So, how might the idea of higher intelligence in the Jewish ethnic group relate to the controversy surrounding the recent comments of geneticist Dr. Watson? Are the ideas presented by Mr. Saletan really that different from the comments that got Dr. Watson run out of town?

If people are uncomfortable with the idea of one ethnic group possibly having a higher IQ, they are one hundred times more uncomfortable with the idea that an ethnic group could possibly have a lower IQ, even though these ideas are basically the same thing.

When this researcher is claiming that Jewish people have higher IQ's, he is also saying that non-Jews have lower IQ's (duh!).

There are good reasons these questions make us so uncomfortable, and Watson just simply has not helped resolve these issues by phrasing things the way he does. He has a habit of saying offensive things and a reputation for being difficult.

However, it is really sad that such an accomplished man will leave such a stained legacy. People's inadequacies at being diplomatic should not overshadow their accomplishments.

First, it isn't actually Jews per se who have higher than average IQs, it is only Ashkenazi Jews. Sephardic Jews have an average IQ of about 100. So even within that small ethno-religious group, there is a distinct difference.

Now consider "blacks." Africans are extremely genetically diverse, more diverse than any other population. That's not unsurprising, since high genetic diversity is usually a mark of the area of origin of a species.

So when someone claims that Africans are less intelligent than the human average, they are linking an extremely diverse group under one umbrella, simply because of the color of their skin, and it is obviously absurd to claim that skin color and intelligence are linked. WIthin the overall African-descended population, there are no doubt some ethnic groups that show higher intelligence than others, just as within the European-descended population, there are some ethnic groups that show higher intelligence.

But even within those groups, there is a wide distribution of intelligence. So we see both Europeans and Africans who equate skin color with moral character, and we see both Africans and Europeans who have increased the sum of human knowledge.

Watson made the racist argument that Africans are incapable of governing themselves. For that, he should have been run out of town. If Saletan made the argument that since Jews are smarter than the rest of us, they should be in charge of the world, then he'd be making an equivalent argument. So far as I can tell, he didn't say that.

"First, it isn't actually Jews per se who have higher than average IQs, it is only Ashkenazi Jews. Sephardic Jews have an average IQ of about 100. So even within that small ethno-religious group, there is a distinct difference."

This in my mind more than anything else tells me that the relative value difference is in cultures that Jews found themselves in and not the genes. I'd find it interesting to see what would happen if you could have put all the Ashkenazi in Spain and all the Sephardic in Germany. I'd bet the IQ scores would also flip.

Ashkenazi Jews have a distinctly different genetic background from Sephardic Jews, as evidenced by both their appearance and the particular set of genetic diseases among the Ashkenazi. I don't doubt that the culture of learning contributes to their intelligence, but the Sephards share that culture of learning, so it's hard to say that the IQ difference is purely cultural.

I was talking about the difference between the German culture and the Spanish culture each group found itself in.