Razib Khan

Newamul "Razib" Khan is a Bangladeshi-American writer and an advocate of hereditarianism. Khan has bachelor's degrees in biology and biochemistry. Prior to 2019, Khan was a coauthor on several peer-reviewed publications in animal genomics, primarily for cat genomics.Razib Khan Google Scholar.
Khan has a history of interviewing far-right extremists on his podcast. In January 2025, he interviewed Anatoly Karlin a self-described racist who has commented that he is "quite happy that few Blacks associated with Russia".Anatoly Karlin: Russian nationalism to American globalism. youtube.com.I am quite happy that few Blacks associate with Russia, considering the type of violence-ridden underclasses they tend to create in countries that open their doors to them. Not to mention the extreme chutzpah and aggressive sense of racial grievance they tend to act out towards their host countries. So yes, I'm racist and very happy with that. If /r/europe SJWs or Islamists such as yourself have a problem with that, oh well. Don't care, really. by akarlin (c. March 2019) Reddit (archived from 16 Jun 2019 02:23:10 UTC).
== Khan's hereditarianism ==
=== VDARE and Steve Sailer ===
Razib Khan's views on human behavior are strongly influenced by racists such as Steve Sailer and J. Philippe Rushton.
Khan's first appearance in the hereditarian and racialist world was in 2000, when he had an exchange of letters with Steve Sailer in VDARE. Khan wrote:
=== Gene Expression ===
On his website Gene Expression, on June 27, 2002 Khan wrote:
=== Unz Review and Human Biodiversity ===
Khan had a column at The Unz Review for many years and he often mentioned his devotion to hereditarianism and associated belief-systems such as human biodiversity. On December 30, 2002, Khan wrote:
Tax returns from 2009 indicate that Khan received a grant of $108,000 from the Unz Foundation.Return of Private Foundation: The Unz Foundation, 990-PF (2009) Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service.
===Taki's Magazine and Richard Spencer ===
Khan has been a contributor to Taki's Magazine,https://www.takimag.com/contributor/razibkhan/130/ reportedly at the invitation of Richard Spencer.https://undark.org/2017/02/28/race-science-razib-khan-racism/
===Quillette===
Khan has written several articles for Quillette,https://quillette.com/author/razib-khan/ including a review of Charles Murray's .
== Khan's career ==
In spite of his essentialist beliefs informed by hardcore racialists, Khan's career has been promoted by mainstream people and organizations.
=== Steven Pinker ===
Khan's career received a boost from Steven Pinker beginning in 2006 when Pinker gave an interview to Khan in Gene Expression.10 questions for Steven Pinker (July 04, 2006) Gene Expression by by Darth Quixote (archived from August 12, 2006). Pinker has called Khan " an insightful commentator on all things genetic."Our Cats, Ourselves (Razib Khan is an insightful commentator on all things genetic). by Steven Pinker (2:28 PM · Nov 25, 2014) Twitter (archived from August 9, 2023).10 questions for Steven Pinker (and others)s by Razib Khan (Jul 3, 2006 1:25 AM) Discover Magazine.
When Pinker received criticism about his book The Better Angels of Our Nature, he responded on his website with a page titled Frequently Asked Questions about The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined with the following:
Pinker has promoted Khan via Twitter on several occasions.Excellent evidence-based analysis of abortion opinions by Razib Khan | http://nyti.ms/1DdokRm by Steven Pinker (4:46 PM · Jan 3, 2015) Twitter (archived from August 10, 2023).
Pinker has given interviews to Khan in recent years, distributed via Khan's social media sites.https://otter.ai/u/K-EpIDNmoQkO7czrWgab8HKE-48?f=%2Fshared-noteshttps://www.razibkhan.com/p/steven-pinker-the-blank-slate-20#details
===The New York Times===
In 2011, The New York Times reported that Khan was among the few atheist conservatives:
The website SecularRight.org still exists, but has been inactive since August 2019.https://secularright.org/SR/wordpress/
In 2014https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/opinion/our-cats-ourselves.html?searchResultPosition=4 and 2015https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/03/opinion/the-abortion-stereotype.html?searchResultPosition=3 the New York Times published opinion pieces by Khan and in 2023 Ross Douthat in his piece My Fantasy Bookshelf mentioned he had recorded a podcast with Khanhttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/26/opinion/fantasy-bookshelf.html?searchResultPosition=1.
