> If you arbitrarily define intelligence as latency of brain responses to
> flashes of light,
Not defining "intelligence", just one way to measure it. There's nothing arbitrary about it. There was evidence that it correlated well with IQ tests.
> then sure, you can say that there are no racial differences in intelligence.
On one measure -- IQ tests -- clear racial differences do show up, but those results are suspect for many reasons, primarily cultural bias in the tests and the different socio-econmic status of the races in America.
If response times provide another measure, without the cultural bias, and show a different result, that is fairly important. I know the claim has been both made and disputed. I do not know if that debate has been resolved. Can anyone here tell me?
For that matter, are there other ways to measure intelligence that wold be useful in this conversation?
> We're back to Woj's "so what" question.
> What difference does response latency make in problem solving in
> everyday social situations?
Yes, and it is a very good question, but it should be asked of every purported measure of intelligence.
-- Sandy Harris, Nanjing, China