From: Hal Finney (hal@rain.org)
Date: Fri Dec 18 1998 - 01:25:53 MST
The January, 1999 issue of Scientific American has a profile of James
R. Flynn, discoverer of the Flynn effect, which we have discussed here
occasionally. This is the observation that IQ test raw scores have
steadily risen over the last century, suggesting that people are in some
sense getting smarter. It appears that the average person today would
have scored at near genius levels on IQ tests 100 years ago.
Gregory Sullivan gave a URL last year for more information on the
effect, http://www.amsci.org/amsci/articles/97articles/Neisser.html.
Ulric Neisser, the author of that article, also has a book
on the Flynn effect, based on a 1996 symposium of the American
Psychological Association. The book, _The_Rising_Curve_, is described
at http://www.apa.org/books/curve.html (and can be ordered from there,
as well as from amazon.com).
Flynn is an interesting character, with a far left wing background that
prompted him and his wife to leave the United States and move to New
Zealand, where they felt more at home ideologically. He initially
went into IQ studies to oppose people like Arthur Jensen, who were
arguing that black people were intellectually genetically inferior.
While looking at the data in detail he discovered the remarkable rise
in IQ over the decades.
Despite Flynn's political beliefs, he says he has deep regards for Jensen
as a scholar. Nevertheless, he "nearly roars" out a denial when asked
directly whether he believes that black people "are genetically inferior
for a kind of intelligence that pays dividends in the computer age."
I found this somewhat inconsistent; if he is so certain about this that
he is willing to shout his denial, how could he respect someone who has
come to the other view? Could a geologist respect the scholarship of
a flat-earther?
My conclusion is that Flynn probably does not view the matter as clearly
established, and that intellectually he can see how someone could come
to the opposite conclusion. However, emotionally he remains deeply
commited to his belief in equality. His high-volume response reflects
depth of emotion rather than a strong intellectual belief.
Hal
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