Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcvax!ukc!castle!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: <497@edai.ed.ac.uk> Date: 5 Aug 89 02:06:19 GMT References: <5453@pt.cs.cmu.edu> <2061@cbnewsh.ATT.COM> <5480@pt.cs.cmu.edu> <458@edai.ed.ac.uk> <602@visdc.UUCP> <3072@cadre.dsl.PITTSBURGH.EDU> <603@visdc.UUCP> <482@edai.ed.ac.uk> <611@visdc.UUCP> Reply-To: cam@edai (Chris Malcolm) Organization: University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Lines: 40 In article <611@visdc.UUCP> jiii@visdc.UUCP (John E Van Deusen III) writes: >In article <482@edai.ed.ac.uk> cam@edai (Chris Malcolm) writes: >>In article <603@visdc.UUCP> jiii@visdc.UUCP I wrote: >>> ... all humans have essentially the same genetic compliment. No one >>> race of humans has "evolved" beyond the others, if evolution is >>> defined to be the assimilation of a positive random genetic mutation. >>> What exists is only variation in the expression of a common pool of >>> genetic information. >> >> Quite so. The same is true of dogs. But if it came to racing a poodle >> against a greyhound I'd bet on the greyhound. On the other hand, if I >> wanted a smart dog I'd get a poodle. > >The fact remains that no matter how you breed a dog you still have a >dog. There is no way that you can get one that can understand Newtonian >mechanics. It simply isn't there. A fundamental genetic change would >have to be assimilated by the canine population in order to make that >sort of breakthrough. In all likelihood, no such positive genetic >mutation exists within one of the races of human beings either. There >is no characteristic that you can obtain by selective breeding that >can't happen by chance. The "smartest" dog is most likely to be some >old yaller mongrel. Your presumptions may in fact be correct, though nobody knows for sure. They are beside the point, however. The question was whether there might be small but noticeable differences in average intelligence between races. The great variety of domestic dogs shows what variation can easily be selected for within the dog genetic pool, and while dog intelligence is usually left to look after itself, there are noticeable average variations between breeds. I know of no reason to suspect that the range of variation in the human genetic pool is less than that of dogs. And as you imply, the smartest human will probably be an extreme heterozygote too, i.e., a multi-racial hybrid. So much for the master race! -- Chris Malcolm cam@uk.ac.ed.edai 031 667 1011 x2550 Department of Artificial Intelligence, Edinburgh University 5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK