[ExI] No need for radical changes in human nature/was Re: Private and government R&D

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2009/7/9 Rafal Smigrodzki <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com>:

> ### Peer-reviewed research indicates otherwise:
>
> http://law.jrank.org/pages/1368/Intelligence-Crime.html and other
> pages there, especially
>
> http://law.jrank.org/pages/1364/Intelligence-Crime-R-20-meaningful-correlation-size.html

The cited papers claim a "moderate correlation". That is not
equivalent to claiming that if people were smarter there would be less
violent crime. There are far, far greater differences in crime rates
between different countries and different regions within a country,
not accounted for by IQ variation. And even if it is accepted that IQ
is a predictor of crime all else being equal, it is still possible
that, for example, it is not IQ per se but IQ *inequality* that is the
cause of the problem, so that if the average IQ were raised but the IQ
spread remained the same the violent crime rate would remain
unchanged. Also, you still haven't addressed the possibility that the
really terrible crimes that often go unpunished and don't show up in
statistics - demagogues inciting war and other violence - are due to
high IQ individuals. I'm all in favour of making people smarter, but I
have little confidence that it will make them nicer.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou