was promoted by Transsexual.org; however, like the studies comparing gay and straight people, there are other considerations and it's conceivable there was a sampling bias.

Economics

EHC according to Karlin and Hanania is right-wing and fiscally conservative. Karlin has scored himself ultra-right wing economically even more than Reform UK. Karlin and Hanania are both committed to capitalism and intensely dislike communism, socialism and degrowth with Hanania going as far as saying Greta Thunberg should be "cancelled" for her anti-capitalist views and support for degrowth. Hanania has written he believes socialism will "wreck your country". In October 2024, Karlin wrote "the left is so economically destructive." As mentioned above, Karlin and Hanania consider EHC to be right-wing in terms of economics because some studies have suggested higher cognitive ability is associated with fiscal conservatism. Karlin and Hanania were formerly both against non-White immigration having supported white nationalism but now claim to support open borders and want no immigration controls between countries. It appears they changed their viewpoint to argue immigration restrictionism weakens economic growth. Despite opposing immigration for many years, Karlin now claims "Open Borders are a sacrosanct goal of Elite Human Capital" and describes himself as a digital nomad.

White supremacism and racism

Karlin and Hanania have a long history of supporting white supremacism and racism but both in 2023 claimed to have renounced their racist and extremist views.^{Do You Believe That?} In August 2023, Hanania published an article at Quillette titled "My Journey out of Extremism". Similarly, Karlin in December 2023 wrote an article saying he had given up his racist, "rightoid" and nationalist beliefs and is now committed to anti-racism. The problem with taking either seriously is they have continued to make unambiguously racist comments. Hanania was quoted in 2023 as saying: "We need more policing, incarceration, and surveillance of black people." In October 2023, Hanania tweeted support for neo-fascist Bronze Age Pervert. In 2024, Hanania continued appearing on white nationalist podcasts including a discussion about race with Edward Dutton. In August 2024, Karlin described Black people as having "systematically far higher" violence rates as well as a "higher prevalence of psychopathic personality", relying on Richard Lynn's racist pseudoscientific literature. Karlin continues to support HBD/hereditarianism and retweets HBD accounts including Steve Sailer and Jordan Lasker. In October 2024, Karlin was defending the far-right Human Diversity Foundation which was founded by Emil Kirkegaard. According to Karlin, EHC is based on the idea there is a racial hierarchy in IQ with Blacks (on average) at the bottom; Karlin believes population-differences in intelligence are primarily because of genetic factors. He describes IQ writer Scott Alexander as being a "paladin of Elite Human Capital".

Alcohol

Karlin formerly said he was addicted to alcohol but as of 2024 claims to drink alcohol "moderately". Karlin has criticised teetotalism and has described abstaining from alcohol as a "fad". This is a dubious claim seeming as surveys reveal 62% of American adults say they drink alcohol with only 38% abstaining and the latter has not significantly increased or decreased over the past 25 years. He is strongly in favour of alcohol consumption, having described his "perfect meal" as including beer. This position in line with EHC seems to be based on studies concerning IQ and alcohol consumption, for example, multiple studies have reported alcohol consumption and IQ are positively related, excluding binge-drinking and alcoholism. A recent study by Druffner et al. (2024) reported "higher adolescent IQ may predict a higher likelihood of moderate or heavy drinking in midlife". On the other hand, studies have shown that individuals with alcohol‐related disorders have lower intelligence test scores. For this reason, Karlin advocates moderate drinking but he appears to ignore studies with mixed, or contradicting results. Four studies from Sweden reported negative relationships between high intelligence and various alcohol measures.

Pro-natalism and reprotech

“”Liberals should shill reprotech, eugenics, artificial wombs and leave the conservative/theocratic natalism discourse to low prestige rightoids.

—Anatoly Karlin in July 2024

Karlin and Hanania are both committed to pro-natalism but favour promoting "reprotech" (reproductive technology) through IVF, polygenic embyro selection and artificial wombs than using traditional natalist methods. For this reason they prefer to use the term "techno-natalism" to describe their ideology. Karlin supports a policy of free IVF in the US and has suggested use of artificial wombs to increase birth rates. The reason EHC is pro-natalist is self-explanatory — the ideology requires humans and Karlin supports reproductive methods to continue the existence of the human species. Karlin, for example, has described human extinction as a "suboptimal" scenario and he is critical of anti-natalism particularly those who are childfree for climate-change concerns. Karlin's pro-natalist outlook via technology seems to have been influenced by the eugenicist Jonathan Anomaly's book Creating Future People and so-called "techno traditionalism". Hanania has described embryo selection as "cool".

See also

• Neoreactionary movement — Some similarities, some differences.
• Elon Musk's natalism — Another IQ-obsessed tendency presenting as more positive towards at least one minority group (Asians)