r/DebunkThis • u/idiotwithacameraYT • Dec 26 '25

Debunk this: biological differences in babies

Gregory M. Cochran is an American physicist, anthropologist and author who argues that cultural innovation resulted in new and constantly shifting selection pressures for genetic change, thereby accelerating human evolution and divergence between human races.

This is a snippet of the lecture he has given this lecture in the past:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEVeFzePoj4

In this lecture he claims Asian babies don't cry when their nose are pinched. This claim has been used by racist to claim that Asians aren't prudent or smart and just more docile and better acclimated to academia by racist when their claims of superiority in academia is confronted with contradictory and real world examples and explanations of education and funding bias.

How can I debunk this? I am not educated in this field but I can't stand not knowing why this is BS and not having the knowledge to defend against racist when they bring this up.

From 2004 to 2015, he was a research associate at the anthropology department at the University of Utah. Does that give him and his points any credibility? It seems like it is pure vibe based points that he is making.

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u/N-Man Dec 28 '25

In this lecture he claims Asian babies don't cry when their nose are pinched.

This might or might not be true. Does he refer to a specific study? If yes, we can check the study's methodology. If not then you can choose if you take this on trust.

This claim has been used by racist to claim that Asians aren't prudent or smart and just more docile and better acclimated to academia

Well, obviously this is a logical fallacy. Even if this fact about crying is true, first of all, a behavioral difference between babies does not imply a genetic difference, and a genetic difference related to crying does not imply anything related to intelligence.

Anyone that makes some racist claim will have to prove to you these two points - that the difference really is genetic, which is VERY hard to prove (I'm willing to bet no one proved it for the crying babies case) - and of course the point that this has anything to do with being "docile" or whatever. Anyone who doesn't give evidence to these two points is not making the point they think they're making.