Charles Murray's suggestion that genes determine IQ shouldn't be controversial. Anyone who has been alive long enough to observe non-family members can reasonably presume that smart kids probably have smart parents. But putting that theory into words invites criticism from those who would contend that a person's environment determines his/her IQ. And in this age of identity politics and victimhood, anyone who disagrees is on dangerous ground.
That's where Charles Murray stands.
Murray authored a recently published article titled Genetics Will Revolutionize Social Science in which he predicted that further advances will result in the study of polygenic scores -- the adding up of alleles associated with a particular trait, IQ being one of those traits. Here's a quote:
Progress during the past five years has been rapid for many traits. In the case of IQ, the share of the variation in scores that can be explained from genetic material alone went from zero in 2015 to 5% in 2018 and 11% in 2019. That doesn’t tell us much about any individual’s IQ, but it’s enough to be useful in addressing many important issues.
But are we there yet?
We’re not there yet. I think the application of genomic data to social science questions is roughly where aviation was in 1908. The world’s best plane, the Wright Flyer, was little more than a toy. Yet within a decade, thousands of acrobatically maneuverable aircraft were flying high and fast over the battlefields of Europe.
That's quite an intriguing analogy. And we must hope that the forces of opposition won't hinder any revelations that might result from that research.
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1:30 PM 2/1/2020
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