re: #11 Obdicut

Twin studies are so few and far between, and so statistically variable, as to be basically meaningless.

Nobody doubts there are numerous genetic components to intelligence. It’s obvious; variablility of ability is always going to be partially genetic.

That is not at all going to mean that a ‘race’— which is not a scientific term anyway— is going to have a bias towards being ‘more’ or ‘less’ intelligent.

We don’t even have a coherent understanding of what ‘intelligence’ is. Is it problem-solving? Is it abstract reasoning?

I personally can read a 300 page book in a few hours, and retain almost all of the information contained therin as long as it’s not a techncial subject I know little about. Is that ‘intelligence’ on my part? It certainly has always helped me get very good scores on tests.

And again: twin studies are inherently massively problematic, and using them as support for your argument is never a good idea.

Twin studies establish very nicely that genetically identical individuals’ IQ test scores are strongly correlated. They are as strongly correlated as test scores of the very same person taking another test on another day. Even when the twins are raised apart. In fact, raised together or raised apart, the correlation is pretty much the same.

There is nothing of quack science in this. It’s just a demonstrated fact.

Oh, and the ability to read fast and understand and retain information is an important mental ability and is reflective of general intelligence. It’s not the exact same thing—-in any case, we don’t have an exact definition of intelligence.