Tuesday, November 21, 2006

IQ and nations

Richard notes that there is an anti-academic petition going around to punish a researcher who dared to suggest that there are IQ differences between races and htat this might effect welfare.

Well I dont know how he did his researchor if he has made silly claims (the articles seel to imply that he made the silly claim that 'poverty doesnt matter IQ only matters' - but I doubt that). But I assert that not only is this sort of petition anti-academic but the people proposing it are flat out wrong.

“Nobody could prove that there are racial or national differences in IQ” is just crazy talk.

the 'intelligence' (however you measure it) of any two individuals is unlikely to be identical (and intelligence is effected by genetics – just as some one with a genetic intelligence retardation disorder). Thus the 'intelligence' of any two groups is unlikely to be identical.

Evolution of traits like aggression in foxes takes about 10 generations so being separated for any more than about 10 generations is plenty of time to have a significant difference in traits where there are different selection pressures. being separated by, for example, 2000 generations could easily result in one group having a higher 'intelligence' although it is likely that one group would be better at certain mental tasks while the other would be better at others. But its VERY unlikely they would be identical

As another poster noted
"I'm tempted to start a petition demanding that LSE issue a statement denying that people with white skin absorb more vitamin D. After all, this could be used by racists. Some people also suggest that red-haired people tend to be more prone to freckles."

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