Here is the original in archive format.
I could not find an English-language version online so I translated it via Google Translate. The highlight about Cofnas, testifying he is a friend of neo-Nazi Emil Kirkegaard, is mine.
Who is Bouke de Vries, the professor who brought Nathan Cofnas to Ghent—a move that has been causing a stir for months? In which circles do both philosophers move? A reconstruction of their connections leads to a network of pseudo-academics, entrepreneurs in embryo selection, and white supremacists.(NOTE: the term "white supremacists" uses the English words in the Dutch original.)
April 30, 2024, 9 a.m. In a small room on the third floor of the Blandijn campus in Ghent, a handful of people gather to listen to American bioethicist Jonathan Anomaly. He is speaking at the invitation of Dutch professor Bouke de Vries, who conducts research on loneliness at the university.
The reason for the talk has little to do with loneliness. Anomaly is coming to discuss his book, *Creating Future People*, in which he speculates on how profoundly parenthood and society would change if parents could select their embryos based on intelligence, physical attractiveness, and health. Anomaly does not merely theorize about this; he is putting these ideas into practice—to the extent that science allows—through Herasight, a company that offers embryo screening and selection services to couples.
Genetic differences are among the interests of Nathan Cofnas, the philosopher who is the talk of the University of Ghent today. Yet that morning, the American researcher was not in the audience. In the spring of 2024, hardly anyone in Ghent even knew his name—with one notable exception: Bouke de Vries, the professor who would bring Cofnas to the city.
By April 2024, however, Cofnas’s name was already circulating widely within the corridors of the University of Cambridge. The researcher had caused a stir by writing that “the number of Black professors at Harvard University would be close to zero percent if the academic system were based strictly on merit.” Cofnas held the view that Black people could only secure a prominent position in sports and entertainment.
That controversy was raging when he came to Ghent in May 2024, more than two weeks after *Anomaly*. He was invited to give a lecture there on the “rise of liberalism”—an event also organized at the invitation of De Vries. This collaboration would culminate early this year in Cofnas’s appointment as a postdoctoral researcher.
De Vries, who—like Cofnas—declined to respond to questions from *De Standaard*, has been working at Ghent University since 2023. He arrived with a prestigious European research grant worth over a million euros, which he is using to conduct research into the ‘ethics of loneliness.’ At the time, anyone securing such a prestigious ERC grant was immediately offered a professorship. Concurrently, De Vries established a research group investigating how liberal states can deal with a growing number of religious citizens from countries lacking liberal traditions.
De Vries publishes extensively on a wide range of topics. He has authored papers in academic journals on subjects such as toilet height, the question of whether men should do more vacuuming, and dating apps. Recently, De Vries published a paper online advocating for embryo selection as a means to eradicate extreme poverty; in it, he references the work of Anomaly.
There are further connections linking Cofnas, Anomaly, and De Vries. In his book on embryo selection, Anomaly expressed his gratitude to "his friend Cofnas." Cofnas reciprocated this gesture in an academic paper published in 2018. "Cofnas is a good guy," Anomaly said in response to inquiries from *De Standaard*. "Bright, courageous, and willing to challenge prevailing views. Those are precisely the qualities of a great philosopher. My favorite quote from Cofnas is this: ‘The philosophical establishment claims to be the intellectual descendants of Socrates. In reality, they descend from the Athenians who killed him.’"
Made a scapegoatIt is no coincidence that Anomaly brings up that specific quote by Cofnas. Following his suspension and the disciplinary measures taken against him at Ghent University, Cofnas has become something of a martyr in certain circles—a man sacrificed by his own peers for allegedly speaking an uncomfortable truth. A month ago, Cofnas accused British educational psychologist Jason Arday of academic misconduct. The British press eagerly picked up the accusation, and the University of Cambridge launched an investigation. Arday resigned; in mid-August, he was found dead in his home.
Cofnas’s accusations against Arday were amplified via social media accounts, blogs, and websites linked to the controversial philosopher’s network. This network comprises researchers, ideologues, and opinion-makers who operate on the premise that Black people are generally less intelligent than White people—and that this is genetically determined. They call themselves "race realists." By criticizing hiring policies that prioritize people of color, they align themselves with the broader anti-woke movement. They receive support from advocates of absolute freedom of speech, even when that speech borders on hate speech.
The foundation of their ideology—the assumption that "races" exist and that one "race" is inherently more or less intelligent than another—has been scientifically debunked. There are no distinct genetic boundaries that allow the global population to be divided into biologically distinct races. Furthermore, there is significant genetic overlap between different population groups. Yet, this network continues to disseminate its outdated ideas through various channels. Adherents meet at conferences designed to resemble academic gatherings. Some attempt to build their academic profiles by publishing on other topics in reputable journals, such as *Social Psychological and Personality Science*. That lends extra weight to posts on their personal blogs (usually via Substack) or websites that bring their voices together.
The online magazine *Aporia* is a magnet for them. Its creators attempt to lend an academic veneer to controversial ideas regarding intelligence, heredity, race, immigration, and identity—themes that feature prominently on many a far-right bingo card. Last month, for instance, *Aporia* published an article on the "Great Replacement theory." This conspiracy theory claims that the European establishment intends to replace white people with Muslims. "Some versions (of the theory, ed.) go beyond the facts, but the replacement theory does have merit," reads the article's subtitle.