=== Kathryn Paige Harden ===
Khan and psychologist and promoter of behavioral genetics (a.k.a. biological determinism), Kathryn Paige Hardenhttps://liberalarts.utexas.edu/psychology/faculty/kh24738 appear to have a mutual admiration society. In her much-publicized book, The Genetic Lottery,https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/13/can-progressives-be-convinced-that-genetics-matters Harden acknowledges Razib Khan for "conversations"https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQI2A9M5jPX5pR7WEyOh-b41tt3LNKYzASx2JT0vE9KyZiPtKzs6qfeCXXdYLszUDjArTkVVLZOHbpCS0HYtvIkiM2oD1jmGN6rCWT4RfdvL9kKK1cwTODsCe43G2Cm6Kc2_sYfm5YPYi5Rf7wHOgeHk-35fJ8ZumB3mhpN41kzMr46Ev5jtyoPRc/s1527/harden_khan.png and on his Substack, Khan refers to Harden as his friend.https://www.razibkhan.com/p/rkul-time-well-spent-08082021 
Harden has expressed an interest in promoting Khan's career.https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgy4K8HEKweKooqxGbcY3czT4p3mzWwhYMQ7Xax9t21h_iGt3v3KV4zrJFSXd9rMAm_QhhIuht7Zen2dX61qx7mJNEwMxg8bFjk2Nk5tvuFlMFjZkpdBUFOR1C2leydTUcr5S4TGtHtm1a02eAn6LSqSBLsqiAHBHBviHu5_5L65mJK3T8QGBZXYgg=w402-h293
=== Insitome Institute ===
Khan was Director of Scientific Content for the now-defunct Insotome Institute, a genome-oriented think tankhttps://web.archive.org/web/20201023001443/https://www.insitomeinstitute.org/about/teamAbout Insotome Institute (archived November 23, 2020).
=== National Review ===
Khan has published several articles in the National Review.https://www.nationalreview.com/author/razib-khan/
=== National Public Radio ===
National Public Radio ran a story about Khan called Curious Father Decodes His Unborn Son's DNA.https://www.npr.org/2014/06/29/326669395/curious-father-decodes-his-sons-dna
=== Discover Magazine ===
Khan had a blog called Gene Expression at Discover Magazine. He generally avoided the topic of race with a few exceptions.https://web.archive.org/web/20111201223044/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2011/11/on-structure-variation-and-race/ https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/why-race-as-a-biological-construct-matters When he left Discover, he indicated he was joining up (or joining up again?) with Ron Unz.https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/endings-and-beginnings.
