From: gerry@cmu.edu (Gerry Roston)
Newsgroups: sci.skeptic
Subject: _The Mismeasure of Man_
Date: 12 Apr 92 21:50:28 GMT
Reply-To: gerry@cmu.edu (Gerry Roston)
Organization: Field Robotics Center, CMU

A fascinating book, but it does leave me with a question.  [Is there a
net.reader out there who can put it to Gould and post his response?]
I agree quite strongly with Dr. Gould that "intelligence" tests dont.
I use as empirical evidence my scores on the GRE when I retook them
recently.  Studying can seriusly affect the outcome of the exam,
therefor, they do not measure "native intelligence".

My question is this though: does Dr. Gould believe/suggest/imply that
all people have the same mental potential at birth?  [I know that the
pre-natal environment can affect this potential, but let's ignore that
for now.]  It seems to me that, at birth, certain individuals are
endowed with greater potentials in certain areas of endeavor than
others.  No one would call me names if I were to claim that Bo Jackson,
at birth, had greater potential for becoming a great athlete than I.
But many people might call me names if I were to say that at birth I
was endowed with greater potential for mental achievement than he.
Therefore, it seems that there IS some native, inheredited potential
that is independent of environment.  And, since, as I claim that this
inheredited potential must exist, is it possible to identify and
measure it in some manner?

Another question that arose from the book has to do with the
differentiation of the human species into "races".  According to the
book, and I have no reason to doubt this, the differentiation of the
races is a relatively modern phenomenon (about 10,000 years ago).
Understanding the causes of the differentiation and some of the
results is not difficult: more melamin and the reduced ability to
digest milk in tropical races, less melamin and the continued ability
to digest milk in the nordic races, etc.  But why did different
"superficial" differences appear?  (Such as the narrow eyes of the
oriental, the skin color of the oriental, the flattened nose and
sloped forehead of the african negro, etc.)  Furthermore, since these
differences would seem to imply that the races were reproductively
isolated, so why then can the races interbreed today?  It would be
interesting to determine if the rate if miscarraiges for inter-racial
couples is higher or lower than for intra-racial couples.

--
Gerry Roston (gerry@cmu.edu)    | We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
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