Social James Watson, the "Father" of DNA is stripped of all titles for racism

[Tycho- Taylor's Version]

Wait. Is no one concerned that we might not have discovered DNA, if we were as intolerant of racists back then, as we are today?

Why would anyone be concerned about a completely bogus claim

 

[method115]

C) genetics aren't an inescapable, unchanging thing but can actually be modified.

Could have swore this has already been proven. I read a study about how being healthy can actually change your genes and the genes you pass on to your kids. The same way being obese does and those changes are passed on to your kids.

 

[method115]

To relate this to the story at hand, I will say that I could care less what a population's average IQ is. It says nothing about individuals, and we treat people as individuals. I know White, African, Hispanic, and Asian doctors. I know White, African, Hispanic, and Asian dishwashers and manual laborers. Treating anybody as anything other than an individual makes no sense at all.

Great post especially this part here at the end.

 

[Possum Jenkins]

Could have swore this has already been proven. I read a study about how being healthy can actually change your genes and the genes you pass on to your kids. The same way being obese does and those changes are passed on to your kids.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics

It's a pretty new field of inquiry so there's lots of stuff that's still unclear but it wouldn't be surprising if at some point it's found that intelligence is also subject to this.

 

[IamStryker]

Most white people wouldn't freak out about that because they don't actually believe it's true.

I thought the discussion here is on whether or not the statement is racist. Believing it or not doesn't change anything.

 

[IamStryker]

Black intellectual inferiority has been used for centuries to justify their mistreatment. So saying that ANY group is superior to them isn't fine and is gonna be met with resistance (both politically and scientifically).

However, not all groups have used this supposed inferiority equally. Whites have completely and thoroughly led the way in this department so they'll understandably get more scrutiny.

Making statements based in science and making a claim of superiority are two different things. If Asians are the most intelligent race I wouln't argue that they are superior. The IQ stuff is just an average anyway. Whites can still be smarter than Asians and blacks can still be smarter than Asians.

 

[Quipling]

There is only one race though.

Wrong av

 

[Ice That Jaw]

What's amazing is that his discovery is more important than ever now.

The absolute, without question, most beneficial science going on right now is not rocket science, it's not machine learning or quantam computing.

The most beneficial is genome science. They are going to eventually use stem cells to cure male pattern baldness. That is fucking huge. Then fat chicks will have no more excuses.

 

[Hog-train]

Making statements based in science and making a claim of superiority are two different things. If Asians are the most intelligent race I wouln't argue that they are superior. The IQ stuff is just an average anyway. Whites can still be smarter than Asians and blacks can still be smarter than Asians.

I completely agree. We still have to assess everybody based on their individual traits.

So all this "IQ Study" stuff is a complete waste of time and just used as part of a political agenda. Often for racist reasons or to claim superiority. Which is completely lame and weak sauce.

 

[lifelessheap]

Black intellectual inferiority has been used for centuries to justify their mistreatment. So saying that ANY group is superior to them isn't fine and is gonna be met with resistance (both politically and scientifically).

However, not all groups have used this supposed inferiority equally. Whites have completely and thoroughly led the way in this department so they'll understandably get more scrutiny.

Arabs have done terrible things to black Africans and still do. Slavery, rape, and genocide etc.

 

[Cuauhtemoc]

Did they test rural Russian farmers too? How'd they do compared to Moscow or St. Petersburg residents?

Another thing that's overlooked is the huge jump in IQ with each successive generation that's exposed to structured schooling, decent healthcare, and solid nutrition. This tells you that either A) IQ tests aren't a great measure of intelligence, or B) intelligence isn't genetic, or even C) genetics aren't an inescapable, unchanging thing but can actually be modified.

No idea, I remember in the soviet union they tried to devise better tests for rural people but they were mostly central asians. They had problems with it, one of the examples was to see a series of objects and see what object was out of place.
The asian peasants were presented with a log, a hatchet, a hammer and a saw. They said no object was out of place. The researchers said the log was out of place because the others are tools. But the peasants argued that they could all be grouped as in things needed for woodworking.
Something similar when they showed pictures of some tools and fruits and how they should be grouped. The researchers expected the peasants to make two sets, one of tools and the other of fruits, but the peasants made various sets of a fruit and a tool to process it, like a knife to cut an apple, a hammer to crack a nut and so on.
So, even supposedly culture neutral tests can be biased.
Now, that was in the 1940s, and most people around the world nowadays have some kind of schooling and the gaps are not just when you compare a bushmen and people living in Switzerland.
African Americans, for example, score a lot lower than the Chinese in China who probably eat less nutritious food and are subject to a lot more harmful pollutants.

