By contrast, per capita income explains 46% of variation in average IQ among countries, ... Correlation is not causation. If race, nutrition, and parasite load

By contrast, per capita income explains 46% of variation in average IQ among countries, ... Correlation is not causation. If race, nutrition, and parasite load (e.g., malaria) are causative factors of IQ (they are!), we would expect per capita income to be highly correlated with IQ. And indeed nutrition and parasites explain why equatorial Africa cranks out hideous poverty and average IQs in the 50s. The Taiwan average is almost two s.d.s above the international average, which would be like an average IQ of 130, ... Many Asians place a high priority on math practice, which readily increases ability. Islands of high math accomplishment have been created in the U.S. ghettos when a gifted teacher gives the students a culture transplant. If you’ve ever traveled, it’s obvious that Qatar isn’t actually half populated with mentally retarded people ... Mental retardation is actually defined by deficient global neurological abilities: physical coordination, verbal fluency, procedural memory, emotional perception, emotional control, and so forth. In other words, what are called skills of daily living. These talents are partially independent of general intelligence. It is perfectly possible for someone to be friendly, well spoken, and a great cook without having much abstract reasoning ability. ... while the Qatar average is almost two s.d.s below, which would be like an average IQ of just over 70, “borderline mentally retarded”. Those thresholds were designed for tracking white children into special education classes for developmental disabilities. In a homogenous group, IQ is highly correlated with mental retardation, because global brain damage necessarily reduces IQ. However the thresholds are much less meaningful across races. A white kid with an IQ of 70 will probably need special help to learn to tie their shoes, and will lack the curiosity to care. A black kid with an IQ of 70 is nearly normal except for abstract reasoning ability, and has trainable worker written all over them. The Bell Curve has been amply debunked already, ... [citation needed] Preferably a citation that lets hard data do the talking, looks at all the data, and understands the difference between correlation and causation.