BF2S Forums Race relations thread

The American Psychological Association has said that while there are differences in average IQ between racial groups, there is no conclusive evidence for environmental explanations, nor direct empirical support for a genetic interpretation, and that no adequate explanation for differences in group means of IQ scores is currently available.[3][4] The position of the American Anthropological Association is that variation in intelligence cannot be meaningfully explained by dividing a species into biologically defined races.[5] According to a 1996 statement from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, although heredity influences behavior in individuals, it does not affect the ability of a population to function in any social setting, all peoples "possess equal biological ability to assimilate any human culture" and "racist political doctrines find no foundation in scientific knowledge concerning modern or past human populations

coke wrote:

Jay wrote:

coke wrote:

I'm very far from a liberal, me disagreeing with you here has nothing to do with politics and more to do with your sheer stupidity.

So everybody on the planet is born equal and there are no genetic differences among us?

Clearly you have a genetic predisposition for being obtuse.

Jay wrote:

Uzique The Lesser wrote:

The American Psychological Association has said that while there are differences in average IQ between racial groups, there is no conclusive evidence for environmental explanations, nor direct empirical support for a genetic interpretation, and that no adequate explanation for differences in group means of IQ scores is currently available.[3][4] The position of the American Anthropological Association is that variation in intelligence cannot be meaningfully explained by dividing a species into biologically defined races.[5] According to a 1996 statement from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, although heredity influences behavior in individuals, it does not affect the ability of a population to function in any social setting, all peoples "possess equal biological ability to assimilate any human culture" and "racist political doctrines find no foundation in scientific knowledge concerning modern or past human populations

again.

To date, geneticists have identified plenty of genetic markers that are correlated with intelligence. Taken individually, however, these account for a paltry 1% of the variation in IQ scores. But now, an international team of scientists has identified a set of genes that appear to amplify each other's effects — resulting in a synergistic boost in intelligence.

The finding could change our sense of how intelligence works in the brain – and how it might be improved. But the study has its critics.

In the past, scientists have identified some 20 genetic markers that seem to be linked to intelligence. But none of those genetic markers have turned out to be a "magic bullet" for brainpower — at most, any one of those 20 markers tends to have very subtle effects.

Writing in Science Now, Moheb Costandi describes how neurologist Paul Thompson of the University of California devised a new large-scale strategy for tackling this problem. To this end, he co-founded the ENIGMA network in 2009 –- an international consortium of researchers who combine brain scanning, genetic data, and standardized IQ tests to study brain structure and function.

Their first breakthrough came earlier this year when they identified genetic variants associated with head size and the volume of the hippocampus (a brain structure crucial for learning and memory). The researchers discovered that one of the variants was responsible for a boost of 1.29 points on IQ tests for those carrying it -– a difference they believed was significant.

http://io9.com/5921370/have-we-found-th … telligence

Uzique The Lesser wrote:

Jay wrote:

Uzique The Lesser wrote:

again.

To date, geneticists have identified plenty of genetic markers that are correlated with intelligence. Taken individually, however, these account for a paltry 1% of the variation in IQ scores. But now, an international team of scientists has identified a set of genes that appear to amplify each other's effects — resulting in a synergistic boost in intelligence.

The finding could change our sense of how intelligence works in the brain – and how it might be improved. But the study has its critics.

In the past, scientists have identified some 20 genetic markers that seem to be linked to intelligence. But none of those genetic markers have turned out to be a "magic bullet" for brainpower — at most, any one of those 20 markers tends to have very subtle effects.

Writing in Science Now, Moheb Costandi describes how neurologist Paul Thompson of the University of California devised a new large-scale strategy for tackling this problem. To this end, he co-founded the ENIGMA network in 2009 –- an international consortium of researchers who combine brain scanning, genetic data, and standardized IQ tests to study brain structure and function.

Their first breakthrough came earlier this year when they identified genetic variants associated with head size and the volume of the hippocampus (a brain structure crucial for learning and memory). The researchers discovered that one of the variants was responsible for a boost of 1.29 points on IQ tests for those carrying it -– a difference they believed was significant.

http://io9.com/5921370/have-we-found-th … telligence

not seeing how that above article links any of those to race.

Last edited by Uzique The Lesser (2013-03-26 16:01:22)

Jay wrote:

Jaekus wrote:

The thing I find incredible is the belief that genetics (ie. race) predisposes people towards intelligence, "brain performance" and the like, and compare this to penis size. And by incredible I mean so fucking sad it's incredible.

