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<DIV>A superb roundup of facts, Marcel.</DIV>
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<DIV>re: "Iraq than in Iceland. However, if you haven't <BR>got a meritocracy and there are lots of dimwits, the geniuses go <BR>unnoticed or are treated as oddballs (and perhaps become marginalized, <BR>lethargic or very frustrated and angry). In Iceland the geniuses are in <BR>science or play chess. What are the Iraqi geniuses doing at the moment?"</DIV>
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<DIV>The geniuses of Islam may well be concentrated in al Qaeda. </DIV>
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<DIV>There is a key lesson about meritocracy in the stories of the Companions of the Prophet, the tales that provide the role models for Islamic men, tales we in the West are never told. </DIV>
<DIV>It's a story of meritocracy in a key enterprise--killing and war. One of the Companions of Mohammed--a freed slave named <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">Zayd bin Haritha</SPAN> leads his army in an attack on "the Romans" at Mootah...a town with a Christian ruler. The Moslem force--probably a small and ragtag desert bunch--are defeated and Zayd bin Haritha is killed.</DIV>
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<DIV>Mohammed has a disease he knows is about to kill him but he is determined to erase the stain of this military failure. </DIV>
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<DIV>The world of the Mediterranean and Asia Minor is dominated by two superpowers, two massive empires so intent on destroying each other that they ignore these Moslem desert fleas. One is Christian Rome--which controls all of Europe, the Mediterranan lip of North Africa, and roughly half of what we now call the Middle East. (The Roman Empire at this point is divided into a Western half run by what's left of a barbarian-invaded Rome and an Eastern half ruled by the thriving capital of Byzantium.) The superpower opposing Rome is the Persian Empire.</DIV>
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<DIV>The new expedition will attack the fringes of the Byzantine Empire--the border Byzantium's Syrian province. But Mohammed equips his troop, gives them their battle orders, and places the son of the now-martyred Zaid bin Haritha at their head, making him their general. Then he orders his closest companions--<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><STRONG>Abu Bakr, Umar, Abdur Rahman bin Auf, Abu Obaida ibn al-Jarrah, Sa'ad bin Abi Waqqas, Talha, Zubayr, Khalid bin al-Walid, and many others--</STRONG></SPAN> men many years older than this mere child, men with prestige and the wealth that comes from plundering many an settlement of non-believers, to report to this eighteen-year-old, the contemptible son of a slave.</DIV></DIV>
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<DIV>These elder aristocrats of the new religion object with all their might, but Mohammed is adamant. Why? Because he refuses to go by rank or seniority. Instead he insists on going with talent. The son of Zaid bin Haritha is the best person for the job.</DIV>
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<DIV>Ill as he is, Mohammed personally prepares the battle banner and hands it to Haritha's son, then tells him, "<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><STRONG>Fight thou beneath this banner in the name of the Lord, and for His cause. Thus thou shalt discomfit and slay the people that disbelieveth in the Lord."</STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV>When this story is told, it is repeated primarly to make one point. If you've got a genius in the bunch, put him where he'll shine...especially if the mission is mass murder and a grab for females as sexual slaves. Especially if it's a raid to build your wealth by looting the homes of those who refuse to listen to the truth of Allah.</DIV>
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<DIV>But there are two ironies. One is that the teenage general Mohammed chose apparently failed to attack the Romans and instead came back to Medina two months later with nothing but a few camels stolen from a bedouin camp or two the army had raided. The second is that the name of the lad Mohammed chose for this job was--Osama.</DIV>
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<DIV>Howard</DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 7/28/2004 6:48:02 AM Eastern Standard Time, mroele@hetnet.nl writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT face=Arial>Heritability of IQ in western countries and other affluent countries <BR>like Japan is 60% for young adults (45% for 12-yr olds; 80% for 60 yr <BR>olds). The remaining 40% is non-shared environment - i.e. NOT the things <BR>siblings have in common like parenting methods, neighbourhood, primary <BR>school etc. Home environment is certainly not "the primary place for <BR>nurturing high IQs" - and by the way the HOME has a high heritability <BR>(genes of parents influence the way they treat offspring; genes of <BR>offspring - their talents - influence the way they shape their <BR>environment). There has not yet been found a method of education that <BR>raises IQ. "Woefully inadequate" education leads to pupils not reaching <BR>the scholastic achievements (and ultimately not the SES) that could have <BR>been expected on the basis of their IQs - it doesn't lower their IQs.<BR><BR>I don't know about studies of heritability of IQ in islamic countries. <BR>One might expect that in a country with environmental deprivation and <BR>very unequal opportunities heritability is lower.<BR><BR>According to data of Lynn & Vanhanen IQ in Iraq is 87 (measured in 1968 <BR>at IQ 85; corrected for time lapse); they have not found anything on <BR>Saudi Arabia.<BR><BR>As for the "irrelevance" of average national intelligence: there are <BR>indeed more geniuses in Iraq than in Iceland. However, if you haven't <BR>got a meritocracy and there are lots of dimwits, the geniuses go <BR>unnoticed or are treated as oddballs (and perhaps become marginalized, <BR>lethargic or very frustrated and angry). In Iceland the geniuses are in <BR>science or play chess. What are the Iraqi geniuses doing at the moment?