Re: Nobel Prize scientist - Black people are dumb
 

As David has frequently pointed out, an intelligent guy says something, all things being equal, we should give it more credence than when a guy not as intelligent says it. But this guy is a bigot. Nothing he says about race should be taken without a shovelful of salt.

Re: Nobel Prize scientist - Black people are dumb
 

Gardner's works are what first and foremost comes to mind.

Alot of the experiments done on Vygotsky's social intelligence comes to mind, which shows that the arena for use of some forms of logic change from culture to culture. Amongst others it was shown how street children of brazil could not perform math on paper, but performed maths very well when set in the cultural context of trade ( think that was a study by Nunes). Looking for articles on social learning, social construction would probably reveal alot.

The above can be set in light by the old riddle - if you do something, and somebody trains a machine to do it better, does this mean you are more stupid than the machine? What if this something is an intelligence test?

And that is not a bad question, especially when you consider that you can train yourself to do well on intelligence tests. Are you then becoming more intelligent or are you getting better at the tests?

Re: Nobel Prize scientist - Black people are dumb
 

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I have previously posted in this forum that I believe that there is an genetically-based IQ difference between races. To my mind, it would be more remarkable if there were not. There are clearly genetic advantages in other areas - for instance, blacks make better runners and whites better swimmers (just watch the next Olympics if you doubt this).

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I saw this story and expected to run into it on here and find some good discussion (which there has been). For some reason though, I fixated on this. While I think it would be difficult to argue that there is not a genetic difference between races in ability to run fast, I think the disparity in regards to swimming can be attributed to a number of other factors. Same goes for ice hockey, golf (a couple decades ago, at least), and certain other activities in which a particular group displays disproportionate success. Can't the disparity be explained by several correlations working together that have nothing to do with genetic ability?

Re: Nobel Prize scientist - Black people are dumb
 

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Same goes for ice hockey, golf (a couple decades ago, at least), and certain other activities in which a particular group displays disproportionate success.

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Tiger Woods is only 1/4 black. The world considers him black. The blacks consider him black. Tiger does not consider himself black. He's a person of multi-ethnic
background.

Re: Nobel Prize scientist - Black people are dumb
 

Yeah. I wasn't referring to Tiger. Just generalizing the concept. Regardless his background, he's not a wealthy white guy so he still serves as an example. Think Veejay or other young guys coming up if you want.

Re: Nobel Prize scientist - Black people are dumb
 

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Yeah. I wasn't referring to Tiger. Just generalizing the concept. Regardless his background, he's not a wealthy white guy so he still serves as an example.

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But he is relevant - because he's perceived as black. Even if the conclusions being drawn on the basis of these studies were valid (I don't think they are, and I think a majority of geneticists would agree), they indicate very little about "black people" in a country where the "one drop" rule is applied. A person who is of 3/4 asian descent and 1/4 african descent gets the "black" stereotypes applied, but we can expect his IQ to be higher than normal if this racial intelligence stuff is true.

Re: Nobel Prize scientist - Black people are dumb
 

I don't see how looking at facts and drawing conclusions can be racist. I believe there probably is some correlation between race and intelligence although not enough to draw any huge conclusions. For instance, if the 45th percentile of whites is smarter than the 55th percentile of blacks, that doesn't mean that "blacks are stupid" or that we should prejudge people we meet based on their race. I don't see why anyone should find this idea offensive at all.

Re: Nobel Prize scientist - Black people are dumb
 

Tiger is 3/8 Thai, 1/8 Chinese, 1/4 Black, 1/8 White, and 1/8 American Indian.

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What about breeds of dogs? If someone said one breed is smarter than another breed, would he immediately be dismissed as a dog racist?

Re: Nobel Prize scientist - Black people are dumb
 

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I don't see how looking at facts and drawing conclusions can be racist. I believe there probably is some correlation between race and intelligence although not enough to draw any huge conclusions. For instance, if the 45th percentile of whites is smarter than the 55th percentile of blacks, that doesn't mean that "blacks are stupid" or that we should prejudge people we meet based on their race. I don't see why anyone should find this idea offensive at all.

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Well, how did you measure their intelligence?

An average auto-mechanic is better at me at fixing engines and alot of the skills needed for that, does this means he is smarter than me? If I managed to score higher than him at an intelligence test, does this mean I am smarter than him?

If smart = some measure of ability in a test, then yes, but if you think about it, that does nothing for the discussion. You would have to have a completely generalizable measure of brain-related computer power - which doesn't exist.

Re: Nobel Prize scientist - Black people are dumb
 

ViJay Singh isn't black. He's a native of Fiji.