Re: a connection between race and IQ is impossible
by
willep
12/05/2007, 8:39 AM
So if you want establish a link between intelligence and race and then attribute the difference to genes you would need to do this:
1. Define intelligence and get a cross cultural test that works. (not easy)
2. Get some evidence that this defined intelligence is inhereted genetically on an individual basis. (not clear yet)
3. Define genetic populations. (something better than "they look alike to me")
4. Compare the populations' performance on the test.
If there is a difference and you controlled for education and environment and made sure your test was language nuetral, you now have some kind of link between intelligence and population on a genetic basis.
Now you move to "race." You need to define race. Who's in, who's out. Now you apply the test to a sample of each race.
It's a huge project. And a lot of these caveats are really tough to crack: what is intelligence? how can a test not depend on language? control for environment, how? find populations that have been isolated breeding populations for awhile--- where's that? do genetic testing...
You could do this but no one has. So, until then, you can try to extrapolate from data that isn't good. But what data there is shows that we are all (all groups) pretty much the same genetically, we haven't been separate from one another very long, we can all do the same stuff... and genetic intelligence is not very important on a population basis, and probably not too important on an individual basis either.
So get back to work... me too. Hard work is more important that intelligence and trying to convince a racist knuckhead like Tommy12345678 that he is a moron is an uphill battle.