<BR><BR>Marcel<BR><BR>Lynn D. Johnson, Ph.D. wrote:<BR><BR>> I didn't understand Joel's reaction here. Actually, I am not sure that <BR>> Frank is too far off base, but I think the observation is irrelevant. <BR>> Here is why: approximately 50% of IQ is inherited, and it appears that <BR>> all human varieties (races) have around the same inherited portion. <BR>> The other 50% comes from environment; it appears to me that the Arab / <BR>> Islamic environments are quite impoverished. Their education seems <BR>> woefully inadquate, and the home environment (primary place for <BR>> nurturing high IQs) seems to be not be so hot. So an average of 90 <BR>> would seem reasonable.<BR>><BR>> But it is irrelevant because of the K / r reporductive strategies. If <BR>> we assumed the Islamic version is primarily r, then as Val says, they <BR>> are cannon fodder. Yet in every population there is a distribution. <BR>> there are outliers in the cannon fodder, the occasional brilliant one.<BR>><BR>> The average IQ is 100 (by definition, we keep moving the goalposts to <BR>> keep it that way) and the SD is 15. If a region has an average of 90, <BR>> it is likely some other region (the east side of Salt Lake City above <BR>> 1300 east, for example, or Jewish neighborhoods, or Asian <BR>> neighborhoods, where education is highly valued) has one of 110. It <BR>> has to balance out.<BR>><BR>> So proportionally, there are fewer >130 (superior) or >145 (genius <BR>> level) in the islamic group (further out from the mean, so fewer <BR>> examples) but because of the r reproductive strategy, you have a <BR>> larger group. Within that population, there will still be the 145 <BR>> point IQ examples. They can surely produce some wicked viruses. That <BR>> is why the average is irrelevant. Because there are always outliers, <BR>> and the greater the population, the more outliers, in absolute terms.<BR>><BR>> >From what I understand, Iraq pre-Saddam was an enclave of smarties, <BR>> people who went to good universities and graduated in engineering and <BR>> science. Perhaps Saudi Arabia would be the mirror image, an <BR>> excessively religious society that de-emphasized secular learning. So <BR>> we might argue that Arab countries might have an average IQ of 90, but <BR>> Iraq would have been an exception. Saddam's blood thirsty appetite for <BR>> killing the best and brightest would keep education from being valued, <BR>> so the national IQ would naturally fall.<BR>> Respectfully submitted,<BR>> Lynn Johnson<BR>> Salt Lake City<BR>><BR>><BR>> HowlBloom@aol.com wrote:<BR>><BR>>> I agree wholeheartedly. I'm astonished that Frank would say such <BR>>> things. He is an extremely intelligent and well-informed man.<BR>>> <BR>>> If Frank's attitude is indicative of a widespread opinion, this <BR>>> nation is in serious trouble. Or let's put it differently. This <BR>>> nation IS in grave danger. There's no doubt about it. One reason is <BR>>> the complacency for which Frank momentarily acted as spokesperson. <BR>>> Howard<BR>>> <BR>>> In a message dated 7/24/2004 8:18:46 PM Eastern Standard Time, <BR>>> isaacsonj@hotmail.com writes:<BR>>><BR>>> Look, Premise Checker, it is downriight idiotic to pronounce an<BR>>> "average<BR>>> IQ of about 90" in Moslem nations. Where do get your facts?<BR>>> Also, denigrating the smarts of the adversary is an act of singular<BR>>> stupidity, sepecially in this case. Take it back and re-think<BR>>> the wisdom of your attitudes<BR>>><BR>>> <BR>>> ----------<BR>>> Howard Bloom<BR>>> Author of The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the <BR>>> Forces of History and Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind From <BR>>> The Big Bang to the 21st Century<BR>>> Visiting Scholar-Graduate Psychology Department, New York University; <BR>>> Faculty Member, The Graduate Institute<BR>>> www.howardbloom.net<BR>>> www.bigbangtango.net<BR>>> Founder: International Paleopsychology Project; founding board <BR>>> member: Epic of Evolution Society; founding board member, The Darwin <BR>>> Project; founder: The Big Bang Tango Media Lab; member: New York <BR>>> Academy of Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of <BR>>> Science, American Psychological Society, Academy of Political <BR>>> Science, Human Behavior and Evolution Society, International Society <BR>>> for Human Ethology; advisory board member: Youthactivism.org; <BR>>> executive editor -- New Paradigm book series.<BR>>> For information on The International Paleopsychology Project, see: <BR>>> www.paleopsych.org<BR>>> for two chapters from<BR>>> The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of <BR>>> History, see www.howardbloom.net/lucifer<BR>>> For information on Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the <BR>>> Big Bang to the 21st Century, see www.howardbloom.net<BR>>><BR>>>------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>>><BR>>>_______________________________________________<BR>>>paleopsych mailing list<BR>>>paleopsych@paleopsych.org<BR>>>http://lists.paleopsych.org/mailman/listinfo/paleopsych<BR>>> <BR>>><BR>>------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>><BR>>_______________________________________________<BR>>paleopsych mailing list<BR>>paleopsych@paleopsych.org<BR>>http://lists.paleopsych.org/mailman/listinfo/paleopsych<BR>> <BR>><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>paleopsych mailing list<BR>paleopsych@paleopsych.org<BR>http://lists.paleopsych.org/mailman/listinfo/paleopsych</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">----------<BR>Howard Bloom<BR>Author of The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History and Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind From The Big Bang to the 21st Century<BR>Visiting Scholar-Graduate Psychology Department, New York University; Faculty Member, The Graduate Institute<BR>www.howardbloom.net<BR>www.bigbangtango.net<BR>Founder: International Paleopsychology Project; founding board member: Epic of Evolution Society; founding board member, The Darwin Project; founder: The Big Bang Tango Media Lab; member: New York Academy of Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Psychological Society, Academy of Political Science, Human Behavior and Evolution Society, International Society for Human Ethology; advisory board member: Youthactivism.org; executive editor -- New Paradigm book series.<BR>For information on The International Paleopsychology Project, see: www.paleopsych.org<BR>for two chapters from <BR>The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History, see www.howardbloom.net/lucifer<BR>For information on Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century, see www.howardbloom.net<BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>