-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Marxism] Sociobiological tripe about Jewish "intelligence" Date: Sat, 04 Jun 2005 23:32:57 -0400 From: Mike Friedman <mikedf at mail.amnh.org> Reply-To: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition<marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu> To: marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu
Lou missed the more significant article of the Times' Friday double-whammy. Actually triple whammy. The front-page, and much more important, article "For Fruit Flies, Gene Shift Tilts Sex Orientation," describes the recent discovery of a single gene in Drosophila (fruit flies) that purportedly "determines all aspects of the flies' sexual orientation and behavior." This in a nutshell is the reductionist program, well and truly critiqued in such books as S. Rose's "Lifelines" and R. Lewontin's "The Triple Helix".
Suffice it to say that the redoubled effort to pin the "human condition" on "bad genes" at a time of renewed Dickensian capitalism and naked imperialist aggression is just another victim-blaming strategy.
As Rose points out, genes do not "determine" complex traits (Mendelian traits being exceptions, and minor ones, in the scheme of things), but are better seen as part of an organism's developmental toolkit. Moreover, the nature-nurture dichotomy is false. The two are inseparably intertwined.
Rose writes that for a gene other genes, the cellular matrix, other cells in the developing tissue, the extracellular milieu, all constitute "environment". For the organism during its developmental trajectory, the inside of the egg, the uterus and the outside environment are all "environment." And as Schlichting and Pigliucci point out in their book "Phenotypic Evolution," phenotypes are the complex result of the interactions of three phenomena: phenotypic plasticity (the genetically mediated response to external environmental changes), epigenetics (the genetically mediated response to internal environmental changes) and allometry (the way in which multitudes of internal and external responses are coordinated to yield a coherent whole)." Because of these multi-leveled interactions, genes are apparently typically expressed as reaction norms: the same gene will express differently in different environments. A relevant case in point is sex determination in crocodile eggs. At incubation temperatures below about 30 degrees c, female embryos develop, while at temperatures above, males develop. While this example should not be taken to apply literally to human sex determination, it is indicative of the types of interaction that can lead to something as cut and dry as sex determination. And it is no less applicable than genetic manipulations on Drosophila. While the scientists cited in the Times pay lip service to posterior environmental modification of sexual behavior, their research no more proves that a single gene "determines all aspects" of sexual behavior than did previous efforts to link genes and intelligence, aggression, etc. In their study, the scientists assume what really needs to be proven: that to a single gene can be attributed direct causality for a behavior, that is that the gene can be teased out of its multiple interactions. In other words, they are not falsifying other alternative interpretations of their results.
The reason this article is the more important is that the second article, "Intelligence and Diseases May Be Linked in Ashkenazic Genes," is pure scenario; it's pure speculation. If you read the article, there's no evidence to back up the author's substantive claims. And so, the first article sets up the second. "See, look, Martha, a gene determines a social behavior. So that stuff about Jews having smart genes, that must be true..."
And the third article in the trio, a tiny, obscure note hidden on page 20, the same page as the Ashkenazaic Genes article, notes that the Smithsonian Institution has withdrawn co-sponsorship of a movie that supports "intelligent design." The Smithsonian backed out of their support for the movie, apparently "after news of the showing caused controversy"; my guess being that funders and others warned that the Smithsonian was violating its mission as a public institution dedicated to the furtherance of science. Interesting juxtaposition with the other two articles.
Mike
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At 02:00 PM 6/3/2005, you wrote:
>Subject: [Marxism] Sociobiological tripe about Jewish "intelligence"
>To: marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu, PEN-L at SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU
>
>(Two things to note. This idea of Jewish "breeding" is no different than
>Jimmy the Greek saying that blacks excelled at sports because of slave
>plantation breeding techniques. Furthermore, it is interesting that Jared
>Diamond endorses this nonsense.)
>
>NY Times, June 3, 2005
>Researchers Say Intelligence and Diseases May Be Linked in Ashkenazic Genes
>By NICHOLAS WADE