Thursday, August 04, 2005
09:34 PM

The Genetic Origin of Ashkenazi Genius: "A genetics paper published in the Journal of Biosocial Science in June, ‘Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence,’ makes the following claims about Ashkenazi European Jews: They have the highest average IQ of any ethnic group. Their intelligence advantage is genetic. Their intelligence advantage is recent. Jews as a whole are not of above-average intelligence, just the Ashkenazi. Ashkenazi intelligence is a result of natural selection. The paper is important not just for what it says about the Ashkenazi, but also for what it says about the nature of intelligence and genes. A surprising amount of favorable press coverage was generated over it—positive coverage appeared in both The Economist and The New York Times—despite the fact that the authors are claiming that: a) some racial differences in intelligence exist, and b) that they can be genetic in origin."

(Via Kuro5hin.org.)