'Black people are less intelligent than whites', claims DNA pioneer (James Watson)

Daily Mail ^ | 10/17/07

[bmwcyle]

You might be right but then I look at who they elect.

[Constantine XIII]

I don’t think guys who slap their names on their grad student’s work are so bright, either.

[Sherman Logan]

Suppose (not at all counter-factually) that Blacks (with equal incomes) save less than Whites and are more likely to default on mortgages. ... Given the validity of the supposition posed, what should the public policy implications be?

None.Ignore pigmentation and treat each individual as per their individual record.

Sort of like saying that we shouldn't reject the hypothesis that perhaps men have an inherent advantage in math, physics and peeing across the room?

Men on average have an advantage in these areas. With the exception of peeing across the room, this group average tells us absolutely nothing about the performance of any individual man or women. Again, treat each individual as an individual and there is no problem.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Well, when I noticed that he is at the Open University, he is a typical liberal who is up to no good.:-)

[TigerLikesRooster]

Correction: I knew he is a typical liberal who is up to no good

[Constantine XIII]

LOL WUT?

[airedale]

I looked up James D. Watson at the Open Secrets website to see if he donated to anyone. I came across this donor which looks like it’s him based upon a Google search using James D. Watson and Cold Springs.:

WATSON, JAMES D
COLD SPRINGHARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LABS/SCIENTIST

9/29/2003

$5,000

To Organize a Majority PAC

WATSON, JAMES D
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY

9/15/2004

$2,000

Clinton, Hillary Rodham

WATSON, JAMES D
COLD SPRING HBR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LAB

6/22/2001

$1,000

Harkin, Tom

WATSON, JAMES D
COLD SPRING HBR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LAB

1/15/2002

$1,000

Harkin, Tom

WATSON, JAMES D
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

PRESIDENT

9/21/1998

$1,000

D’Amato, Alfonse M

WATSON, JAMES D
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LABS

1/10/2000

$1,000

Harkin, Tom

WATSON, JAMES D
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LABS

7/11/2000

$1,000

Harkin, Tom

WATSON, JAMES D
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LAB

4/30/2002

$500

Harkin, Tom

WATSON, JAMES D
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

6/29/1998

$500

D’Amato, Alfonse M

WATSON, JAMES D
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY/SCIEN

6/25/2006

$250

Lamont, Ned

WATSON, JAMES D
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

5/1/2002

($2,500)

Harkin, Tom

WATSON, JAMES D JR
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LAB/SCIENTIST

10/20/2005

$2,100

Harkin, Tom

WATSON, JAMES D JR
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LAB/SCIENTIST

10/20/2005

$2,100

Harkin, Tom

WATSON, JAMES D JR
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY/CHANC

5/17/2007

$2,000

Clinton, Hillary

WATSON, JAMES D JR
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY/CHANC

3/17/2006

$2,000

Clinton, Hillary

WATSON, JAMES D JR
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LAB/SCIENTIST

12/22/2005

$1,500

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte

WATSON, JAMES D JR
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRINGS HARBOR LAB/CHANCELLOR

10/20/2006

$1,000

Kilroy, Mary Jo

WATSON, JAMES D JR
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY/CHANC

6/25/2007

$700

Clinton, Hillary

WATSON, JAMES D JR
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY/CHANC

6/25/2007

$300

Clinton, Hillary

WATSON, JAMES D MD
SEQUIM,WA 98382

PHYSICIAN

7/23/1993

$300

American Academy of Ophthalmology

WATSON, JAMES D MD
SEQUIM,WA 98382

PHYSICIAN

11/22/1994

$300

American Academy of Ophthalmology

WATSON, JAMES DAVID
DILLON,SC 29536

ATTORNEY

12/5/2001

$1,000

Sanders, Alex

WATSON, JAMES DEWEY
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LABS

9/20/2002

$10,000

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte

WATSON, JAMES DEWEY
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LAB

11/11/2004

$5,000

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte

WATSON, JAMES DEWEY DR JR
COLD SPRING HARBOR,NY 11724

COLD SPRING HARBOR LAB/PRESIDENT CA

7/31/2003

$2,500

Republican Leadership Council

[7thson]

