One night, it occurred to me the totality of Praxeology could be reduced to a simple quadrant. The quadrant is more encompassing than the left/right political divide, since members of all political parties will fall somewhere in the quadrant.
Aaron Clarey of Captain Capitalism linked to Bernard Chapin‘s Youtube Channel in which Chapan says he believes in Jesus Christ and calls abortion murder. This is in contrast to Aaron, who seems to believe in some degree of HBD (he mentions IQ in some of his videos), supports abortion in instances where the child is likely going to have a neglectful upbringing, and is an atheist. Although they agree on many things, such as being anti-SJW and anti-welfare, once again, you see the schism between the HBD/rationalist right and the Christian/Paleo right.
In extending this schism to the topic of salvation and original sin, Christians, unlike HBD-ers, tend to believe that people are born equally good/bad, and individuals must ‘save’ themselves through various exogenous factors such as conversion, charity, good deeds, prayer, etc. HBD-ers also believe in redemption through exogenous factors, but unlike Christianity, acts are intended to better oneself through difficult intellectual accomplishments that are only applicable to a talented minority, such as original research (having a paper with a lot of citations in a STEM field, for example), accumulation of wealth, fame, recognition, etc. The difference is that validation/salvation in Christianity is attained through ‘good will’ by the individual, who is judged by Christ, to serve the ‘collective’, and for the HBD/Rationalists validation/salvation is through the judgement by other people of personal accomplishments, with the goal of personal fulfillment. A Christian conservative may say, ‘I’m a worthy person and will be saved because I volunteer to the community every weekend and raised a good family’ Here, the exogenous act (volunteering, parenting) serves a collective (community, family). The HBD/rationalist conservative thinks, ‘Because I have a lot of followers and original research, I am a better/more accomplished person’ But in the later, there is no form of eternal salvation (immortality), which is why transhumanism is appealing to this group. The exogenous act (publishing original research) serves the individual (you). Yeah, it does seem selfish, and it is, but that is how you get innovation, in accordance to Adam Smith’s metaphor of the invisible hand which describes how the pursuit of self-interest leads to the best outcome for society as a whole. If we all just sat around, feeling pride and accomplishment for merely existing rather than creating stuff, civilization would probably founder. Or to quote Robert A. Heinlein from Stranger in a Strange Land, ‘The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.’
Endogenous and Exogenous differences between Christian Right vs. Rationalist/HBD Right are summarized by the table:
| Paleo/Christian Conservative | HBD/Rationalist Conservative | |
| Endogenous | Blank slate, original sin, everyone is born good or bad (although the Christian Identity movement argues that some races cannot be saved and are doomed to eternal damnation) | Some are born ‘better’ than others because of differences in innate talent, IQ, and other biological factors |
| Exogenous | Individual redemption/salvation through good deeds, prayer, etc to serve the collective and please Christ. Low barriers to entry, easy to be saved just by being a decent, unexceptional, moral Christian. | Salvation/redemption through individual accomplishments and validation from other people, not a deity. High barriers to entry, difficult. Due to biological limitations, few are exceptional enough to be ‘saved’. |