Many of my Facebook friends know that I spend much of the year in Albania. One of them commented with a map that showed the mean IQ of the Balkan nations. Albania was shown on the map as 89. I confessed that, yes, if you go to Albania you will notice that, as a group, they are slow on the uptake. It isn't a huge difference. Americans have a mental age of about 15, on average, and Albanians average a mental age of 13.5. That is what got me in trouble for stating that one group is inferior to others.
The question is whether the 10 point difference is 1) an artifact of the test, i.e. cultural unfairness, 2) the result of environmental differences, or 3) the result of actual differences in allelic frequencies, i.e. genetic.
My response related to the Flynn Effect. Essentially, during the 20th Century, IQs in Western countries increased at the rate of about 2 points per decade. The reason for this is controversial. I explain it as being essentially the same as if a population was subjected to increasing emphasis on exercise. Over time the population would get stronger. Modern technological society is cognitively more challenging than the preceding agricultural society. Therefore, as a country emerges into the tecnological age, the increasing 'cognitive exercise' will result in higher IQs.
Until recently, Albania has been a technologically backward nation. The 10 point lower IQ in Albania could be explained as a result of it being about 50 years behind in technological development.
That does not mean that cultural unfairness and genetics don't play a role. For example, if 10 year olds in a technologically advanced country and 10 year olds in an undeveloped country are both given IQ tests, the first group, when asked to complete a number progression will be somewhat practiced with them while the second group may find the problem completely novel. That puts them at a disadvantage.
There has been an enormous controversy over whether there is a genetic component to the IQ differences between 'races' and nationalities. The controversy astonishes me. Of course there is. Or, more properly stated, it would be perplexing if there wasn't.
Until recently, populations were primarily isolated from each other. We see clear and obvious differences in things like skin pigmentation, hair and eye color, etc. However, there are many more subtle genetic differences. Various populations have different immune systems, different enzyme profiles, etc. When I took Population Genetics, one of our more advanced problems was to take a number of allelic frequencies for Europeans, West Africans and African Americans and from this information estimate what percent of African Americans' genetic heritage comes from Europe. Put simply the question was, "How white is the average American black"?
With just a little reflection, since IQ differences are 70% genetically determined, one would assume that these groups, and others, have substantial differences in allelic frequencies at gene sites that affect IQ. The notion that, somehow, they all cancel out and result in the same genetic IQ is implausible in the extreme.
Facebook censorship is based upon a progressive world view that, despite the claims of 'following the science', is not well supported by the evidence. For example, while human industrial activity is increasing atmospheric CO2 and thereby contributing to higher mean global temperatures, the claim that this constitutes an existential threat to humanity is difficult to support. I suspect that is only a matter of time before that claim will be censored on Facebook.
So, while personal updates are fine on Facebook, serious posts and the ensuing discussions are definitely not fine. To clarify I don't subscribe to much of the conservative world view as well. But at Polymaths.Locals.com I don't get censored for it. And neither will you.
Locals.com is far from a perfect social media platform. However, it is likely the best available right now. So, please register. Right now, it's mostly me, but the intention is to grow it to more contributing Polymaths in the future.
