Aporia / The Human Diversity Foundation
Back in December 2025, when we talked about the book The Bell Curve, we kept running into the Human Diversity Foundation. This organization, which disseminates bunk pseudo-science through its journal Mankind Quarterly and its blog Aporia, has long been dedicated to advancing the white nationalist cause. This week, two news stories broke—one fairly minor and silly, the other devastating and tragic—that find a common thread in HDF, so Josh and June decided to finally do a full episode about this organization and its key figures.
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EPISODE ART: Nathan Cofnas, a proponent of so-called scientific racism who was recently suspended from his doctoral program at Ghent University in Belgium. Cofnas, who is frequently cited in HDF publications and has appeared on their podcast numerous times, published an article to his blog alleging that recently appointed Cambridge professor Jason Arday, who was a black man, plagiarized his PhD dissertation. Though an investigation cleared Arday of the charges, the story gained overwhelming coverage in the British media. Arday was found dead on August 14.
SOURCES:
“Race Science Inc.” by Harry Shukman & Patrik Hermansson (Hope Not Hate, October 16, 2024)
“The Peter Thiel-Linked Race Science Network that Penetrated Cambridge University and Targeted Jason Arday” by Nafeez Ahmed (Byline Times, August 18, 2026)
“Academic who accused Jason Arday of plagiarism suspended by university” by Maia Davies (BBC, August 20, 2026)
“A statement in support of Nathan Cofnas's Right to Academic Freedom of Expression” (online petition)
“Three Reasons Possession Of Child Porn Must Be Re-Legalized In The Coming Decade” by Rick Falkvinge (note comments on bottom by Emil Kirkegaard)
“DEI Fraud and Cover-Up at Cambridge” by Nathan Cofnas
“The Beats: Decadence and Disease” by Simon Maass
“Why does success run in families?” by Noah Carl
“Adding genetic interests to utilitarianism” by Emil O. W. Kirkegaard
“Ideas Have Consequences” by Bo Winegard
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Comments (22)
Late for the bus here, but the "significant figures" chart, if taken as face value (for the sake of argument, it's clown shit), seems like it would be a great argument for the importance of material conditions to success. Like, there's no reason to believe that in the 1400s white people suddenly just got genetically "better," there must be something more important going on.
Simone is pregnant again
You guys should absolutely cover the mental cult of the rationalists
Damn that’s crazy
genetic dead end is such a cute way to say untermensch
I find it genuinely endearing when they calls us their babies, especially when Josh says it. Sends me full parasocial
So, miss, why is the Simone doing ALL the parenting? Shouldn't Malcom be taking care of at least 2.5 of the kids? Isn't more equitable Btw for people who might be wondering: the exposing of the HDF as PF+Makeup happened back in '24 which is why I was "wait they JUST found this out? The HDF being fashtrash has been a known quantity for a couple years now..." & indeed HnH outed them two years ago & there had been Causes For Suspicion for years before that. Which of course smells of the PostDubdubdos Fascist International
Like on the Jason Arday thing: first & foremost, none of this ought be regarded as warranting a death. But that the man seems to have been a fabulist needs to be taken into account because of what it says about the problems with institutions Like in as much as there was plagiarism like, a PhD isn't like something someone just whips up; there are supposed to be checks & systems which are supposed to prevent plagiarism. Furthermore Cambridge would have known about all these things, such that a year ago they threatened legal action but this time around they hung out Arday out to dry. Arday was to Cambridge little more than a feather in their cap, & when the plume lost its luster they discarded him without support or care for what would be of him. Where is the inquiry to all those deans & scholars who supervised & vetted Arday, if Arday's work was so lacking & the evidence for academic malfeasance was so clear, then those many should be resigning for their complicity & complacency, no? Let alone the many many cases of "white" plagiarism that abound in Cambridge. Caufnis the grotesque imp he is, absolutely intended to see the man dead. It is stochastic murder. What is "hilarious" is that he is a Jew, & does he not think his "friends" will eat him alive the moment they feel safe doing it? It's almost laughable how stupid he shows himself to be; adopting idiotic worldviews & unable to extrapolate from past functions.
emil kierkegaard is a pedophile (paedophile for the brits)!!! My puberty started at age 7. Early onset puberty is especially common in victims of CSA.
Girls are also starting puberty earlier and earlier nowadays compared to previous decades. Average age of puberty onset for young girls is between ages 8-13. Puberty is something that can be manipulated to start later too - malnutrition delays it. Something so highly variable such as puberty, that can be heavily influenced by health &external factors, cannot hold as a standard for consent. Not that his argument needs any *more* holes poked in it, this would be a nightmare to legally encode or enforce in any way, but just saying. Lol that's crazy
I'd seen the U. Ghent petition separately via academic socials, with the remark “Here, update your lists of **** to never hire or work with.” Some other related mentions: – https://dair-community.social/@timnitGebru/117133879197608979 the supervisor there wrote this crazy piece. – https://scholar.social/@ckohtala/117137178504782429 click through the link → Cofnas was hired on a grant titled (no joke) “Liberalism's Fertility Problem” 🤦🏻♂️
Hm it seems these comments went into a moderation hole and later both popped out the other side. Sorry for the spam!
That was an excellent (if bleak) episode! You're doing wonderful work
dammit i have gone from not knowing to like 4 aella mentions a day.
I can't take seriously anyone who's supposed to be hot but calling themselves "Aella" because "Aello" is a literal harpy from Greek myths
Separately in academic social media I'd seen people mentioning that petition/open letter against the firing by U. Ghent. (The reaction was: "Look! More names for everyone's list of asshat bigots who shouldn't be hired anywhere.") There was also this: https://scholar.social/@ckohtala/117137178504782429 —if one clicks through, the title of the grant under which the guy was hired was “Liberalism's Fertility Problem.”
I thought George Gallaway said that...?
Damn that’s crazy
Did my wording break any rules or anything? If so it was unintentional, apologies. I can't guess what part it was, swearing was comparatively minimum, no slurs or punching down. Can certainly believe I might've just been too annoying, would be understandable, is a work in progress issue am trying to improve on. If the second one is a double post then oh dear super sorry that is extra embarrassing for me lol
patreon has an aggressive auto-mod and once comments have been caught in the filter there is no way to manually approve them
Maybe it should be *minus* one on the mailbag scoreboard if you're addressed first by a writer who is also a member of the Ill Conceived rogues gallery. E.g. Cofnas writes in "Dear June and Josh …" = –1 point for June.
Seconded on the minus for being addressed first.