===="You're a subhuman retard"====
When he was writing a column for Discover Magazine, Razib Khan declared that civility is important: "Comments are important. From the comments over the past 8 years of blogging I have learned much. But civility is important, and I enforce that with some zeal.""...civility is important..." Razib Khan (March 25, 2010) Gene Expression - Discover Magazine 
More recently, and like Emil KirkegaardEmil O. W. Kirkegaard#Ableism Rational Wiki, Khan uses "retard" and "retarded" to childishly insult those he disagrees with, as when he responded to a commenter on Richard Hanania's Substack with "You're a subhuman retard."Why I Used to Suck - Comments Razib Khan (August 6, 2023) Richard Hanania's Newsletter
File:Subhuman retard.png|thumb|center|250px|Razib Khan demonstrating the importance of civility 
File:Retardnation.png|thumb|center|250px|More civility Retard Nation Razib Khan (September 26, 2023) Twitter/X
File:Retarded khan.png|thumb|center|250px|"Retarded talking points" ...repeating retarded talking points about equity ... Razib Khan (October 3, 2023) Twitter/X
File:Retardteachers.png|thumb|center|250px|"Retard teachers" etc. My daughter's math teacher... Razib Khan (October 3, 2023) Twitter/X
File:Moreretarded.png|thumb|center|250px|"More retarded than before" but nowi think you are more retarded than i did before... Razib Khan (September 8, 2023) Twitter/X
File:Razibretard1.png|thumb|center|250px|"It's just retarded" It's just retarded Razib Khan (August 2, 2023) Twitter/X
File:Retardedtoday.png|thumb|center|250px|"I was going to tweet... retarded" I was going to tweet... Razib Khan (October 7, 2023) Twitter/X
File:Itsretarded.png|thumb|center|250px|"It's retarded this is cancellable" More right-wing civility Razib Khan (October 9, 2023) Twitter/X
File:retardedretard.png|thumb|center|250px|Retarded retard Even more right-wing civility Razib Khan (October 14, 2023) Twitter/X
File:some.png|thumb|center|250px|Some retards Some retards... Razib Khan (October 19, 2023) Twitter/X
File:trynot.png|thumb|center|250px|Global spanning empire retard Global spanning empire retard Razib Khan (October 19, 2023) Twitter/X
File:Trashtheretard.png|thumb|center|250px|Trash the retard postcolonials Trash the retard postcolonials Razib Khan (October 19, 2023) Twitter/X
File:retardshades.png|thumb|center|250px|Rainbow nation of retards [https://archive.is/QGTHl Rainbow nation of retards Razib Khan (October 19, 2023) Twitter/X
File:Bumch.png|thumb|center|250px|Bunch of these retards [https://archive.is/5ASVp Bunch of these retards Razib Khan (October 19, 2023) Twitter/X
File:2percent.png|thumb|center|250px|Razib's daughter: not a retard Reply at me retards (October 19, 2023) Twitter/X
File:ukretard.png|thumb|center|250px|UK: retarded [https://archive.is/07vOh UK is retarded (November 11, 2023) Twitter/X
File:Khan noslur.png|thumb|center|250px|Khan defends his use of the term 'retard.' [https://twitter.com/razibkhan/status/1752890357098881294 Students are mostly retarded... (January 31, 2024) Twitter/X
File:Race-science-retarded.png|thumb|center|250px|...that's when I know you are retarded some of you ppl try and explain race science to me. that's when i know you are retarded, and i block you (February 6, 2025) Twitter/X
In what he no doubt considers a compelling argument, he retweeted right-wing Wilfred Reilly and far-right Koch-funded Independent Women's Forum Inez Stepman defending the use of the term.This was my first political act lol... Inez Stepman (October 4, 2023) Twitter/X
===GenRAIT===
On the podcast Standing on the Shoulders of Giants with David McKay, Khan said that most of his time was spent working on a startup called GenRAIT.Geneticist Razib Khan on the Standing on the Shoulders of Giants podcast (March 2, 2023) YouTube The GenRAIT website's About page, as of October 2023, did not provide any information about who was involved in the organization.GenRAIT - About (retrieved October 5, 2023) However, Taylor Capito was identified via the GenRAIT Twitter/X account as CEO of GenRAIT.Find @GenRait_Inc CEO @TaylorCapito at the Festival of Genomics and Biodata in Boston GenRAIT (October 5, 2023) Twitter/X Khan frequently posts images of himself and Capito on Twitter/X.Startup event (retrieved November 17, 2023) Twitter/X#appliedlive business on top casual on the bottom Razib Khan (September 20, 2023) Twitter/XMe and Taylor at #appliedlive in Austin today and tomorrow representing ⁦@GenRait_Inc Razib Khan (September 20, 2023) Twitter/XFav. pic from today at #AppliedLive conference here in Austin Razib Khan (September 20, 2023) Twitter/XDay 2 #appliedAI repping @GenRait_Inc Razib Khan (September 21, 2023) Twitter/XThe fun at booth 20 at The Festival of Genomics and Biodata GenRAIT (October 5, 2023) Twitter/X Capito holds a BS in Psychology.Taylor Capito - LinkedIn (retrieved October 5, 2023) LinkedIn According to LinkedIn, the head of science is Amanda VondrasAmanda Vondras (Retrieved October 5, 2023) LinkedIn and the CTO and co-founder is Santanu Das.Santanu Das (Retrieved October 5, 2023) LinkedIn
A company called Bioinformatic CRO was identified on Twitter/X as a partner of GenRAITGenRait, Inc. CEO @TaylorCapito and Justin Duplantis of @BioinfoCRO (a GenRait, Inc. partner) GenRAIT (October 5, 2023) Twitter/X Khan is a former employee of Bioinformatics CRO.Razib Khan Linkedin Profile< Razib Khan (Retrieved October 5, 2023) LinkedIn
== Controversies ==
Because Khan's career has received boosts from mainstream individuals and organizations, his history as a promoter of race pseudoscience is often overlooked until controversy brings it out into the open.
