[lbo-talk] It's the IQ, stupid

[ravi]

Calvin Ostrum wrote:
> It is, incidentally, surprising to me that so many commentators
> should find it disturbing that IQ might be heritable, perhaps
> largely so.  Would it also be disturbing to discover that
> relative height, or musical talent, or rank in running the
> 100 yard dash is in part genetically determined?

i think you may be missing the point: height is well-defined, at least
in some sense. gould's and others' criticism is that the notion of IQ is
conceptually not well-defined. if its nothing but how one performs on
particular tests, surely the onus is on the other camp to prove that
such things are indeed hereditary? gould and the related camp could be
wrong about their belief. but you may be constructing a strawman above.

you accuse others of not being mature etc. in your own responses, you
are being patronizing. that is not a very mature attitude either.

	--ravi