Re: Has Science Proved the Racists Right?

On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 11:40:59 GMT, jsavard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(John Savard) wrote:

>But the idea that only SOME human beings have genes associated with very
>basic features of human culture today - art, music, religion, writing,
>agriculture - is definitely worrisome by current political standards.

It also is not borne out in the article, either by the bald facts of
it or the reality that how genes affect complex characteristics like
culture and intelligence is simply not understood. Affect is also an
operative word because there is also plenty of evidence that
physiological brain development is heavily affected by conditions in
the womb and during childhood and adolescence. That leaves aside
memetics, which are a whole different concept, but probably even more
important.

So, no comfort for the racists. But then the idea that you can tell
someone's future worth at birth solely by the skin colour of the
parents is patently nonsensical.
--
Stephen Horgan

"intelligent people will tend to overvalue intelligence"
.

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