Nobel prize-winning dna pioneer stripped of titles for his views on race.

[geared]

Didn't the same article say he was now in a care home and barely aware of his surroundings??

 

Sounds like he's got dementia?  He could have had it for a while, he made a similar statement about 10 years ago, he was 80 then.

Edited January 14, 2019 by geared

[altus]

22 hours ago, frigate said:

Human characteristics, including IQ test aptitude are largely determined by environmental influences. Other genes are part of that environment, along with food, training, books, the net, parental indoctrination etc etc.

I wonder if he would have gotten into quite so much hot water if he had quipped that Black Africans are prepared by their genetic ancestry more likely to do well in athletic pursuits ?

Anyone who watches the big IQ test analogue, the Olympic Games can readily see the truth of that one.

Anybody who concluded such a thing just from looking at the results of the Olympics would be called a fool. It would be like claiming the Swiss are genetically more suited to skiing than Jamaicans because of their respective results in the Winter Olympics whilst ignoring that Switzerland has snowy mountains and Jamaica doesn't.

 

You have to exclude all confounding influences. For example, Kenyans dominate distance running. It's well known that being at a high altitude causes the body to increase the proportion of red blood cells to combat the relatively thinner air. This provides an advantage if you compete in distance events against people who have lived at lower altitudes. Much of Kenya is at high altitude so Kenyan athletes benefit from that. Does this mean there is a genetic component to this? It's difficult to tell. Elite lowland athletes can get significant benefits from training at high altitudes which implies not. Do Kenyan have an advantage from their bodies adapting to a lifetime spent at high altitude rather than just spending a few months at a high altitude training camp? Quite possibly, but that would be an adaptation to environment advantage not a genetic one.

 

There are a myriad of other influences, many far more subtle than the altitude you live at, that would have to be accounted for before you could claim any performance differences were due to genetics.

[petemcewan]

I1L2T3,

 

 

What part genetic factors play in the development of intelligence is uncertain and is likely to remain so, since they only exist by virtue of the fact that genetic and environmental factors have been in interaction from the time of conception.  We do know , however, that defective linguistic skills, dysfunctional patterns of conceptualisation, depressed motivation and academic performance- which so often characterise  low IQ score - are closely associated with poverty, social disorganisation and social isolation.

 We do need to think of intelligence not as a fixed mental capacity but as a  generic term for the individual's set of strategies for processing information,problem solving and artistic creativity.

 

 

 

[frigate]

On 13/01/2019 at 23:53, frigate said:

 

 

10

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 13/01/2019 at 23:53, frigate said:

 

10

 

 

 

 

 

 

[woodview]

10 minutes ago, frigate said:

 

 

Can't argue with that.