I remember that some years ago a technology based on DNA was found to be extremely useful in identifying criminals. But it was too useful -- it identified too many criminals who were black -- and its use was discontinued for that reason (sorry, I can't remember details about it).
The point is that you are right. I suspect that many new genetic technologies never even become known to the public at all, because people are aware that they and their developers will be called racist.
Unfortunately in the west, doing research into intelligence and genes will become harder and harder. Thing will get worse, not better. The only way this field will make progress is when the Singaporean/Taiwanese/Chinese biobanks become as good as the UK biobanks. Singapore and Taiwan have national single payer health insurance. So they can track people's diseases over time (a crucial requirement in keeping the biobank up to date). China's biobank will be awesome when it gets up and running. Competition will spur innovation.
If you seek to change the world, you must first understand it. The single biggest barrier to understanding the world is one’s own preconceived notions.
Well thought out commentary. Admittedly I don’t particularly care if one group or another are “left out”. That’s their problem, I care about my group. I suspect that when this”gap” becomes admitted—or rather polygenetic scoring becomes accepted as the *tool* to bring about true racial equality, funds will be expended to close any gaps in polygenetic scoring between the races. The funding of such is really not significant.
Won't selection just move the entire distribution to the right, assuming mass adoption? Or does the expected gain from selection differ based on where you start in the distribution? If it just shifts the entire distribution right, the differences will remain and lofty goals of equality will remain unrealized.
I largely disagree with your point on general intelligence by ancestor group on epigenetic grounds. A recent Lancet Article found that African groups in North Africa showed some of the highest levels of vitamin D deficiency on the planet- amongst populations who spend much of their day outside in sunshine and receive exercise far in excess of the average Westerner.
Meta-analysis of vitamin D deficiency and lower IQ are inconclusive, but vitamin D deficiency is strongly correlated with low birth weight, premature birth, pre-eclampsia and maternal death in childhood, but many of these studies on vitamin D deficiency and IQ likely mistakenly excluded these factors from their multivariate analysis (although it may well be the case that these factors are still at least somewhat genetic in some groups, rather than fully epigenetic).
You are no doubt aware of the Flynn effect and the fact that racial IQ gaps have closed. It may well be that a large portion of the remaining gap is due to strong differences in vitamin D deficiency by ancestor group, and could be remedied by something as banal as maternal and childhood vitamin D supplementation.
On a related note, have you heard of duplicons? I became quite excited when I read about them. It might be the case that any humans and their other close relatives experience mutations, duplicons could empower a far faster rate of 'emergent utility' as sex selection and survival optimises other areas of the genome, in order to maximise the benefits of new positive mutations.
I remember that some years ago a technology based on DNA was found to be extremely useful in identifying criminals. But it was too useful -- it identified too many criminals who were black -- and its use was discontinued for that reason (sorry, I can't remember details about it).
The point is that you are right. I suspect that many new genetic technologies never even become known to the public at all, because people are aware that they and their developers will be called racist.
Unfortunately in the west, doing research into intelligence and genes will become harder and harder. Thing will get worse, not better. The only way this field will make progress is when the Singaporean/Taiwanese/Chinese biobanks become as good as the UK biobanks. Singapore and Taiwan have national single payer health insurance. So they can track people's diseases over time (a crucial requirement in keeping the biobank up to date). China's biobank will be awesome when it gets up and running. Competition will spur innovation.
If you seek to change the world, you must first understand it. The single biggest barrier to understanding the world is one’s own preconceived notions.
Well thought out commentary. Admittedly I don’t particularly care if one group or another are “left out”. That’s their problem, I care about my group. I suspect that when this”gap” becomes admitted—or rather polygenetic scoring becomes accepted as the *tool* to bring about true racial equality, funds will be expended to close any gaps in polygenetic scoring between the races. The funding of such is really not significant.
Won't selection just move the entire distribution to the right, assuming mass adoption? Or does the expected gain from selection differ based on where you start in the distribution? If it just shifts the entire distribution right, the differences will remain and lofty goals of equality will remain unrealized.
Social justice (smart): Let's expand data collection to other ethnic groups at scale in order to remove any intelligence gap if such do exist.
Social justice (actually existing): *autistic screeching*
I largely disagree with your point on general intelligence by ancestor group on epigenetic grounds. A recent Lancet Article found that African groups in North Africa showed some of the highest levels of vitamin D deficiency on the planet- amongst populations who spend much of their day outside in sunshine and receive exercise far in excess of the average Westerner.
Meta-analysis of vitamin D deficiency and lower IQ are inconclusive, but vitamin D deficiency is strongly correlated with low birth weight, premature birth, pre-eclampsia and maternal death in childhood, but many of these studies on vitamin D deficiency and IQ likely mistakenly excluded these factors from their multivariate analysis (although it may well be the case that these factors are still at least somewhat genetic in some groups, rather than fully epigenetic).
You are no doubt aware of the Flynn effect and the fact that racial IQ gaps have closed. It may well be that a large portion of the remaining gap is due to strong differences in vitamin D deficiency by ancestor group, and could be remedied by something as banal as maternal and childhood vitamin D supplementation.
On a related note, have you heard of duplicons? I became quite excited when I read about them. It might be the case that any humans and their other close relatives experience mutations, duplicons could empower a far faster rate of 'emergent utility' as sex selection and survival optimises other areas of the genome, in order to maximise the benefits of new positive mutations.