[Paleopsych] Re: joel

Sun Jul 25 03:02:44 UTC 2004

>From: Premise Checker <checker at panix.com>
>Reply-To: The new improved paleopsych list <paleopsych at paleopsych.org>
>To: The new improved paleopsych list <paleopsych at paleopsych.org>
>Subject: RE: [Paleopsych] 9/11 Report: Exectitve Summary
>Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 21:58:41 -0400 (EDT)
>
>The IQ data come from Richard Lynn's _IQ and the Wealth of Nations_. It's 
>the most thorough assemblage of national IQ statistics ever made.

Look, Frank, "Moslem nations" comprise hundreds upon hundreds
of millions of people on this planet, perhaps close to a BILLION!
Richard Lynn of Ulster, Ireland (a center of tolerance...)
also says that women lag 4 IQ points behind men;  also has his own
peculiar recipe for Eugenics.    By his own account, Richard Lynn
does not have, as you state above, "the most thorough assemblage
of national IQ statistics ever made."  what he has is "measures and
estimates" -- whatever that means...  in his own words:  "We give
measures and estimates of average IQs in the world's 185 nations..."

[See his web site copied below for reference].   If you wish to
buy into that garbage that's your privilege, of course...   but
don't quote the 90 point IQ as fact -- it is not.

You also mention the Israeli predicament in your other post.
As a native of Israel I know a thing or two about conflicts
with Moslems, and it wouldn't be hard for you to guess on
whose side I weigh in...   but the last thing I can afford
is to denigrate the IQ of Palestinians... this is not
the issue with militant Palestinians, unfortunately...

I repeat, take back the misguided (if not downright racist)
"estimates" of Professor Lynn -- you ought to know better.

-- Joel

Richard Lynn
Professor Emeritus,
University of Ulster
Research Interests:
Intelligence
Sex Differences
Race Differences
Eugenics

Address:
North Wing, Siston Court,
Bristol BS16 9LU,  (UK)
Tel 0117 303 9058.
E-mail  Richard at RLynn.co.uk

   I graduated in psychology at the University of Cambridge and have worked 
as lecturer in psychology at the University of Exeter, professor of 
psychology at the Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin, and at the 
University of Ulster.

   Most of my work has been on intelligence. In 1983 I published a paper in 
Nature showing that the IQ in Japan had increased over the course of the 
previous half century, a phenomenon now known as the Flynn Effect following 
the demonstration by Jim Flynn of secular increases in intelligence in 
number of countries. In 1989 I proposed that the increases in intelligence 
have been caused by improvements in nutrition. I have also published several 
papers showing that intelligence is associated with brain size and reaction 
times.

   My work on intelligence and brain size led me to consider the problem 
that women have smaller brains than men even when allowance is made for 
their smaller bodies. This implies that men should have higher average IQs 
than women, but it has been universally asserted that men and women have 
equal average IQs. In 1994 I proposed that the solution to this problem is 
that girls mature faster than boys and this compensates for their lower IQs, 
which only appear at the age of 16 onwards. Among adults men have higher 
average IQs than women by about 4 IQ points. This advantage consists largely 
of higher spatial abilities but is also present in non-verbal reasoning.

   My major discovery is that the Oriental peoples of East Asia have higher 
average intelligence by about 5 IQs points than Europeans and peoples of 
European origin in the United States and elsewhere. I first published this 
finding in 1977 in a paper on the intelligence of the Japanese. In 
subsequent years the high Oriental IQ has been confirmed in numerous studies 
of Oriental peoples in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Singapore and 
the United States.

   In 1991 I extended my work on race differences in intelligence to other 
races. I concluded that the average IQ of blacks in sub-Saharan Africa is 
approximately 70. It has long been known that the average IQ of blacks in 
the United States is approximately 85. The explanation for the higher IQ of 
American blacks is that they have about 25 per cent of Caucasian genes and a 
better environment.

   The theory I have advanced to explain these race differences in IQ is 
that when early humans migrated from Africa into Eurasia they encountered 
the difficulty of survival during cold winters. This problem was especially 
severe during the ice ages. Plant foods were not available for much of the 
year and survival required the hunting and dismembering of large animals for 
food and the ability to make tools, weapons and clothing, to build shelters 
and make fires. These problems required higher intelligence and exerted 
selection pressure for enhanced intelligence, particularly on the Orientals.

   My book Dygenics showed that the eugenicists were right in their belief 
that modern populations have been deteriorating genetically in respect of 
health, intelligence and the personality trait of conscientiousness. This 
deterioration began in the second half of the 19th century and has continued 
up to the present.