===The New York Times "cancellation"===
He was asked to write for The New York Times, but after his history of racist connections was publicized, his offer was rescinded.https://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/03/new-york-times-drops-razib-khan-204287
Khan wrote about it on his blog, claiming that it did not negatively impact his career.https://www.razibkhan.com/p/get-lucky
Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, wrote an inflammatory piece in Taki's Magazine lamenting:
In fact one of the primary individuals in Khan's "lynching" was Jamelle Bouie,https://tktk.gawker.com/new-times-op-ed-writer-has-a-colorful-past-with-racist-1692187849 now a columnist at The New York Times who happens to be African American.https://www.nytimes.com/column/jamelle-bouie Khan acknowledged this fact, without mentioning names when he wrote:
===="Jamelle Bouie is a DEI person who is evil"====
In a tweet on January 30, 2025, Khan expressed his feelings about Bouie, calling him "a DEI person who is evil.to give a sense of where i am coming from, kendi is a DEI person who is kind and well-meaning. @jbouie is a DEI person who is evil (January 30, 2025) Razib Khan Twitter/X (Archived January 30, 2025) 
===E.O. Wilson rebuttal controversy===
After E. O. Wilson died, Monica McLemore published an article in Scientific American noting Wilson's connections to racialists and debt to hereditarianism called The Complicated Legacy of E. O. Wilson.https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-complicated-legacy-of-e-o-wilson/ Khan went ballistic, writing:
When some of those who signed Khan's rebuttal became aware of Khan's racialist history, they rescinded their signatures. This was criticized by mainstream individuals such as Matthew Yglesias who tweeted sarcastically "Seems like a healthy intellectual climate,"https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnhM3qW5K1Vh5z1JcqowmL8ncVlqdXVSHqPUTD7xiKjCdgciXmgIsyxNy2fNIhWbRWRMrIep5BexFCvj3RkRJYp9EOplkVxmEN_Zim4XtruVOCQnrpZHAyNPVtPcMnoT45VmwIDcnv5lhdTCGMYF9zeXvp2He_RbYGTO0En0A2SnycIrDinLY1KGM=w400-h505 and Nicholas Christakis who tweeted "I think it was James Baldwin himself who said 'if a Klansman were to say that the sun rises in the east, I would agree with him, because I ally myself with the truth.' And, to be clear, the point is that (Khan's) rebuttal was accurate (and neither EO or Razib deserve this, IMHO)."https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFlfT9IWpvOgZQq1K2J0SMg-HCTELrivy_6Q1gHncaLNXkuq8CoWbCawY_kacDGCa7cClzwgazjVCdZq9yvSCQ_2m3rk_Tq6eR9xQAXWR5CixkUc0bWWIiieWy69hyViFESt-wXrwefZwFmESGP7SeSDNf2q9aHWK5c-i2dyXnwCOMOq-8x76sRBM=w534-h964 Christakis later admitted that his got the source of the quotation wrong, it was actually by Bayard Rustin.https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVuzvfMlztshSFCwSzr1XkGK_2wni_5idY4V8auK02I5IGGohO-608ChlEmKD7UXrkhQniii4V9s_Oc0GoYuhwXlX5zYn9lQVZtO7YvvnT72nFAxAvni04wUiugTMywy9rvwcjJOyMxag-IpOsXQQGu4tQpCJU_LofrA-24NfpxrI3sNIzrSSrlIs=w558-h451
Unfortunately for Khan and his defenders, the papers that Wilson had made available to researchers upon his death revealed he was even more explicitly racist than Monica McLemore and others realized:
== Recent racialist activities ==
Khan's views on race and association with racists are not only in the past. He still firmly believes in hereditarianism and Black genetic inferiority and has friendly relationships with hereditarians and racists.
