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

[rob4332000 at yahoo.com]

On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 1:56 AM, Stathis Papaioannou<stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2009/7/10 Rafal Smigrodzki <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com>:
>> On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 7:48 AM, Stathis Papaioannou<stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 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.
>>
>> ### Read again. "randomly assigning high
 IQs to low-IQ individuals
>> would decrease their criminal behavior by about 30 percent (i.e., from
>> 60 percent to 40 percent)?certainly a meaningful change."
>
> And that's a completely unwarranted assumption based on the evidence
> of correlation. It's like discovering that people in prison are of
> below average height, and
 concluding that increasing the average
> height of the population will decrease crime.

### No, it is not unwarranted, since in this case there is theoretical
validity to the assumption of causality. IQ is a measure of the
general ability to arrive at correct solutions to problems. Crimes are
solutions that are deemed incorrect by the lawmaker, and the law
 is
designed to increase the cost of such solutions in relation to other
solutions. Having a higher IQ allows you to arrive at the correct
solution, given available data, such as the expected utility of
mugging a stranger and spending a year in prison, vs. working
productively and enjoying the fruits of your labor.

===============
But the correlation is equally consistent with the other theoretical explanation proposed in this thread, namely that stupid criminals get caught more often than smart ones.  If that's the case, raising the intelligence of the criminally minded
 might result in fewer of them being incarcerated--so that there would be more of them on the streets, and MORE crime.
Rob Masters



      
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