Being tall isn't usually regarded as an ability. Also, if I remember correctly, he was talking about differences in the long tail, not differences in the mean.
If you're looking for biological long-tail distribution differences, sports world and Olympic record differences are probably your best argument. A combination of sexism and biological differences are to blame for there being very few female players in the NFL, NBA, and MLB, despite none of them currently having rules against female players. (I'm only aware of Ann Meyers Drysdale.)
In any case, virtually nobody argues against natural physical ability differences between men and women. Damore was clearly talking about mental abilities, so pointing out physical ability differences are a straw-man argument.
The population argument stands, whether differences exist or not.
Secondly, if you accept physical differences exist but refuse to accept mental difference exist? Physical difference are mental differences, biology is physical. If you accept physical differences then by definition you accept mental differences exist.
There are barely any white players in the NBA, is that the result of racism or more due to biological factors?
> Secondly, if you accept physical differences exist but refuse to accept mental difference exist.
If you're arguing about mental abilities, you should site studies about mental abilities. Yes, the mind is physical, but it's much more malleable than the musculo-skeletal system, so analogies break down quickly.
> There are barely any white players in the NBA, is that the result of racism or more due to biological factors?
Likely a combination of both biological and social factors.
I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm not saying you're right. I'm saying your arguments need improvement.
I'm confused as to which statements you think are nonnsense. I count 5 statements in my post:
1. There exist studies of mental abilities
2. The mind is physical
3. The mind it's much more malleable than the musculo-skeletal system
4. The malleability of the mind makes analogies to the musculo-skelatal system fall apart quickly
5. The prevalence of African Americans in the NBA is likely a combination of both biological and social factors
My best guess is that you think it's nonsense that analogies between non-mental and mental abilities break down quickly because of the malleability of the human mind. If you feel that way, feel free to try and make some insightful inferences by analogy between physical abilities and mental abilities. I just don't think it's a fruitful avenue to explore.
For instance, I'm pretty sure there are plenty of naturally strong people who with 3 months training can bench press more than I could after 10 years of training. I doubt there many people out there who are smart enough to go from no computer training to programming better than your average 10 year veteran developer in 3 months. It's silly to use studies about weight training to make inferences about the effectiveness of mental training.
But, maybe you have other sorts of analogies in mind that make much more sense.
Edit: after looking up Debra Soh's book, it seems you've confused critique of arguments for critique of conclusions. I haven't made any statements one way or the other about if men and women differ mentally. I've just pointed out bad arguments. Faulty arguments don't necessarily even mean that the underlying reasoning is faulty. And faulty reasoning doesn't imply the conclusions are wrong.
I get this a lot, where people think I'm disagreeing with their conclusions just because I'm trying to get them to make better arguments and/or clean up their reasoning. I care less about this particular argument than I do about people learning to think and argue clearly. I get that it's a weird attitude, but I think the world is better off with us all reasoning and arguing better.
If you're looking for biological long-tail distribution differences, sports world and Olympic record differences are probably your best argument. A combination of sexism and biological differences are to blame for there being very few female players in the NFL, NBA, and MLB, despite none of them currently having rules against female players. (I'm only aware of Ann Meyers Drysdale.)
In any case, virtually nobody argues against natural physical ability differences between men and women. Damore was clearly talking about mental abilities, so pointing out physical ability differences are a straw-man argument.