Posted on 12/10/2007 6:57:09 AM PST by Daffynition
JAMES WATSON, the DNA pioneer who claimed Africans are less intelligent than whites, has been found to have 16 times more genes of black origin than the average white European.
An analysis of his genome shows that 16% of his genes are likely to have come from a black ancestor of African descent. By contrast, most people of European descent would have no more than 1%.
The study was made possible when he allowed his genome - the map of all his genes - to be published on the internet in the interests of science.
“This level is what you would expect in someone who had a great-grandparent who was African,” said Kari Stefansson of deCODE Genetics, whose company carried out the analysis. “It was very surprising to get this result for Jim.”
Watson won the Nobel prize, with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, after working out the structure of DNA in 1953. However, he provoked an outcry earlier this year when he suggested black people were genetically less intelligent than whites.
This weekend his critics savoured the wry twist of fate. Sir John Sulston, the Nobel laureate who helped lead the consortium that decoded the human genome, said the discovery was ironic in view of Watson’s opinions on race. “I never did agree with Watson’s remarks,” he said. “We do not understand enough about intelligence to generalise about race.”
The backlash against Watson forced him to step down as chancellor of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York state, after 39 years at the helm. He had said he was “inherently gloomy about the prospects for Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really”.
The analysis by deCODE Genetics, an Icelandic company, also shows a further 9% of Watson’s genes are likely to have come from an ancestor of Asian descent. Watson was not available for comment.
Thanks. Your assessment is all I need to know about this guy.
The percentage of African genes is as if 1 great grandparent were African origin. If that 16%were divided among several lines then you would have to go much farther back to find several African ancestors.
You just reminded me of my favorite part line in Saving Private Ryan, where the Jewish soldier yells at the German voice on the megaphone: "Your father was circumcised by my rabbi!"
No you can't. None of us can. Prior to the development of DNA testing it was not possible to scientifically determine who the father of a baby was.
In DNA testing done in recent years for divorce cases, about 25% of the children are proven to not be the genetic offspring of the mother's husband.
I'm sure this was less common in the past, but I'm also sure it happened. The chance that anybody who claims they can accurately trace their ancestry back many generations is true is statistically very small.
Take a look at ANY large data set. The military intelligence data; NAEP scores; SAT scores (not the best choice since it is not the most representative sample). Every time you will see a one std deviation difference between white and black test-takers. It's a fact of life whether we like it or not.
At that, the infamous the Milwaukee Project pretty much debunked the blanket ‘racial’ difference argument.
I would like to think I am conversing with someone who understands that one study proves nothing. Especially when it is the only study to get the results reported. AFAIK, no other study has been able to duplicate the results. If I missed something, there are still far more negative studies. And how practical was Milwaukee? IIRC, the gains in IQ cost something on the order of 25K per IQ point.
An example of a contrary study: the Minnesota Adoption Study. When black infants were adopted into white households they did not end up enjoying the same IQs as the white siblings with whom they are raised. Benefits were shown initially, but they were unfortunately transient. By their teen years, the effect was gone.
I have learned to accept the advice of Philip Dick. "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
(Stickin' with my 50/50 estimate BTW.)
The deviation would be slightly smaller if given the same environment, but it still exists, and always will. For example, whilst the average African has an IQ of around 70 (Average White American = 101, average Japanese = 110), the average Black American has an IQ of around 85. Still one full standard deviation below the White American (with whom they were raised in the same society) average.
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