Why is that really so absurd? Natural selection works in humans, does it not? The only reason the idea has been pushed aside is because it's impolite and it's been used in a condescending manner to prove racial superiority and as an excuse to 'put people in their place'. Look, there are differences between different races, my kids are far less likely to become good enough at sports to make it at a pro level compared to the kids of a black family. Black people are just generally faster, bigger and stronger. So what? Why is it ok to say that, but it's abhorrent to suggest that maybe black Americans have lower intelligence on average due to genetics? I'm just kind of curious why the line has been drawn there.

Because race comprehensively structures people’s lives in the United States, it is correlated with many environmental factors that can influence IQ and achievement. People of different races tend to live in different neighborhoods, so they may be exposed to different levels of lead, different quality schools, different diets and different levels or types of stress. They may be exposed to different attitudes about achievement. People of minority groups may routinely experience racism, a kind of stress that can have long-term physiological consequences. On average, people of different races receive health care at different institutions, and the care they receive is not of the same quality. In sum, racial groups differ with respect to so many environmental factors that it is entirely plausible that environmental differences explain current racial gaps in mean IQ scores.

The environment can be modified in ways that genes cannot. When the environment is changed, the trait of interest (in this case intelligence) may also change even though genes also play a role in shaping that trait. For instance, in one study African-American children in Milwaukee who were thought to be at risk for cognitive disability were randomized so that half received intensive day care and early, enriched education, while the other half received ordinary day care and schooling. 50 By age five, children who received the intensive intervention averaged 110 on a standard IQ test (above average), while children in the control group averaged 83 (well below average). The effects of early, intensive education were still apparent by adolescence, when the children from the intervention group scored, on average, 10 points higher on IQ tests than the children from the control group.

There is some evidence that differing environments have influenced the entire human population’s IQ scores over time. People’s average IQ scores have risen by about 3 IQ points per decade over the last century. 50,57 The average IQ score from 1917 would amount to about 73 on today’s tests. This effect almost certainly is not due to changes in human genetics, because there has not been enough time for new intelligence-related mutations to arise and spread throughout human populations. The most likely explanation for the rise in IQ is that some relevant environmental factors have changed, causing people to develop in ways that are reflected in higher average IQ scores.

Another piece of evidence concerning widespread environmental influences on IQ is that the mean difference between black Americans’ and white Americans’ test scores has narrowed since the 1970s. Using data from several different IQ tests that were administered in a standard manner to black and non-Hispanic white people, Dickens and Flynn showed that blacks have narrowed the IQ gap by one third to one half of what it was in the 1970s. 58 If IQ were a fixed, intrinsic quality of races, then the IQ gap should be stable over time, but it is not.

Last edited by Jaekus (2013-03-26 16:56:37)

Macbeth wrote:

British colonialism in the new world was much worse than Spanish and Portuguese in many ways.

Macbeth wrote:

Had way more relaxed attitudes towards natives and freed slaves in totality. British and Americans did everything they could to separate themselves from native people and others. The Spanish and Portuguese actually mixed in and built new societies with them. It is why race relations are as close to humanely perfect as possible in Latin, and Portuguese America as opposed to apartheid South Africa, recently desegregated U.S., and Australia.

Cybargs wrote:

Macbeth wrote:

Had way more relaxed attitudes towards natives and freed slaves in totality. British and Americans did everything they could to separate themselves from native people and others. The Spanish and Portuguese actually mixed in and built new societies with them. It is why race relations are as close to humanely perfect as possible in Latin, and Portuguese America as opposed to apartheid South Africa, recently desegregated U.S., and Australia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E9WU9TGrec

Yeah the spanish didn't try to wipe out Central and South American civilization at all.

The Black Legend (Spanish: La leyenda negra) is a phrase used to describe historical writing or propaganda that depicts the Spanish Empire as "cruel, bigoted, exploitative and self-righteous in excess of reality."[1] The term was coined by Julián Juderías in his 1914 book La leyenda negra y la verdad histórica ("The Black Legend and Historical Truth"). Deriving from the Spanish example, the term "black legend" is sometimes used in a more general way to describe any form of unjustified demonization of a historical person, people or sequence of events.

A more pro-Spanish historiographical school emerged as a reaction, especially within Spain, but also in the Americas. The style which describes Spanish history in an exaggeratedly favorable manner has been referred to as the White legend.

Macbeth wrote:

Now compare that to Australia where you Asians are considered by many to be an immigrant menace.

Macbeth wrote:

so racism against Asians isn't a big thing over there? I guess a lot of Asian people I hear talk about it are just whiners.

AussieReaper wrote:

Don't be racist cybargs.