8 ms·

This article completely side stepped issues of how important everything else is to our lives. We won't solve disease by genetic knowledge. What food we eat, the

by dahv 17y ago

This article completely side stepped issues of how important everything else is to our lives. We won't solve disease by genetic knowledge. What food we eat, the happiness in our lives, our exercise...these are so important. Genetic knowledge won't teach us how to be healthy, just and peaceful. As for the differences between the races, as much as they might exist, I can't believe how people can be blind to how culture is extremely influencial. Take your so-called smarter race (e.g. asian), take them to a "dumber" place like America, and in a few generations they'll be just as dumb. And the asians aren't smarter. I live in China now, teaching English. Their education system, and the Asian education system in general (i.e. China/Japan/Korea) strongly develops certain skills. Mostly, these involve analysis, logic, and memorization. However, while this form of education is outstanding for producing people that can do very well at coursework and following directions (as well as become excellent engineers/doctors/research assistants/accountants), it is very poor at producing people who can think for themselves and be creative thinkers. It certainly does not develop critical thinking. As for the African stereotype...have you looked at what's going on over there? Damn if I could study or learn shit if I'm a starving refugee. Oh, and I can't believe nobody's seen the film "Gattaca."

tokenadult 17y ago
while this form of education is outstanding for producing people that can do very well at coursework and following directions (as well as become excellent engineers/doctors/research assistants/accountants), it is very poor at producing people who can think for themselves and be creative thinkers. It certainly does not develop critical thinking. If you are living in China, you are living under a political system in which the current regime dare not encourage critical thinking. As Taiwan democratized, the scope of common people to express critical thinking (about their government and about all other issues of public concern) increased greatly. In other words, the educational system in China is holding back critical thinking only insofar as it needs to be in line with the one-party political system. Sometimes dictatorships have mostly good education in all respects that don't threaten the dictatorship. See http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=977549 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=977549 for my submission of a long, interesting article by a Russian author who now lives outside Russia on mathematics education in Russia and the United States, and how each relates to the governance of each country.
w00pla 17y ago
> Damn if I could study or learn shit if I'm a starving refugee. You know that most (90%+) Africans are not starving? Africa isn't filled by starving refugees as CNN would like you to believe. I think the most common comparison with Africans is in the USA. > Oh, and I can't believe nobody's seen the film "Gattaca." This is an excellent (and was my favorite) movie and I identify strongly with the main character. While the movie sends a powerful image, now matter how hard you try, you will not change a person's general intelligence (which is innate).
- tokenadult 17y ago
  While the movie sends a powerful image, now matter how hard you try, you will not change a person's general intelligence (which is innate). What is the evidence for this? Most human behavorial genetics researchers talk about a "reaction surface" set for each individual by that individual's genes, but I'm not aware of any researcher who claims to have a proof for an upper limit in how much "general intelligence" (that would be IQ) can change in the case of individuals or in the case of populations. In fact, the existing OBSERVED degree of IQ increases all around the world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect has been described by N. J. Mackintosh in these terms: "the data are surprising, demolish some long-cherished beliefs, and raise a number of other interesting issues along the way." (Mackintosh 1998, p. 104). You write, "no matter how hard you try," but it's not clear anyone is trying very hard or very systematically to raise anyone's general intellilgence, but it is happening anyway. I meet weekly with human behavioral genetics researchers http://www.psych.umn.edu/courses/fall09/mcguem/psy8935/default.htm http://www.psych.umn.edu/courses/fall09/mcguem/psy8935/defau... and have learned from them that the whole field of human behavorial genetics is becoming much more conservative and cautious in its claims about genetic limits on human potential than it was ten years ago. That's what is said explicitly by Tom Bouchard, one of the most cited researchers in the field. REFERENCE Mackintosh, N. J. (1998). IQ and Human Intelligence. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P.S. Other good, recent reading on this subject is Neisser, Ulric (Ed.) (1998). The Rising Curve: Long-Term Gains in IQ and Related Measures. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Flynn, James R. (2009). What Is Intelligence: Beyond the Flynn Effect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

by dahv 17y ago

tokenadult 17y ago

while this form of education is outstanding for producing people that can do very well at coursework and following directions (as well as become excellent engineers/doctors/research assistants/accountants), it is very poor at producing people who can think for themselves and be creative thinkers. It certainly does not develop critical thinking. If you are living in China, you are living under a political system in which the current regime dare not encourage critical thinking. As Taiwan democratized, the scope of common people to express critical thinking (about their government and about all other issues of public concern) increased greatly. In other words, the educational system in China is holding back critical thinking only insofar as it needs to be in line with the one-party political system. Sometimes dictatorships have mostly good education in all respects that don't threaten the dictatorship. See http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=977549 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=977549 for my submission of a long, interesting article by a Russian author who now lives outside Russia on mathematics education in Russia and the United States, and how each relates to the governance of each country.

w00pla 17y ago

> Damn if I could study or learn shit if I'm a starving refugee. You know that most (90%+) Africans are not starving? Africa isn't filled by starving refugees as CNN would like you to believe. I think the most common comparison with Africans is in the USA. > Oh, and I can't believe nobody's seen the film "Gattaca." This is an excellent (and was my favorite) movie and I identify strongly with the main character. While the movie sends a powerful image, now matter how hard you try, you will not change a person's general intelligence (which is innate).

tokenadult 17y ago
While the movie sends a powerful image, now matter how hard you try, you will not change a person's general intelligence (which is innate). What is the evidence for this? Most human behavorial genetics researchers talk about a "reaction surface" set for each individual by that individual's genes, but I'm not aware of any researcher who claims to have a proof for an upper limit in how much "general intelligence" (that would be IQ) can change in the case of individuals or in the case of populations. In fact, the existing OBSERVED degree of IQ increases all around the world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect has been described by N. J. Mackintosh in these terms: "the data are surprising, demolish some long-cherished beliefs, and raise a number of other interesting issues along the way." (Mackintosh 1998, p. 104). You write, "no matter how hard you try," but it's not clear anyone is trying very hard or very systematically to raise anyone's general intellilgence, but it is happening anyway. I meet weekly with human behavioral genetics researchers http://www.psych.umn.edu/courses/fall09/mcguem/psy8935/default.htm http://www.psych.umn.edu/courses/fall09/mcguem/psy8935/defau... and have learned from them that the whole field of human behavorial genetics is becoming much more conservative and cautious in its claims about genetic limits on human potential than it was ten years ago. That's what is said explicitly by Tom Bouchard, one of the most cited researchers in the field. REFERENCE Mackintosh, N. J. (1998). IQ and Human Intelligence. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P.S. Other good, recent reading on this subject is Neisser, Ulric (Ed.) (1998). The Rising Curve: Long-Term Gains in IQ and Related Measures. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Flynn, James R. (2009). What Is Intelligence: Beyond the Flynn Effect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.