Lesbians leading the way in eugenics

[Al B. Sure!]

Yeah I am a little shocked that the article didn't talk about the most likely and feasible explanation... I guess just because then that would dampen the political conclusions behind the study.

[Heraclitus]

Exactly. So the link you seem to make between wealth and intelligence here is retarded:

"a poor dim single mom living off welfare after following her gina tingles and getting preggers with an ex felon"

Will most likley have average kids. But she is also far less likley to have above average kids as well.


From wikipedia:


y is the expected IQ of the child,
x is the mean IQ of the population to which the parents belong,
h^2 is the heritability of IQ,
m and f are the IQs of the mother and father, respectively


f and especially m are above average in this study, is it a wonder y is also higher?

[Heraclitus]

Given how complicated the brain is I imagine many, many genes have an effect on intelligence.

The genetics of inteligence are insanley complicated getting any sorts of correlations from single genes is very rare (though like I've said a few examples do exist).

[Al B. Sure!]

Heraclitus:

Are you 21?

[Ben Kenobi]

Given how complicated the brain is I imagine many, many genes have an effect on intelligence.

Which is my point. We simply don't how intelligence works wrt to the brain, let alone our DNA. This is why we have to use stone tools like IQ tests and make believe.

For all you know, the sperm donors could be swapped with others, and you'd never know the difference.

[Al B. Sure!]

Well I think Heraclitus' point is even if IQ is not a good proxy for intelligence, it doesn't change the fact that IQ has been (in some studies) shown to be correlated with other positive attributes such as income.

[Ben Kenobi]

But the question then is whether or not intelligence is an independent variable.

Are we more likely to see someone who's smart but not wealthy do as well as someone who is wealthy but not smart.

[giblets]

Which is my point. We simply don't how intelligence works wrt to the brain, let alone our DNA. This is why we have to use stone tools like IQ tests and make believe.

For all you know, the sperm donors could be swapped with others, and you'd never know the difference.

Sure, if you need a sperm donor why take into account a measure that correlates with school performance, job performance, and income, and appears to be significantly heritable?

[Maniac]

f and especially m are above average in this study, is it a wonder y is also higher?

How is this a reply to my post? It is obvious that children of intelligent people are also more likely to be intelligent. My problem is you without a thought connecting poverty and un-intelligence in the same sentence, and thus saying that children of poor people are less likely to have a genetic inclination towards intelligence. Since (I presume) the variation of social status and wealth over the generations is smaller than the variation in intelligence, that doesn't make sense.

[Ben Kenobi]

Gribbler,

People believe this to be the case. The question is how do we know those things to be true? People believe in many things. They believe that the shampoo that they buy from the health store is 'green' because they paid significantly more than at the grocery store.

The same is true for sperm banks. They believe that the sperm that they pay thousands of dollars for is significantly better than what they can get from a guy at a bar. It's all branding.

The second question, is how do you know that what you get is what you were promised?

You have absolutely no way of confirming that the sperm you get is what you wanted, or even that it has the characteristics claimed.

You are trusting that the person who donated the sperm accurately reported his IQ, and then that the sperm you get is actually his, and not someone else's.

The sperm banks have a vested interest to lie about either step.

[Maniac]

Aren't you a journalist? Investigate! Try to get inside a sperm bank while pretending to have a superhigh IQ!

[Barnabas]

Do smart people done sperm?

[giblets]

Gribbler,

People believe this to be the case. The question is how do we know those things to be true? People believe in many things. They believe that the shampoo that they buy from the health store is 'green' because they paid significantly more than at the grocery store.

The same is true for sperm banks. They believe that the sperm that they pay thousands of dollars for is significantly better than what they can get from a guy at a bar. It's all branding.

The second question, is how do you know that what you get is what you were promised?

You have absolutely no way of confirming that the sperm you get is what you wanted, or even that it has the characteristics claimed.

You are trusting that the person who donated the sperm accurately reported his IQ, and then that the sperm you get is actually his, and not someone else's.

The sperm banks have a vested interest to lie about either step.

What, this is a conspiracy theory now?

I always get a kick out of extreme skepticism, especially coming from someone who thinks some two thousand year old writings are proof that the son of god came down to earth, rose from the dead, and will send us to hell if we don't believe it, and of course this person participates in an organization that derives vast wealth from peddling these doctrines (vested interest, anyone?) and branding itself as the one true representative of the physical manifestation of an omnipotent being.

[Ben Kenobi]

You do recall I used to work at a health store that did just this?

As for my Christianity, didn't I already say that my skepticism helped make me a believer? The only other option is Nihilism, and I'm not going there.

[Maniac]

So you're a Chistian not because you believe God's existence is truth, but because the real truth is unpleasant to believe?