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In an answer to the question of why there is no evidence of intelligent life beyond earth despite the high probability of it existing, Szilárd responded: "They
by mikorym 7y ago
In an answer to the question of why there is no evidence of intelligent life beyond earth despite the high probability of it existing, Szilárd responded: "They are already here among us – they just call themselves Hungarians." [1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists)
- bloopernova 7y agoI went to Budapest on a day trip (hooray for Easyjet) back in the early 2000s, and can attest to this. I definitely felt like I was a stranger in a strange land.
- Scaevolus 7y agoFor a depressing analysis on where all the Hungarian geniuses came from and why they vanished: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/05/26/the-atomic-bomb-considered-as-hungarian-high-school-science-fair-project/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/05/26/the-atomic-bomb-consid...
- mirekrusin 7y agoHe mentions Curie as non-Ashkenazi, but even with her I don't know, she was born Polish with full name "Maria Salomea Skłodowska"(-Curie), her middle name "Salomea", given after her grandmother sounds to me like Jewish origin. I wonder how percentage of Nobel price winners/etc. would look like if you'd really dig deeper few generations or did genetic tests.
- mikeyouse 7y agoMarie's grandchildren are still alive and could presumably be genetically tested to see their heritage if there was any real question. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9l%C3%A8ne_Langevin-Joliot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9l%C3%A8ne_Langevin-Joli...
- codingslave 7y agoI have a hypothesis that almost all of the greatest intellectual achievements come from a very small number of bloodlines. I really doubt the idea that people are born and some just end up as the smartest in generations, I think theres more to the story
- speedplane 7y ago> I have a hypothesis that almost all of the greatest intellectual achievements come from a very small number of bloodlines. Nice hypothesis, but not exactly backed up by history. So many different societies have made so many diverse contributions to innovation, I'd be pretty amazed if you could draw a cohesive line through all (or most) of them. Also, separately, it's pretty difficult to separate "bloodlines", which I assume you mean genetically inherited traits, with socially inherited traits. A great physicist is probably more likely than average to have offspring that are also great physicists. But is that because of their "blood" (i.e. DNA) or because the children grew up in a household exposed to physics at a much higher degree than average. The children's "blood" is an inherited DNA trait, but their upbringing is an inherited social trait. The question boils down to the age-old nature vs. nurture argument. All signs seem to point to nurture being the far more powerful influence.
- mirekrusin 7y agoI think the underlying mechanism is simply natural selection, just like you can breed dogs, tulips or bacteria for traits, humans can be "breed" into intelectual performance. None of religions/cultures do it, with exception of Ashkenazi.
- speedplane 7y ago> I think the underlying mechanism is simply natural selection Genetic natural selection takes thousands of years, or at an absolute minimum multiple generations. Social selection occurs far more rapidly, often within a single generation. A person born in the 1950s that is genetically predisposed to manual labor may do well for the first few decades of their life, but as society changes and starts valuing white collar work more, they will do far worse. Their genetics didn't change, but society did. Those that favor nature over nurture vastly under-estimate the time-scales which it takes natural selection to occur as compared to social selection.
- corporate_shi11 7y agoInteresting. I never knew about the link between Ashkenazi genetics and intelligence.
- codingslave 7y agoIts not talked about alot, but basically ashkenazis are the genesis of alot of modern intellectual ideas and companies. both FB and Google are ashkenazi creations
- MrBuddyCasino 7y agoUber too, Adam Neumann is Ashkenazi Jewish.
- Psyonic 7y agoYou mean wework? Was there someone at Uber as well?
- objektif 7y agoYeah wework is the opposite of a great creation.
- MrBuddyCasino 7y agoOops, yes of course WeWork. Weird mistake, but in my defense I had a cold.
- joelbluminator 7y agoAlso Bernie Madoff , Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein; should we be quick to talk about their origin?
- codingslave 7y agoI do think theres something to all of it, not interested in getting my account banned though...