===Charles Murray and Facing Reality===
In July 2021, in Quillette, Razib Khan published a review of The Bell Curve author Charles Murray's Facing Reality: Two Truths about Race in America.https://web.archive.org/web/20210801070640/https://quillette.com/2021/07/29/charles-murrays-facing-reality-a-review/
Theodore R. Johnson, in his review in The Washington Post, wrote:
For his part, Khan completely agrees with Murray, and laments the failure of most Americans to accept the hereditarian claim that Black American failure to thrive has nothing to do with systemic racism, and rather everything to do with Black American genes. He calls the claim of systemic racism "a foundation of lies":
In a tweet which he later deleted, Khan, an atheist, compared the claim of systemic racism to religious belief.https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcCVAxIcG0G2Rdmz0SK4jocQfddSybPquC9HD2EDN7izdrbD39eapyddLDKqoCsg2hfxIzdq7dn01PoG0l7FVok_pQBd7z7viQYdoFJ5VbMLMV-tPyQfNbGjdO32Uv-2uLcUpMWAZk0LjqsaodW6167GINyaXVMn2qfmAKN8qoxDMyGK3Q9pWz36k=w432-h271https://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/RadioDerb/2020-12-25.html
In spite of the implication by Khan and others that Charles Murray is just a humble scientist reporting the facts, and has been unfairly characterized as a racist, Murray is a political scientist who defended job discrimination against Black applicants in recent yearshttps://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yq-rdYx4D0A/YQAeCdfqZyI/AAAAAAAAOrY/TJEqS0mm8rE9swTQRyUzYKxGUM4zhmxwgCLcBGAsYHQ/w478-h648/scocca-murray.png. Presumably this is one of Murray's suggestions for how we can make a better America, once his two truths are accepted.
=== Richard Hanania ===
Khan has been a friendly colleague of Richard Hanania for yearshttps://salemcenter.org/event/hanania-in-austin-public-choice-theory-and-the-illusion-of-grand-strategy/https://www.cspicenter.com/p/3-us-civil-war-razib-khan-and-richard-421#detailshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHLm4FVgcVohttps://www.razibkhan.com/p/richard-hanania-markets-in-every#detailshttps://www.callin.com/episode/brown-bodies-white-spaces-KxcMaYujBx and Hanania described Khan as his friend on his Substackhttps://www.richardhanania.com/p/hanania-caplan-razib-in-tx-january.
=== The Quillette gang ===
Khan announced on his Substack:
==Other views==
Khan has said that he has always been an atheist.Razib Khan, Anti-Woke Mage Of Old Religion: Atheist scientist and controversialist says Woke triumph resembles historical victory of Christianity over Roman paganism by Rod Dreher (Feb 1, 2021 10:18 AM) The American Conservative.
==External links==
*Race, science, and the continuing education of Razib Khan - Undark
*The Racist Work of a New York Times Writer - Ebony
*New Evidence Revives Questions about E. O. Wilson and Race - Undark
*The Last Refuge of Scoundrels - New Evidence of E. O. Wilson’s Intimacy with Scientific Racism - Science for the People
*No Saints! Pharyngula
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Living people
Category:Authors
Category:Atheists
Category:Biologists
Category:Biochemists
Category:Intellectual Dark Web
Category:Racialism
Category:Racialism pseudoscientists