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>Simple biology is a ludicrously heavy lever on human behavior. Seemingly small biological factors can have huge social consequences. For example not having c

>Simple biology is a ludicrously heavy lever on human behavior. Seemingly small biological factors can have huge social consequences. For example not having clean water and getting parasites can mean a lower IQ for children and hindered development. http://www.economist.com/node/16479286 http://www.economist.com/node/16479286

new299 12y ago
The article makes that assertion, and implies that their is more evidence beyond correlation, but never shows this. Clean water, is likely to be so highly correlated with IQ due to any number of other factors I think it will be extremely difficult to disambiguate.
- IndianAstronaut 12y ago
  It might likely be a causal factor. http://repository.unm.edu/bitstream/handle/1928/17471/CEppig%20Dissertation.pdf?sequence=1#page=75 http://repository.unm.edu/bitstream/handle/1928/17471/CEppig...
  - new299 12y ago
    Could be, but I don't think the report shows that. In fact it states: "Many scientists, both critics and supporters, have expressed concern that the experimental methods we have used have not adequately established that causation exists between IQ and infectious disease, and that its direction is the one we predict. The use of longitudinal studies could answer all of these questions. Such studies would track children from as early an age as possible, documenting the intensity, duration, timing, and types of infections they acquire, and track their cognitive development through the use of culturally-appropriate IQ tests." In fact I'd think that so many other potential causative factors, such as lack of education, freetime, skilled employment etc. are likely to be correlated with incidence of infectious disease, that it's hard to draw any strong conclusions without a more detailed study.
BorisMelnik 12y ago
I heard a really good TED talk about this recently. and it was about mold / pollution in LA. It gave the example of a young woman who came into a hospital multiple times for a headache, and could not get to the root of the problem. Eventually she saw a specialist and attributed 100% of the cause to the fact that she lived in East LA, had rat droppings, mold in her house which was the cause.

new299 12y ago

The article makes that assertion, and implies that their is more evidence beyond correlation, but never shows this. Clean water, is likely to be so highly correlated with IQ due to any number of other factors I think it will be extremely difficult to disambiguate.

IndianAstronaut 12y ago
It might likely be a causal factor. http://repository.unm.edu/bitstream/handle/1928/17471/CEppig%20Dissertation.pdf?sequence=1#page=75 http://repository.unm.edu/bitstream/handle/1928/17471/CEppig...
- new299 12y ago
  Could be, but I don't think the report shows that. In fact it states: "Many scientists, both critics and supporters, have expressed concern that the experimental methods we have used have not adequately established that causation exists between IQ and infectious disease, and that its direction is the one we predict. The use of longitudinal studies could answer all of these questions. Such studies would track children from as early an age as possible, documenting the intensity, duration, timing, and types of infections they acquire, and track their cognitive development through the use of culturally-appropriate IQ tests." In fact I'd think that so many other potential causative factors, such as lack of education, freetime, skilled employment etc. are likely to be correlated with incidence of infectious disease, that it's hard to draw any strong conclusions without a more detailed study.

BorisMelnik 12y ago

I heard a really good TED talk about this recently. and it was about mold / pollution in LA. It gave the example of a young woman who came into a hospital multiple times for a headache, and could not get to the root of the problem. Eventually she saw a specialist and attributed 100% of the cause to the fact that she lived in East LA, had rat droppings, mold in her house which was the cause.