I have noticed the similarities between stupid blacks and whites - the same type of moral values, same speech patterns, etc. We are in an age where certain stupid people are placed on a pedestal - AlGore - while certin intelligent people are ignored - Thomas Sowell. I see a common thread in real life and in television programs and movies. The ones who obtain positions of power are the sneaky, the not-so-bright ones, while the competent and intelligent ones must be smeared and destroyed. In real life - the Clinton Crime Family compared to President Bush, VP Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. In television programs, I think 24 is a prime example. The very existance of a Jack Baur threatens the insecure, the ignorant, the incompetent, so he must be destroyed. <P.
I have my own way of measuring intelligence. If I am invited into someone’s home, I look at what books that person reads, the magazines, the newspaper. I look at the music they listen to. Talking to them, I find out what kind of movies they like. What type of television shows they watch. That tells me more about them they they realize.

[Raycpa]

The blacks in the US are certainly more gullible as a group regarding politicians.

[Constantine XIII]

How's the buffet?

[Chickensoup]

Unless 99% of the Caucasians that you see everyday are retards.

No. But Sowell is a genius and one doesnt run intto them everyday at the bar.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> However, the problem arises if, say, thousands of Aborigines migrate to Finland. They don’t do very well on tests to get into college or to get high paying jobs. The cry then goes up to give them quotas because it’s unthinkable to suggest that they might just not be as adept at physics, chemistry, business management, or accounting as Finns.

...which I guess demonstrates that “Intelligence” is a crude-at-best measure to use to figure out what is wrong.

Intelligence is supposed to be measurable irrespective of culture or education or upbringing. It is supposed to be entirely neutral, without bias.

[Shamrock-DW]

That is stupid. Count the thousands of brilliant scientists coming out of Africa.

[barb-tex]

Havent we danced around the Bell Curve for decades and haven’t we devised methods to discredit it? Move along! Nothing new to see here.
barbra ann

[SauronOfMordor]

Swedes are taller than Italians but that doesn’t mean that Swedish jockeys are taller than Italian basketball players. Even if Watson is correct, and no one can even define intelligence so I don’t know how he can be, knowing someone’s ethnicity tells you very little about the individual.

You're right about his statement having no weight about specific people, black or white.

When you talk about averages, though, it has long been documented (but not readily talked about) that black scores on IQ tests and tests like the SAT, tend to average significantly below whites. The situation in the US is more complicated than it is in Africa, since such a large percentage of US blacks are genetically mixed, where someone may be referred to as "black" when he's genetically as much as 90% white

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

A man does not insist on physical beauty in a woman who builds up his morale.
After a while he realizes that she is beautiful, he just hadn’t noticed it at first.

LAZARUS LONG

[SauronOfMordor]

Though grants have also been a motivating factor

These days, hardly any research gets done that is not financed by a grant. The purpose of research is to get grant funding.

Doing politically incorrect research into racial differences pretty much ensures that you will not get any more funding

[Wonder Warthog]

"Blanket statements like this are just stupid and those that think a black could not be much smarter than the writer are self deluded!"

And with that statement, you prove your lack of understanding of the issue. ALL the data show that ON AVERAGE, blacks have lower intelligence than whites (about 10 IQ points IIRC). BUT--the Gaussian distribution around that average says that SOME blacks will be more intelligent than most whites.

The CORRECT thing to do (as William Buckley said long ago), is to judge people AS INDIVIDUALS on their INDIVIDUAL performance.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

A racist, old European man. He helped discover DNA. He is not a leader in uncovering how DNA works, much less its effects on intelligence.

Even the results of "The Bell Curve" only indicated that on average those of European descent had a higher IQ than those of African descent. All the divided 'races' had representatives at the high and low ends of the IQ spectrum. An average IQ European descendant would still have a huge percentage of African descendants with a higher IQ than him.

Furthermore, the epigenome might have more of an effect than the actual genome. And then Watson would be smart to find out that there is little genetic basis for race. Some genes are more prevalent in some 'races' than others, but very few are exclusive.

Stupid old codger.

A useful PBS Nova video that shows that DNA does not completely control a human's intelligence, among other things: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/archive/date-20070724.html. (Aired today; around 47 minutes; the video will probably be replaced, eventually).

Also, a PBS link to written articles on the subject, if you don't have a fast internet connection: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genes/?campaign=pbshomefeatures_4_novabrghostinyourgenes_2007-10-17.

As an aside, they surprisingly did not bring up Macroevolution.