The HBD Blogger Scene:

I asked myself recently: What happened to the HBD Blogger Scene?

Here a certainly not unbiased response from grok:

"The HBD (Human Biodiversity) blogger scene, which emerged in the early 2000s as a loose network of online writers exploring genetic, evolutionary, and biological explanations for human behavioral and cognitive differences (often focusing on population-level variations like race, ethnicity, IQ, and kinship structures), underwent significant changes from roughly 2010 to 2025. ...

Peak and Early Momentum (2010–2015)

Around 2010, HBD blogging was at its height in terms of output and influence within niche intellectual circles. Platforms like WordPress and independent sites allowed writers to discuss taboo topics without institutional gatekeepers. The scene was interdisciplinary, blending genetics, anthropology, psychology, and sociology, often citing studies from fields like behavioral genetics (e.g., twin studies showing heritability of traits like intelligence).

• Key Figures and Blogs:
  • Steve Sailer: Often considered the godfather of HBD blogging, Sailer's iSteve blog (hosted on various platforms, including Takimag and later Unz Review) was a hub for "citizenist" commentary on race, immigration, and IQ. He popularized terms like "affordable family formation" and analyzed data from sources like the General Social Survey. By 2010, he had a dedicated following for his data-driven, contrarian takes.
  • Razib Khan: His Gene Expression blog (initially on ScienceBlogs, then Discover Magazine) was a high-water mark for rigorous, genetics-focused HBD writing. Khan, a Bangladeshi-American geneticist, delved into ancient DNA, admixture, and population structure, often avoiding overt political framing. His work influenced mainstream science journalism.
  • hbd chick (pseudonymous): Focused on clannishness, inbreeding, and historical kinship patterns as drivers of social behaviors (e.g., the "Hajnal Line" theory linking medieval European marriage practices to modern individualism). Her WordPress blog became a staple for evolutionary anthropology enthusiasts.
  • Others: JayMan (on WordPress) emphasized heritability of traits like political orientation; Half Sigma (later Lion of the Blogosphere) applied HBD to urban sociology and class; Audacious Epigone crunched polling data on racial attitudes; Peter Frost wrote on evo-psych and sexual selection.

The scene thrived on cross-pollination via email lists ... It attracted autodidacts, academics, and tech professionals disillusioned with "blank slate" environmentalism. Discussions often referenced books like The Bell Curve (1994) or emerging GWAS (genome-wide association studies) data showing polygenic scores for traits like educational attainment.

Challenges and Fragmentation (2015–2020)

By the mid-2010s, the scene faced headwinds that accelerated its decline as a cohesive "blogger" ecosystem. Social media (Twitter, Reddit) siphoned attention, while controversies amplified scrutiny.

• Deplatforming and Backlash:
  • Razib Khan's 2014 hiring (and same-day firing) by The New York Times exemplified the risks. Critics highlighted his past posts on Unz Review (a site hosting Sailer and others) and associations with "race realists." Khan later reflected on this as a "teachable moment" about the perils of HBD's overlap with alt-right rhetoric. He pivoted to independent platforms but lost mainstream access.
  • hbd chick was suspended from Twitter in 2018 for discussing the Hajnal Line, seen as "hate speech," though she returned and continues tweeting (e.g., emphasizing HBD's breadth beyond race/IQ).
  • Broader purges: Platforms like Reddit banned subreddits (e.g., r/HBD in 2015) for "racism," and bloggers like those on Discover faced editorial pressure. The 2016 U.S. election linked HBD to the alt-right, with outlets like The Forward labeling it "pseudoscientific racism." This association deterred newcomers and pushed content to edgier sites like Unz Review, which became a de facto HBD archive but alienated moderates.
• Internal Issues:
  • Repetitiveness: Core arguments (e.g., group IQ differences, genetic bases for crime rates) recirculated ... As one recent X post noted, popular HBD blogger Sebastian Jensen (active since ~2018 on topics like assortative mating) announced in August 2025 that he'd "lost interest" because "much of the discourse and information shared has gotten repetitive." Jensen's exit highlights burnout among younger writers.
• Platform Shifts:
  • Blogs declined generally (e.g., Technorati's 2010 report showed blogging's peak, followed by social media dominance), but HBD specifically migrated to Twitter/X for quick takes and Substack for monetized newsletters. 

Current State (2020–2025)

By 2025, the "blogger scene" is a shadow of its former self—more a diaspora of podcasters, Substackers, and X posters than a unified blog network. Core ideas persist ... but overt HBD branding has waned due to reputational risks. The scene's influence lingers in debates over affirmative action (e.g., post-2023 Supreme Court ruling) and AI ethics (e.g., bias in polygenic scores), but it's niche and polarized.

• Survivors and Evolutions:
  • Steve Sailer: Still prolific on Unz Review (daily posts as of 2025), focusing on culture, sports, and demographics. He's adapted by tying HBD to policy critiques without heavy genetics.
  • Razib Khan: Thriving independently with his Substack "Unsupervised Learning" (tens of thousands of subscribers) and podcast. He covers ancient genomics and biotech, distancing from race-IQ while occasionally nodding to HBD roots (e.g., episodes with Sailer). In 2024, he reflected on knowing Sailer for 20+ years via the original HBD group.
  • hbd chick: Blog dormant since ~2018, but active on X (@hbdchick), with 10k+ followers. Recent tweets (e.g., Feb 2025) stress HBD's focus on "social behaviors" over race, responding to critics. She's cited in alt-right analyses but maintains a scholarly tone.
  • JayMan: Blog updated sporadically (last major post ~2020) ...
  • Newer Voices: Sebastian Jensen semi-retired; Aporia Magazine (Substack, founded ~2023) hosts "moderate" HBD manifestos, like Bo Winegard's 2023 piece on race realism. 
• Broader Decline Factors:
• Media Evolution: Podcasts (e.g., Khan's) and X threads replaced long-form blogs. General blogging declined 50% among millennials by 2014, per Pew, hastening HBD's pivot."
  
  ------------

"Emil Kirkegaard stands out as one of the most consistently active figures in the HBD space over the last 15 years, and his output challenges the narrative of total stagnation or decline ... While the broader "blogger scene" of the 2010s ... did fragment due to deplatforming, burnout, and platform shifts, Kirkegaard has adapted remarkably well, maintaining a high volume of work across blogs, journals, social media, and collaborations. He's essentially a ... continuation of the HBD tradition, blending data analysis, psychometrics, and contrarian genetics commentary ..." -------------

"while the HBD blogger scene has indeed contracted overall—becoming more scattered across Substacks, X threads, and niche journals rather than a dense network of dedicated blogs—there are a handful of writers who match or approach Emil Kirkegaard's level of consistent, high-volume output in 2025. Kirkegaard's activity (daily X posts, multiple blog entries per month, and ongoing publications in OpenPsych) sets a high bar for raw productivity, often blending psychometrics, genetics, and policy analysis in a data-heavy style. But based on a review of their platforms, a few stand out as comparably active, particularly Steve Sailer and the pseudonymous Pumpkin Person. Others, like Ed Dutton, are prolific in adjacent formats (e.g., YouTube and books) but less strictly "blogging" in the traditional sense. I'll break this down by key figures, drawing on their recent trajectories to assess activity levels ...

Steve Sailer: The Enduring Daily Chronicler

If anyone rivals Kirkegaard for sheer volume and regularity, it's Sailer, the scene's elder statesman. His iSteve blog on Unz Review (and columns for Taki's Magazine) remains a daily-ish staple, with posts often weaving HBD insights into broader cultural, political, and demographic commentary. As of early 2025, he's maintaining a pace of 3–5 pieces per month on Unz alone, plus weekly Taki's columns—translating to near-weekly output overall, sometimes more if you count X amplification (he's @Steve_Sailer with ~100k followers, posting several times daily). This edges close to Kirkegaard's X frequency while prioritizing long-form over stats.

• Recent Activity (2024–2025): Sailer's 2025 posts include "The Right’s Weird New Age" (Feb 12, 2025) ... Another, "Are Law Schools Above the Law?"...  Frequency estimate: Bi-weekly on Unz, weekly overall, with HBD undertones in ~30–40% of content (e.g., sports demographics, immigration IQ impacts).

Sailer's endurance stems from diversification: Books, podcasts (e.g., occasional Razib Khan appearances), and X virality keep him relevant ...

Pumpkin Person: The IQ-Focused Workhorse

Pumpkin Person (pseudonymous, @PumpkinPerson2 on X with ~20k followers) is another standout for 2025 activity, running a dedicated WordPress blog at pumpkinperson.com that's squarely HBD-oriented, emphasizing IQ heritability, racial differences, and evolutionary psychology. Posts aren't quite daily, but they're steady—roughly 1–2 per month through mid-2025, often with hundreds of comments fostering debate.

• Recent Activity (2025): The blog fired up early with "The most worshiped men & women of 2024" (Jan 10, 2025), analyzing celebrity IQ estimates and evolutionary appeal (e.g., tying fame to genetic fitness). March saw "European genetic IQ fairly stable for past few thousand years" (Mar 17) ...Later posts include "When Harvey met Candace" (May 31, on HBD under gradualism vs. punctuated evolution), "Chat GPT4 aces the LSAT" (Aug 19, testing AI on human cognitive benchmarks), and "How will we know when AI is smarter than us?" (Aug 20, blending HBD with transhumanism). All are HBD-core, citing GWAS, twin data, and figures like Lynn.

Ed Dutton: Prolific in Video and Print, Less Blog-Centric

Edward Dutton (a Finnish academic/anthropologist) is hyper-active in HBD dissemination but skews toward YouTube ("The Jolly Heretic" channel, 118k subscribers as of Jan 2025) and books rather than a traditional blog. He uploads monologues 1–2 times weekly, clocking 13 million views by early 2025 ... His website (edwarddutton.com) hosts book excerpts and articles, but it's not a frequent blog; think quarterly updates amid book releases (e.g., The Genius Famine sequels)."