Re: IQ AND RACE. The taboo subject.
Ian T Brown (ibrown@willamette.edu)
12 Feb 1995 23:37:07 -0800
In article <3hlb79$29h@panix.com>, J Lopez <jlopez@panix.com> wrote:
>In <3hjmg6$cks@gemini.willamette.edu> ibrown@willamette.edu (Ian T Brown) writes:
>
>>>There's also the problem of explaining/predicting those of us (AfAms) who
>>>have (much) higher than average IQs versus those (AfAms) who don't. Is
>>>this because some of us have a gene(s) that promote higher intelligence
>>>or do we lack the gene(s) that decreases intelligence? How about those
>>>"whites" who have substandard IQ scores...do they "suffer" for the same
>>>reasons? Is there a separate (but equal ;-) smart/dumb gene for each race?
>
>>No, there isn't a separate smart/dumb gene for each race. They are the
>>same genes in all races. There is tremendous variation within
>>populations, and the coincidence that the "smart" genes are found more in
>>Asian-Americans than in African-Americans doesn't mean that it isn't
>>found in African-Americans. Just that it is found in African-Americans
>>less often (statistically) than in Asian-Americans.
>
>I can't figure out how you have determined that the different "races"
>have the same "smart" genes. Let's take the example of a Swede and an
>Ibo, since the consensus among the "race" crowd seems to be that they
>would be members of different races. There is no doubt, really, that
>regarding the genes that code for, say, skin color or hair texture, we
>are not just looking at different distributions of the same genes in the
>two populations, but we're seeing completely different genes. That
>is, the gene sequences coding for those particular genotypes are
>virtually mutually exclusive between those two populations. You wouldn't
>expect to find *any* Swedes with that Afro-type hair, it just doesn't
>exist among indigenous Swedes, period. (AFAIK, of course).
Well, I'll grant you that there may be genes that are exclusive to
isolated populations for the moment (mainly because I don't want to get
into that argument...that thread already happened). My response would be
that African-American and European-American populations are so mixed with
each others gene pool that the proposition that there are "smart genes" that
are exclusive to one race is highly unlikely.
>>>Now can you carry that thought a little further to
>>>comprehend the problems caused when (certain) people ASSUME that there
>>>is a genetic reason to discriminate?
>
>>Good point. Also why I think that TBC should be treated as a curious
>>acedemic exercise in juggling of numbers, rather than a serious influence
>>on policy. There have been studies that correlate intelligence with
>>left-handedness far more strongly than TBC correlates intelligence with
>>race, and I don't see people assuming that right-handers should be
>>discriminated against.
>
>You've stumbled upon a good "pro IQ/race is genetic" argument there.
>Many of us left-handers feel that we are discriminated against, yet
>despite that, we tend to have somewhat higher IQs. Hmmm.
Discriminated against? Remember that a disportionate number of our
presidents have been left-handed (in fact, Bush, Clinton, and Perot are
ALL left-handed). Serious discrimination would probably not allow so
many of the discriminated-against minority to achieve power. On the
other hand, maybe this only strengthens the argument for left-handed
genetic superiority.
>Then again, left-handers have shorter life-spans, too, and I believe a
>higher incidence of clinical depression and insanity. Another
>strike against the argument that "greater intelligence" equals "genetic
>superiority."
Wait, that argument isn't gone yet!!! Much of the high left-handed
mortality rate can be attributed to accidents caused by a right-hand
oriented world. It's a _society_ that's 85 or 90 percent right-handed
which refuses to recognize the legitimate needs of Left-Handed-Americans
that causes the clinical depression and insanity. Left-handers unite!!!
>--
>jlopez :: "How the hell can you write an essay on E. M. Forster with almost
> total reference to Harold Robbins?" --Willy Russell
--
"What a waste it is to lose one's mind, or not to have a mind is being
very wasteful." -- Dan Quayle
"Book 'em, Dannoe." -- Jack Lord
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