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Scientist claims 'Africans are less intelligent than Westerners'

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3067222.ece

From the Inde. Strikes me as racist, no doubt some would say that that's a run of the mill 'politically correct' reflex reaction.

What do you think?

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Given the "man's" previous comments, I would say that he's full of shit.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A lot of problems in Africa can be traced back to interference from western nations.

    If you go into an African village where there is little communication with the outside world they mostly live peacefully.

    most societies will develop the technology they need to survive.

    And they shouldn't forget countries such as Egypt come under Africa and they made huge advances in construction, etc centuries ago.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't agree with him and I don't agree with some of the other things he's said (he was quoted as saying that if homosexuality could be detected in an unborn child it could be justification for an abortion). From what I gather he seems to speak his mind and have some controversial and very odd views. Of course he's highly respected for his scientific work and thankfully not his personal views.

    However, I do find it very worrying that some people want him to face criminal charges. Bigotry should be openly and publicly challenged and discredited; silencing it and criminalising allows it to effectively go unchallenged. And more than anything threats of bringing charges and the like show no respect for freedom of speech.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The man is obviously a joke of a scientist. You can wave any number of Nobel prizes in someone's face, but no scientist with any credibility would entertain the prospect that "African" people were less intelligent than "western" people because of genetic reasons. The reason being that there is more genetic diversity (four times as much) within Africa, than there is in all of the races that inhabit the rest of the world. So to suggest that you can split it into African and the rest of the world is simply bullshit. Of course it might be quite reasonable to consider the prospect that economic conditions are a factor, but then why not say that? Why not mention Romani gypsies or people in parts of Asia or South America, or even poorer people in his own country, if not because of his racial prejudices? This is before we even get into the problems of defining intelligence.

    When a genetic "scientist" is splitting people into anything other than genetically defined groups, he's no longer engaging in science, he's engaging in his own prejudices. I'd welcome research into the genetic origins of intelligence in humans, but when the initial premise is using social groupings rather than genetic groupings, it's simply very bad science right from the outset. So he's either a bad scientist, or a good scientist who's letting his own racism become part of his work. Judging by the fact that he has a Nobel prize, I'd guess it's the second one.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'd welcome research into the genetic origins of intelligence in humans, but when the initial premise is using social groupings rather than genetic groupings, it's simply very bad science right from the outset.

    What do you mean by him using 'social' groupings? I don't understand.

    Also, is he not using 'genetic' grouping already - albeit in an unacceptably broad way?

    I agree that if one is to do a study into this, one has to be far more thorough in pinpointing low level genetic groups rather than tar entire communities just because of the similarity of their skin tone.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think the quote by Steve Rose sums it up -

    "This is Watson at his most scandalous. He has said similar things about women before but I have never heard him get into this racist terrain. If he knew the literature in the subject he would know he was out of his depth scientifically, quite apart from socially and politically."

    Sounds like a sad, pathetic old man, obsessed with staying in the limelight whose insults against woman, gay people and people he doesn't consider beautiful (state enforced eugenics to enforce intelligence and beauty by the way) didn't get him enough media so he is desperately crawling after scandal by deciding to vomit his ideas of race into the public.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    An IQ test isn't a test of intelligence, it's a test of knowledge, everyone knows that. If you start asking an African questions to do with fuel consumption and who the current prime minister of Norway is you're not usually going to get a correct answer.
    Doesn't make them un-intelligent.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Oooooh! A suspension and a bit of back-pedalling from Dr Watson :

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7052416.stm
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whowhere wrote: »
    An IQ test isn't a test of intelligence, it's a test of knowledge, everyone knows that. If you start asking an African questions to do with fuel consumption and who the current prime minister of Norway is you're not usually going to get a correct answer.
    Doesn't make them un-intelligent.

    Take it you've never taken an IQ test then before?

    It is designed to test intelligence and not knowledge, knowledge would be like knowing the prime minister of Norway or the largest sea in the world. But you'll never find questions like that in an IQ test.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yerascrote wrote: »
    Take it you've never taken an IQ test then before?

    It is designed to test intelligence and not knowledge, knowledge would be like knowing the prime minister of Norway or the largest sea in the world. But you'll never find questions like that in an IQ test.

    I agree. An IQ test is there to give an indication mainly on reasoning ability - not general knowledge.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yerascrote wrote: »
    Take it you've never taken an IQ test then before?

    It is designed to test intelligence and not knowledge, knowledge would be like knowing the prime minister of Norway or the largest sea in the world. But you'll never find questions like that in an IQ test.



    There's a lot of criticism towards IQ tests saying many of them are culturally biased and based more on knowledge rather than actual intelligence.
    I've done lots of IQ tests, lots of American ones are very culture specific, lots of others rely heavily on word association and mathmatical ability clearly something that is learnt.

    I don't remember much from my pyschology lessons at college and uni, I do remember the general consensus is that standardised IQ tests are pointless.


    On a side note my IQ is 164, which puts me in the "genius" category. Funny that :lol:
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