From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Sat May 09 1998 - 15:41:11 MDT
John K Clark <johnkc@well.com> writes:
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> Anders Sandberg <asa@nada.kth.se> On 08 May 1998 Wrote:
>
> >>Me:
> >> The first genetic marker has been found for a gene that has a weak
> >>but statistically real effect on IQ.
>
> >This isn't as exciting as it sounds, unfortunately. The gene codes
> >for an immune protein,
>
>
> You must be thinking of something else, this was just reported and as far as
> I know nobody knows what the gene codes for, in fact nobody has even found
> the gene, Plomin found a marker that must be near the gene, the marker itself
> is just a bit of nonfunctional junk DNA
Hmm, I thought I had some references handy here, since I attended a
seminar on this subject at Stockholm University a coupe of weeks
back. I seem to have misplaced my notes somewhere, but I recall that
the study they reviewed involved immune-linked genes. I'll get back on
this.
> >if you have a strong immune system, you have more time and energy
> >in school (or elsewhere) where your brain will be trained.
>
> If you're talking about children who do poorly in school maybe, although
> history is full of sickly geniuses, in this case however we're talking about
> children who's IQ range from a normal 100 to an unusual 160 and above.
> I don't see how lack of sickness can explain that, I think they're on to
> something.
If you have a good health (or just the right kind of health that
leaves your brain functional even if your body is sick), the brain
might get more nutrients and be able to develop better. But there
might be other factors too, a wild hypothesis might be that some of
these genes create very useful wiring structures that others lack or
have to build by experience.
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