From: Spike Jones (spike66@ibm.net)
Date: Sat Jan 30 1999 - 14:03:54 MST
Tim Bates wrote:
> Why does knowing that IQ is "real" (read: "general ability is a valid
> construct) and that it is heritable ( read: heritability is greater than
> zero in any known environment) lead to racism and even race war?
tim i am thinking about the closest thing we have seen to a modern
race war is the well known example of the rwanda tutsis vs hutus.
these two groups went at each other with no apparent motive (that
i know of) other than the notion that ones own race is superior
in some way to the other's. the examples you gave (germany vs
the genetically indistinguishable english and french) was i think more
political or economic, altho the retoric of the time was definitely racist.
the reason this is of interest to me as an extropian is this: it appears
soon we will have the ability to identify the genetic patterns which give
rise to high intelligence (if iq is real), then furthermore, to extract and
fertilize in vitro several ova simultaneously, freeze, read the genome,
subsequently reimplant a selected fetus. the implications of this alone
are stunning in terms of the evolution of our species.
could the notion of interspecies conflict explain why there is today
only one surviving branch of homonid? cro magnon hunted neanderthal
and other homonids to extinction? are there other examples in nature
of interspecies conflict, such as warfare between adjacent ant hills?
is it not the nature of mammals to protect relatives against nonrelatives
of the same species?
i recognize the extreme sensitivity of this topic, and hope that we
all treat it with care. i am waaay outside of my area of expertise
here, so i am asking more than actually stating an opinion. {8-] spike
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:02:58 MST