Tariq Nelson

- This is a short yahoo video on the possibility of having “designer babies” in which parents may be able to choose some of the features to be passed on to their children through genetic therapy. If this happens, the gap between the rich and poor could be exacerbated as they will be the ones who will be able to afford to have gene therapy done on their children. Would this lead to a race of “super humans”? Would blacks be able to have doctors selectively dip into their European ancestry and choose to give their child “good hair”, lighter skin and eyes? (Sort of like the older two daughters on the Cosby Show)

- UK lecturer says that Africans have lower IQs. Why is it that seemingly so few people have explored the possibility that a poor diet and bad environment could lead to a lag in cognitive development? The environment and diet in poorer places lead me to believe that there could be some merit to this and that it could be fixed.(Thailand is a good example) Instead of screaming about the results, why not get to the bottom of it and try to fix it?

The London School of Economics is embroiled in a row over academic freedom after one of its lecturers published a paper alleging that African states were poor and suffered chronic ill-health because their populations were less intelligent than people in richer countries.

Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist, is now accused of reviving the politics of eugenics by publishing the research which concludes that low IQ levels, rather than poverty and disease, are the reason why life expectancy is low and infant mortality high.

His paper, published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, compares IQ scores with indicators of ill health in 126 countries and claims that nations at the top of the ill health league also have the lowest intelligence ratings.

Paul Collins, a spokesman for War On Want, the international development charity, said the research ‘runs the risk of resurrecting the racist stereotype that Africans are responsible for their own plight, and may reinforce prejudices that Africans are less intelligent’.

Collins added: ‘The notion that people in poor countries have inferior intelligence has been disproved by much research in the past. This is another example, which other academics will shoot down.’

Philippa Atkinson, who chairs the LSE student union’s 85-strong Africa Forum and teaches in the school’s Department of Government, said the paper ‘reflects the now discredited theories of eugenics, which should have been left behind’.

‘Eugenics was a very influential discourse for centuries,’ she said. ‘It’s the discourse that colonialism and racism in America until the Sixties were based on, and was part of the basis of apartheid too. Nobody could prove that there are racial or national differences in IQ. It’s very, very controversial to say that national IQ levels are low in Africa, and completely unproven. It’s a surprise that the odd person would try to bring it back,’ she said.

However, she said the research contained some interesting ideas and merited serious consideration, and stressed that academics such as Kanazawa should not be deterred from exploring controversial subjects.

The reaction to Kanazawa’s paper will reopen the simmering debate about whether academics are entitled to express opinions that many people may find offensive. [MORE...]

If gene therapy becomes an option to boost IQs, I wonder how they will feel then?