   My book Eugenics considers what measures could be taken to rectify this 
and discusses the genetic future of mankind. It is argued that genetic 
improvement is likely to evolve spontaneously through the technique of 
embryo selection in which women will use IVF to grow a number of embryos, 
have them genetically assessed and will select for implantation those with 
genetically desirable qualities. It is also likely that some authoritarian 
states will use genetic engineering to improve the genetic quality of their 
populations for military purposes.

   My book IQ and the Wealth of Nations (co-author Tatu Vanhanen of the 
University of Helsinki) considers the problem of national differences in 
wealth and economic growth. Economists and other social scientists have been 
trying to solve the problem of why some nations are so rich and others so 
poor since Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations (1776). We argue that an 
important but hitherto unrecognised factor is the IQs of the populations. We 
give measures and estimates of average IQs in the world's 185 nations and 
show that national IQs are strongly related to national incomes and rates of 
economic growth. The principal reason for this is that nations whose 
populations have high IQs can produce goods and services that command high 
values in international markets. See below for more details of this argument 
and on the IQs of every nation in the world.

Publications

The intelligence of the Japanese.
Bulletin of the British Psychological Society,1977,30,69-72.

IQ in Japan and the United States shows a growing disparity.
Nature, 1983, 306, 291-2

The role of nutrition in the secular increase of intelligence.
Personality and Individual Differences, 1990, 11, 273-286.

Race differences in intelligence: a global perspective. Mankind 
Quarterly,1990,1,255-296.

The evolution of racial differences in intelligence. Mankind 
Quarterly,1990,32,99-121.

The geography of intelligence. In H.Nyborg and J.Gray (Eds)
The Scientific Study of Human Nature. New York: Elsevier,1997.
Sets out evidence for race differences in intelligence worldwide. Concludes 
that the average IQs of the races are Orientals 105; Europeans, 100; South 
Asians, 90; Native American Indians, 90; Australian Aborigines, 90; 
sub-Saharan Africans, 75.

Sex differences in intelligence and brain size: a developmental theory.
Intelligence,1999,27,1-12.
Shows that men have higher average IQs than women by about 4 IQ points.

Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations. Westport, CT: 
Praeger,1996.

Eugenics: A Reassessment. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001

IQ and the Wealth of Nations (Co-author Tatu Vanhanen, University of 
Helsinki)
Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002.

Racial and ethnic differences in psychopathic personality.
Personality and Individual Differences, 2002, 32, 273-316.
Shows that psychopathic personality considered as a dimension of personality 
is highest among blacks and Native Americans, next highest in Hispanics, 
lower in whites and lowest in Orientals.

(With P.Irwing and T.Cammock) Sex differences in general knowledge.
Intelligence, 2002,30, 27-40.
Examines sex differences in 19 areas of general knowledge and finds women 
have more knowledge than men of medicine and cookery, while men have more 
knowledge than women of politics, history, geography, sport, finance, and 
science. Men have more general knowledge than women.

Skin color and intelligence in African Americans.
Population and Environment, 2002, 23, 365-375.
Presents new evidence showing conclusively for the first time that lighter 
skinned blacks have higher IQs than darker skinned blacks. This supports the 
theory that the proportion of white ancestry is a determinant of the 
intelligence of African Americans.

All material © 2000, 2001,2002  R Lynn

>On 2004-07-24, Joel Isaacson opined [message unchanged below]:
>
>>
>>
>>
>>>From: Premise Checker <checker at panix.com>
>>>Reply-To: The new improved paleopsych list <paleopsych at paleopsych.org>
>>>To: paleopsych at paleopsych.org
>>>Subject: [Paleopsych] 9/11 Report: Exectitve Summary
>>>Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 18:54:16 -0400 (EDT)
>>>
>>>Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the 
>>>United States
>>>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/22/politics/22CND-EXEC-SUMM.html?hp=&pagewanted=all&position=
>>>
>>>[Note under "Financing" that the attacks cost $400-500,000 and that the 
>>>annual budget of Al Qaeda is estimated to be about $30 million. I say 
>>>that any undergraduate engineering class in the United States could have 
>>>pulled it off. My biggest fear is a virus that could take large numbers 
>>>of computers out of service for a long time. (The Internet itself was 
>>>happily designed to be routed around.) But this would require a level of 
>>>cognitive ability way ahead of what Moslem nations, with an average IQ of 
>>>about 90, could accomplish. The higher IQ nations are far more interested 
>>>in trading with the U.S. than in destroying it.
>>
>>Look, Premise Checker, it is downriight idiotic to pronounce an "average
>>IQ of about 90" in Moslem nations.   Where do get your facts?
>>Also, denigrating the smarts of the adversary is an act of singular
>>stupidity, sepecially in this case.  Take it back and re-think
>>the wisdom of your attitudes.    -- Joel
>>
>>>
>>>[Relax, folks. Life will go on, even if 100,000 Americans are killed 
>>>during another attack. 6,000 Americans die every day.]
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