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Dogma, the claim I disagree with is this: overall intelligence has more to do with your early development than your genetics. You know what has a huge influenc
by Moshe_Silnorin 11y ago
Dogma, the claim I disagree with is this: overall intelligence has more to do with your early development than your genetics.
You know what has a huge influence on your early development, your genetics. Do you really think I could be as good at math as Terry Tao if I had spent my childhood practicing? If we raise a chimp right, could it beat Terry Tao?
Yes, high IQ people vary more between tests, but much of this is regression to the mean. And still scores are relatively stable. The common superstition that environment and effort matter more than innate capacity is false - also perseverance is hereditary to some extent, too. I have not read the paper, but I very much doubt this effect would mean environment matters more than genetics. If you clone Terry Tao, and let this clone be raised by two average-IQ parents, he will not grow up to be average.
The summery you provided doesn't seem to discount the value of biological interventions to any great extent, as the "extended period of synaptogenesis" would likely have a genetic cause, given our knowledge about the heritability of IQ.