[ExI] Impressive book: Farewell to Alms

[hkhenson]

At 12:16 PM 2/4/2008, BillK wrote:

snip

>Also, for a geneticist's criticism, see:
>http://geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=3886


New Book Makes Dangerous Claim That Inequality Is Genetic
by Jesse Reynolds, <http://alternet.org/rights/67937/>Alternet.org
January 18th, 2008

Jesse Reynolds is the director of the project on Biotechnology in the 
Public Interest at the 
<http://geneticsandsociety.org/index.php>Center for Genetics and 
Society, a nonprofit advocacy organization and a contributor to its 
<http://biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?list=class&class=20&qty=4>Biopolitical 
Times blog.

Geneticist?

"Jesse Reynolds, MS, Project Director on Biotechnology in the Public 
Interest, has been on the staff of the Center since its creation in 2001.

snip

  He has a MS in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from 
the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied as a US EPA 
Fellow. While there, he was a co-founder of Students for Responsible 
Research, which monitored the impact of large-scale corporate funding 
for research on genetically modified crop."

I think that's a stretch to call him a geneticist.

"The genetic reductionism put forth in this book is a troubling trend 
which, if left unchecked, has dangerous ramifications. As an 
increasing number of genes are attributed, sometimes inappropriately, 
to a range of physical and behavioral characteristics, a revival of 
social Darwinism has become tempting."

Stop thinking!  Bad book, connected to social Darwinism!

"For his part, Clark concludes that the West should give up on 
international development aid."

Maybe you can read that into his observation that aid to these 
countries doesn't improve the conditions of the people there.

He does say that immigrants from poor countries do well when they 
move.  Clark seems more mystified and bemused by his research than 
out to change policy.

Keith