Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!decwrl!sun-barr!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcvax!ukc!etive!aipna!edai!cam From: cam@edai.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm cam@uk.ac.ed.edai 031 667 1011 x2550) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: Inheritance of IQ Message-ID: <483@edai.ed.ac.uk> Date: 31 Jul 89 14:15:49 GMT References: <5453@pt.cs.cmu.edu> <2061@cbnewsh.ATT.COM> <5480@pt.cs.cmu.edu> <458@edai.ed.ac.uk> <18330@princeton.Princeton.EDU> Reply-To: cam@edai (Chris Malcolm) Organization: University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Lines: 34 In article <18330@princeton.Princeton.EDU> rks@notecnirp.UUCP (Ramesh Sitaraman) writes: >In article <458@edai.ed.ac.uk> cam@edai (Chris Malcolm) writes: >>Since just about every quality which varies between individual people >>also varies on average between races, sexes, occupational groups, etc., >>it would be remarkable co-incidence if IQ - or any other parameter of >>mental performance - did not. >Well, I think that certain qualitites can evolve much much faster >than others. Skin color, size and certain other external >characteristics belong to the former. Our essential biological >characteristics like the structure of the heart etc etc and >things like IQ (whatever that means) probably take many many >tens of thousands of years to change. > .... >So I don't think a trivial few tens of thousands of years can >produce an evolutionary change in our mental powers. Though other >external changes can occur even after a few lifetimes. You assert that there are essential characteristics which take a long time to respond to selective pressure, and external characteristics which respond rapidly. Evidence? You assert that IQ is one of the essential characteristics. Evidence? Note that the largest and most rapid recent evolutionary change which the human race has suffered is a very considerable change in brian size; this is usually presumed to be correlated with becoming cleverer. If we accept your assertions, this is one of the most unlikely evolutionary changes to have happened. How come? -- Chris Malcolm cam@uk.ac.ed.edai 031 667 1011 x2550 Department of Artificial Intelligence, Edinburgh University 5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK