How fair is the race/IQ theory?

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[moderator's argh: Oh, goddam argh. Can we please take this stuff to an appropriate forum, like
sci.anthropology? (I am astonished to find there's no sci.sociology forum!) Human IQ and race are
so ridiculously species-constrained that they have zero interest as regards evolution as a
process. Get OVER yourselves. - JAH]

I suspect that the fact that all the members of sbe belong to the same species is somehow
correlated(if not cause and effect) with the fact that a lot of them are interested in this
particular topic!

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

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Some scientists claim that race and IQ is related and that since negroids

have smaller brains they must

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have a small IQ level but since most humans can use a tiny portion of

their brain, the size probably has

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nothing to do with it.

AQ: What's your evidence for the statement "negroids have smaller brains"? What's your evidence for
the statement "most humans can use a tiny portion of their brain"? As for brain size and
intelligence... Lord Byron and Oliver Cromwell had brain volumes of 2000cc. Anatole France had a
brain volume of 1000cc. All three were very intelligent. As you say, "size probably has nothing to
do with it".

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But have there been any other reasons why scientists claim that race and

IQ are related? does it have

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something do with social science? or is it deeper?

AQ: Intelligence is influenced to a great degree by environmental conditions, from the developing
foetus through primary school to adulthood. This has been shown by separated sibling studies, where
siblings adopted by parents from different social backgrounds show marked differences in IQ. For a
given social environment, race appears to play no role in IQ levels. It should be obvious that many
American blacks live in areas of social deprivation - it seems some people in American society
would prefer to blame blacks for their predicament rather than admit that prejudice and a lack of
social investment are the real limits on black peoples' potential. There may be a genetic component
to IQ, but no-one as far as I'm aware is certain to what extent genes influence IQ. The studies I
have seen suggest intelligence does run in families, but there appears to be no difference between
racial groups.

Quoted message said:

[moderator's argh: Oh, goddam argh. Can we please take this stuff to an appropriate forum, like
sci.anthropology? (I am astonished to find there's no sci.sociology forum!) Human IQ and race are
so ridiculously species-constrained that they have zero interest as regards evolution as a
process. Get OVER yourselves. - JAH]

AQ: Sorry moderator, I couldn't resist replying to this one.

Quoted message said:

Some scientists claim that race and IQ is related and that since negroids have smaller brains they
must have a small IQ level but since most humans can use a tiny portion of their brain, the size
probably has nothing to do with it.

But have there been any other reasons why scientists claim that race and IQ are related? does it
have something do with social science? or is it deeper?

Well, it could simply be to do with education and nutrition. IQ is (I believe) also correlated with
parental wealth. As is (in the UK and US certainly) race - Afro-Americans tend to be poorer.

There may be genetic variation between "races" in IQ, but I'm not aware of this having been
investigated thoroughly - you need large controlled breeding designs to do this (especially as there
is a large environmental component to the trait).

To make matters worse, this all becomes political, so the claims and counter-claims are difficult
to assess. And the experiments that are necessary to anser this are almost impossible to carry out
in practice.

Quoted message said:

[moderator's argh: Oh, goddam argh. Can we please take this stuff to an appropriate forum, like
sci.anthropology? (I am astonished to find there's no sci.sociology forum!)

There's a really unkind riposte to that, isn't there?

[moderator's note: Yes, and I _know_ some sociologists. More to the point, however, I think we're
stuck with this topic. Call it karmic revenge for all my nasty remarks about talk.origins. - JAH]

Bob

--
Bob O'Hara

Rolf Nevanlinna Institute
P.O. Box 4 (Yliopistonkatu 5) FIN-00014 University of Helsinki Finland Telephone: +358-9-191 23743
Mobile: +358 50 599 0540 Fax: +358-9-191 22 779 WWW: rni.helsinki.fi~bohOpen ↗

"Anon." <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

[moderator's argh: Oh, goddam argh. Can we please take this stuff to an appropriate forum, like
sci.anthropology? (I am astonished to find there's no sci.sociology forum!)

Quoted message said:

There's a really unkind riposte to that, isn't there?

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[moderator's note: Yes, and I _know_ some sociologists.

But would you want your sister to marry one?

Sorry, I couldn't resist :-)

And I would highly recommend "The Dependent Gene" to anyone who is seriously interested in the
debate about genetics and IQ.

Bill Morse