My take on it is that nurture is obviously important, you can improve the IQ of a population with better diet and health. IQ is just a number, but even if it's not true intelligence it shows you're good at doing things in industrial countries, it's cute that the soviet peasants couldn't get the test right but they would also be unemployable.
Genetics of complex traits like intelligence are still nebulous and even if theoretically we can do something about it, it will not be soon, but we shouldn't boycott people that study it as this knowledge may be important in the future.
For now we should invest in what is possible to improve, nurture as I said and promoting the end of consanguineous marriages in these African countries, as that is probably not healthy for their genes.

 

[Strychnine]

Wow.

He comes off as a real jackhole.

 

[Joe265]

This IQ stuff will be blown out of the water once we explore more of our true nature, uninhibited. We are so focused on feats of calculation and brain power, when things like learning to express love, bravery, compassion from the heart are how we build a true world, where good reigns.

 

[illclint]

Why is it irresponsible to say that IQ is genetic but it is ok to insist that homosexuality is genetic?

It's funny that people who obviously know less about the subject than the man who discovered DNA, think they know more.

 

[IIIIIIII]

very interesting where this thread has gone. for another point of view, i've decided to post the following video:



don't let the title fool you lol, the person is actual intelligent.

 

[EradiatedHaggis]

The guy is saying black people score less on IQ tests therefore black people arent as intelligent as white people and you're standing up for him. Wtf?

Its always the ones that know the least that seem to post them most. You clearly know nothing about IQ tests and what they determine. There are 9 TYPES of intelligence. 9. Not 1. A full IQ test will break them down and a person with an IQ of 100 can have a higher "Naturalist" ability than a person with an IQ of 180.

Where the vast majority of Africans may rank low on the Spatial, Linguistic spectrum, they do not in the Intra-personal and Bodily-Kinesthetic spectrum...we sure as fuck know that Asians as a whole excel on the Math and Spatial spectrum.

Perhaps if you PC shits would remove your heads from your asses long enough for this relatively new field to grow we can learn who is great at what and use it to help everyone find fields they will actually excel in...instead of pushing this idea that every single person is the same and try to create this homogeneous future where everyone sucks at everything.

 

[Hog-train]

Why is it irresponsible to say that IQ is genetic but it is ok to insist that homosexuality is genetic?

It's funny that people who obviously know less about the subject than the man who discovered DNA, think they know more.

It's not irresponsible to say IQ is genetic. It's irresponsible to say IQ is ALL genetic.

It isn't that hard to understand.

 

[LockardTheGOAT]

Making statements based in science and making a claim of superiority are two different things. If Asians are the most intelligent race I wouln't argue that they are superior. The IQ stuff is just an average anyway. Whites can still be smarter than Asians and blacks can still be smarter than Asians.

Eh, intelligence is the most important trait that we have. It's literally what sets us apart from every other species. If you can prove that a race is "more intelligent", then that's pretty strong evidence that they are superior. Obviously you can't paint every individual of a race with the same brush and not every single Asian will be smarter than every single Caucasia,/Black/Mexican/etc., but still.

 

[Lvnvmma]

It's not irresponsible to say IQ is genetic. It's irresponsible to say IQ is ALL genetic.

It isn't that hard to understand.

I guess potential IQ is genetic. Diet and environment has an effect on a person maximizing his/her potential IQ. North vs. South Korean difference in IQ, for example. I'd say it's practically impossible to increase your potential IQ.

 

[Possum Jenkins]

Making statements based in science and making a claim of superiority are two different things. If Asians are the most intelligent race I wouln't argue that they are superior. The IQ stuff is just an average anyway. Whites can still be smarter than Asians and blacks can still be smarter than Asians.

First, as is obvious any time this subject is brought up, the science behind intelligence testing is spotty at best. So making a statement about any race being more intelligent than others isn't firmly scientific.

Second, not everyone has a nuanced thinking the way you do. Intelligence has been used to determine superiority/inferiority between groups since the 19th century. And this has obviously had pretty horrible consequences.