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The Jewish culture has valued certain types of intelligence for centuries, and probably as a result their average IQ is measurably higher due to selection effec

by marze 13y ago

The Jewish culture has valued certain types of intelligence for centuries, and probably as a result their average IQ is measurably higher due to selection effects. If you assume it is outliers on the IQ spectrum that will win the prize, this isn't surprising at all. I'd guess that a big reason why people of the Jewish faith have been persecuted over the centuries is that because of their IQ advantage they gain more wealth than other peoples they may be around. It is fascinating.

ekianjo 13y ago
am i reading this on hn? what are your sources? and what does jewish culture mean anyway when jewish people live in all continents in very different environments and of various descents? the reason why jewish people have accumulated more wealth may as well have nothing to do with their intelligence but merely because they support each other when they are in position of power and therefore raise the status of their communities. please keep your blanket statements for some other place.
- cylinder 13y ago
  "Support each other" is the defining characteristic of the Jewish community. I am part of a different highly-educated minority, but its people seem to always be envious/jealous of each other and highly competitive, and so usually refuse to work with one another.
  - ekianjo 13y ago
    there are oter communities supporting each other. Hungarians are well knwn in that regard too. But again I would be very careful not to attribute this to higher intelligence or something.
- marze 13y ago
  It is simply speculation and was stated as such. However, the IQ question has been studied and you can find discussion of it elsewhere in this thread. The relatively hard data says that Jewish people are about 100 times more likely to win a Nobel prize than an average person. 100x is a big factor. Obviously, there must be some fairly powerful factor or factors involved, and it is interesting to speculate.
- clarkm 13y ago
  > am i reading this on hn? what are your sources? This type of incredulous response is one of the most annoying thing about HN. It's pretty obvious that you've never put any serious thought into the issue; yet, instead of investigating for yourself, you make up some just-so story that puts you at ease. A simple Google Scholar search would provide you will all types of answers, but since I doubt you'll be bothered to actually read an academic paper, just listen to Steven Pinker on the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GexZF5VIMU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GexZF5VIMU
- al1x 13y ago
  > ..they support each other when they are in position of power and therefore raise the status of their communities. I think the real question to ask then is what is religious breakdown of the various Nobel committee's?

by marze 13y ago

ekianjo 13y ago

am i reading this on hn? what are your sources? and what does jewish culture mean anyway when jewish people live in all continents in very different environments and of various descents? the reason why jewish people have accumulated more wealth may as well have nothing to do with their intelligence but merely because they support each other when they are in position of power and therefore raise the status of their communities. please keep your blanket statements for some other place.

cylinder 13y ago
"Support each other" is the defining characteristic of the Jewish community. I am part of a different highly-educated minority, but its people seem to always be envious/jealous of each other and highly competitive, and so usually refuse to work with one another.
- ekianjo 13y ago
  there are oter communities supporting each other. Hungarians are well knwn in that regard too. But again I would be very careful not to attribute this to higher intelligence or something.
marze 13y ago
It is simply speculation and was stated as such. However, the IQ question has been studied and you can find discussion of it elsewhere in this thread. The relatively hard data says that Jewish people are about 100 times more likely to win a Nobel prize than an average person. 100x is a big factor. Obviously, there must be some fairly powerful factor or factors involved, and it is interesting to speculate.
clarkm 13y ago
> am i reading this on hn? what are your sources? This type of incredulous response is one of the most annoying thing about HN. It's pretty obvious that you've never put any serious thought into the issue; yet, instead of investigating for yourself, you make up some just-so story that puts you at ease. A simple Google Scholar search would provide you will all types of answers, but since I doubt you'll be bothered to actually read an academic paper, just listen to Steven Pinker on the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GexZF5VIMU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GexZF5VIMU
al1x 13y ago
> ..they support each other when they are in position of power and therefore raise the status of their communities. I think the real question to ask then is what is religious breakdown of the various Nobel committee's?