ApostateAbe
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2002
- Messages
- 1,299
- Location
- Colorado, USA
- Basic Beliefs
- Infotheist. I believe the gods to be mere information.
A recent book by the economist Garett Jones builds on the work of the intelligence researcher Richard Lynn, titled "Hive Mind: How Your Nation's IQ Matters So Much More Than Your Own." Jones published a similar paper in 2011 with the following four points in his abstract:
1. Intelligence is associated with patience and hence higher savings rates
2. Intelligence causes cooperation
3. Higher group intelligence opens the door to using fragile, high-value production technologies
4. Intelligence is associated with supporting market-oriented policies
But, unlike Lynn, Jones is NOT a racial hereditarian. He believes that regional IQs can be sufficiently increased through environmental changes, such as removing lead and arsenic from drinking water. Lynn's correlation between national IQ and GDP per capita (0.5) is strong enough that the data can not be rightly dismissed as irrelevant, even accepting the taboos that disparage the racial hereditarian theory.
A mixed review of the book was published in the journal Intelligence. The criticism claims the book is neglecting the idea that maybe self-control does the causal work, not intelligence, so improving intelligence may not improve self-control. Such points are important, because, if we want to improve humanity through either genetic engineering or environmental improvement, concentrating on intelligence alone may not be enough. Many intelligence researchers have treated IQ as though it is a unified explanation for all the many things IQ is correlated with, such as lack of crime, but I find that presumption unlikely, and there may be considerable risk in improving intelligence without also enhancing the many other K-selected attributes. It could mean many more intelligent criminals.
1. Intelligence is associated with patience and hence higher savings rates
2. Intelligence causes cooperation
3. Higher group intelligence opens the door to using fragile, high-value production technologies
4. Intelligence is associated with supporting market-oriented policies
But, unlike Lynn, Jones is NOT a racial hereditarian. He believes that regional IQs can be sufficiently increased through environmental changes, such as removing lead and arsenic from drinking water. Lynn's correlation between national IQ and GDP per capita (0.5) is strong enough that the data can not be rightly dismissed as irrelevant, even accepting the taboos that disparage the racial hereditarian theory.
A mixed review of the book was published in the journal Intelligence. The criticism claims the book is neglecting the idea that maybe self-control does the causal work, not intelligence, so improving intelligence may not improve self-control. Such points are important, because, if we want to improve humanity through either genetic engineering or environmental improvement, concentrating on intelligence alone may not be enough. Many intelligence researchers have treated IQ as though it is a unified explanation for all the many things IQ is correlated with, such as lack of crime, but I find that presumption unlikely, and there may be considerable risk in improving intelligence without also enhancing the many other K-selected attributes. It could mean many more intelligent criminals.