Cofnas first appeared as a guest on an Aporia podcast in March 2023, discussing the importance of debates on race. That same month, when a controversy arose regarding Cofnas’s appointment at Ghent University, one of the magazine’s two regular editors wrote an article defending him. In early July, the two debated the "future of woke" together on a podcast. In 2024, Aporia discussed a paper by De Vries; one of his doctoral students also published work there.
Conference in Budapest
Emil Kirkegaard is a key figure at Aporia. The Dane shares his surname—save for a single letter—with the founder of existentialism, yet he did not follow the same philosophical path. The far-right activist studied linguistics at Aarhus University. Subsequently, he wrote primarily about genetics, intelligence, and alleged racial differences. In January 2015, he posted an article on his personal website titled "Predicting migrant performance: does inbreeding have incremental predictive value over IQ and Islam?" In 2022, he addressed what he claimed was the average IQ in sub-Saharan Africa—70—and in March of this year, a "meta-analysis" of "racial differences in intelligence in America" was published.
Kirkegaard also held bizarre views regarding child abuse. In 2012, he suggested on his website that "having sex with a sleeping child (using a sedative) could be a compromise. If they don't notice, it's hard to see how it could harm them, even if it is rape." The Dane did not respond to questions from *De Standaard* regarding his views on child abuse—views he had previously described as "hypothetical." There was also no response to questions regarding Cofnas and Aporia. In March, Cofnas confirmed in an interview with *De Standaard* that he and Kirkegaard are friends.
The network does not push its ideas solely from behind keyboards and computer screens; its members also try to meet in person. Kirkegaard is a co-organizer of the London Conference on Intelligence, where eugenicists and race scientists gather to discuss their ideas. Apache revealed that De Vries was scheduled to speak at the August 2024 conference in Budapest. De Vries declined to tell Apache what the speech was about. When his academic department asked the same question, he did not answer them either.
Two years ago, an activist from the British NGO Hope not Hate managed to infiltrate this network. Posing as a potential investor, he gained a glimpse into its inner workings. Kirkegaard told the activist that he had met Peter Thiel, the German-American investor who made a fortune with PayPal and subsequently founded the data and AI company Palantir. “I went there,” Kirkegaard said. “And afterwards, he [Thiel] was so pleased with the meeting that he asked me to introduce him to a few other people. So I introduced Noah Carl [an Aporia associate] and Nathan Cofnas as well.” According to our information, Thiel never actually met Cofnas.
Cofnas did, however, find his way into the broader American circle surrounding Thiel. In a photo published in July 2024 by right-wing conservative author Richard Hanania, Cofnas poses arm-in-arm with Hanania and Curtis Yarvin. For years, Hanania wrote under a pseudonym for far-right and white supremacist publications—views he later disavowed. Yarvin is an influential ideologue who views democracy as a failed system and advocates for an authoritarian state run like a corporation by an autocrat-CEO. He also defended the idea that white people are innately more intelligent than Black people. His software company received financial backing from Thiel’s investment fund.
The campaign by Hope not Hate shone a spotlight on the Human Diversity Foundation (HDF)—the organizational and financial vehicle behind research and media activities, with *Aporia* serving as the primary outlet. Kirkegaard founded the organization; last year, he changed its name to Polygenic Scores.
The HDF is viewed as a successor to the American Pioneer Fund, established in 1937. The organization later described its mission as "promoting scientific research into heredity and human differences." One of the fund's early projects involved distributing the Nazi propaganda film *Erbkrank*, which targeted people with mental disabilities. While engaging with Kirkegaard’s HDF, the undercover activist from Hope not Hate also came into contact with Erik Ahrens, a German national. Ahrens positioned himself as a political and digital strategist within the organization and spoke of his vision for a homeland for "white, Christian people." Ahrens had previously been involved with the German far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), where he developed its social media presence on platforms like TikTok.
In addition to *Aporia*, the HDF network manages other publishing outlets such as *Mankind Quarterly* and *OpenPsych*. Many articles on race, intelligence, and genetic group differences appearing there are highly controversial from a methodological standpoint, fall outside the mainstream scientific consensus, and are frequently written, peer-reviewed, and cited by the same small circle of authors.
Crowdfunding for CofnasThe controversy surrounding Cofnas in Ghent, which has been ongoing for months, follows a similar affair in Cambridge. After it emerged in 2024 that Cofnas held disparaging views regarding Black academics, several investigations were launched. Ultimately, Cofnas retained his position as a paid researcher, though—as far as is known—he no longer performed any teaching or examination duties.
During those proceedings, Cofnas received support from the British organization Free Speech Union (FSU), founded by the Conservative Toby Young. "Cofnas is one of 47,500 paying members," Young commented. "We provided him with legal assistance and helped raise funds for his legal costs through a crowdfunding campaign. We supported him because he is a member who ran into trouble for exercising his right to free speech." A campaign launched by Cofnas on the crowdfunding platform Donorbox, featuring the Free Speech Union logo, raised at least 98,000 euros.
Young states that there is no connection between the Free Speech Union and *Aporia* or the HDF. However, British corporate records show that he and a regular editor for *Aporia* are part of the same company, Skeptics Ltd.
