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Re: Social Engineering
Kevyn Loren Winkless (umwinkl0@cc.umanitoba.ca)
13 Jan 1995 07:58:43 GMT
In <1995Jan12.193129.24386@arl.mil> Troy Kelley <tkelley@hel4.brl.mil> writes:
>Finally, I wonder if anyone has thought about the "types" of people which
>were brought over as slaves, and how those ancestors effected African
>Americans as a whole. For example, slave traders didn't go over to Africa
>to find the smartest or the most intellectual blacks they could find.
>They went over to find the biggest, healthiest blacks they could find for
>the hard labor they would have to endure in America. It seems to me that
>there has been sort of "selection" pressures, that have affected the gene
>pool of the Africans that were brought to America. The brightest, most
>intelligent blacks simply were not brought here, it was usually the
>biggest and healthiest blacks. So how does that effect the gene pool of
>the blacks living in the US as opposed to the kind of black who is living
>in Africa now?
This of course assumes that genetics control intelligence to a large
degree, which I think you will find most people do not think to be the
case (here, by intelligence, I'm speaking generally in terms of ability
to learn, creativity and reason). It might be that specific and easily
noticeable forms of "intelligence" are clearly associated genetically
(like the tendency to easily learn languages or musical instruments), but
since it would seem to be linked more strongly with exposure and
education then genetic background I think you would find it difficult to
show any sort of correlation of the sort you suggest. Also, I think
you'll find that there was little or no degree of selection involved in
much of the slave trade: large portions of African populations were
bought or captured without any limiting factor save a lack of physical
defects and age.
Kevyn Winkless
"Woe be unto those who rise up early in the morning..." Isiah 5:11
umwinkl0@cc.umanitoba.ca
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