Race Differences in Intelligence
Posted by John Engelman, Raceology
Jared Taylor, American Renaissance, June 2006
Richard Lynn, Race Differences in Intelligence: An Evolutionary Analysis, Washington Summit Publishers, 2006, 322 pp.
This is not a volume for conformists, in the sense that it does not spend much time beating down threadbare orthodoxies: that race does not exist, that IQ tests are biased, that environment and “racism” explain racial differences in achievement, etc. Prof. Lynn quickly summarizes the arguments in these areas, but writes mainly for an audience that already understands that race is real and that races differ in intelligence. His main interest is in assessing IQ differences, determining to what extent the differences are genetic, and sketching out the events of the past 100,000 years that probably caused these differences...
Balkan peoples, for example, tend to have depressed IQs compared to other Europeans (Croatia 89, Serbia 92.5, Bulgaria 90), and Prof. Lynn attributes this to centuries of admixture with South Asians, mainly Turks, who ruled large parts of the Balkans. Greeks — who have an average IQ of 95 — are genetically closer to Iranians and other Southwest Asians than to Danes or Englishmen. Prof. Lynn also finds that Spain and particularly Portugal have scores lower than the European average. Portugal imported large numbers of Africans slaves from the 15th century onward, and the lower national average is probably due to interbreeding. Ireland (92) and Scotland (97) also have lower averages, which Prof. Lynn attributes to selective emigration: Men of better-than-average intelligence managed to leave during famines and other crises.
Most IQ studies of Africans have been of black Americans, and Prof. Lynn confirms the long-standing average of 85. He notes that this figure appears in the earliest IQ tests given at age three, and cannot be attributed to bad schools. Nor, he writes, is there any evidence of malnutrition among American blacks, so the differences from the white average are overwhelmingly likely to be genetic.
Recent studies in Africa itself give results that point to an average of 67, about the mental age of a European nine- or ten-year-old. Prof. Lynn argues that disease and malnutrition depress the African average by some 12 or 13 points, and that 80 is probably the figure the average African would achieve in a First-World environment. Prof. Lynn notes that in the United States, blacks benefit further from an admixture of white genes to the point that the average black has the equivalent of one white grandparent. He concludes from studies of mulattos that every percentage increase in white genes raises average black IQ by approximately 0.2 points, and that this accounts for the five-point advantage American blacks have over the 80-point genotypic intelligence of African blacks.
Bushmen and Pygmies appear to fall below even the low African average...
The average IQ of Bushmen has been tested at about 54...
The aborigines of Australia and New Guinea also have very low IQs. Those in Australia migrated about 60,000 years ago from New Guinea, and share many physical traits. The median IQ for both groups is 62...
[In his book Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond writes, "In mental ability New Guineans are probably genetically superior to Westerners." Nevertheless, he provides no evidence for this assertion.
Professor Lynn groups the peoples of North Africa, the Middle East, India, and Pakistan into a single race he calls South Asians and North Africans. They have average IQs of around 84, with the exception of Turks, whose IQ of 90 can probably be attributed to hybridization with Europeans...
The East Asian populations of China, Japan, and Korea have the highest average IQs in the world. Numerous studies suggest an average of 105...
Prof. Lynn argues that it was the demands of colder, non-African environments that forced the pace of evolution in intelligence and gave rise to race differences.
It is clearly much harder to live through sub-arctic winters than near the equator, where temperature hardly varies. Humans had to learn to use needles and thread to make clothes and tents, to keep babies and children warm, and to control fire. Unlike Africans, who could gather food year-round, bands that went north had to have the foresight to store food for the winter. Likewise, meat became a much more important source of food because plants were not available in the winter, and men had to learn how to track and kill large animals. This required cooperation, intelligent speech, tools for killing and butchering, and arithmetic for sharing carcasses. Even in modern times, hunter-gatherers in northern climates depend much more on meat than tropics-dwellers, and need more tools. Early humans dried and stored meat for the winter, but if they did it wrong the meat went bad and they caught food poisoning. This, too, helped winnow out the unintelligent.
Cold weather forced women to be selective about mates. Unlike African women, who could forage for themselves and their children all year, northern women were completely dependent on men. They needed mates who hunted well and had the foresight to store food, so could not settle for dummies. Men had to choose women who could be counted on to keep fires going and children fed and warm. At the same time, prolonged dependence forced northerners to develop durable family ties. Parents who did not stick together through winter after winter were unlikely to have children who survived. In the tropics, a woman could feed a brood without a man’s help.
The consequence, writes Prof. Lynn, is that there is a strong correlation of 0.68 between racial IQ and cold-winter environments.
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In A Farewell to Alms: a Brief Economic History of the World, Professor Gregory Clark argues that civilization contributes to the evolution of intelligence. During most of history intelligent men have usually been more prosperous than unintelligent men. Consequently, they have had more children who survived and reproduced.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RF7DRN09TU6IS?ref=pf_ov_at_pdctrvw_srp
In A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race, and Human History, Nicholas Wade,
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RS1CNJ677HVQB?ref=pf_ov_at_pdctrvw_srp
and in The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution, Professors Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending make similar arguments.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1QW7U2G2GJTXC?ref=pf_ov_at_pdctrvw_srp
This does not mean that cold weather does not contribute to the evolution of higher intelligence. It does mean that civilization also contributes.
Neanderthals lived in Europe for several hundred thousand years during several ice ages. They appear to have been less intelligent than the Cro Magnons who displaced them, and who had left Africa much more recently.
Richard Lynn has written a book entitled Dysgenics. In this book he demonstrates that for at least a century those of below average intelligence usually have more children who survive and reproduce than people with above average intelligence. Moreover, those with felony convictions tend to be more prolific than those without felony convictions. The welfare system has increased this tendency.
In other words, human evolution is taking a u turn. While this is happening computers and industrial robots are eliminating the kinds of jobs those of below average intelligence are able to learn.
Among animals, when males are unnecessary to help females raise their young, the males fight for sexual access to females. The males who win the fights get several females. The males who lose the fights get none.
I suspect that the high rate of black on black homicide is ultimately motivated by the competition for black females.
Before Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) black females needed the help of black males who would stay with them to raise their young. This discouraged promiscuity among black females and violence between black males.
Currently, a black teenage girl or young woman with a romantic choice between a responsible black man with a low wage job and a flashy, high stepping drug dealer with fancy clothes and lots of money is likely to choose the drug dealer. Drug dealers are very violent men. I have read that they are more likely to be killed by other drug dealers than they are to be arrested.
In the black ghetto underclass it is obvious who the unmarried mothers are. I suspect that the men who have the largest number of illegitimate children are the most successful criminals. It would be fairly easy to determine this with a study, but the study would not advance one's academic career.
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