From: ahsiung@bbn.com (Anita Hsiung)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Re: Genetic question misunderstood
Date: 29 Sep 92 00:30:12 GMT
Reply-To: ahsiung@labs-n.bbn.com (Anita Hsiung)
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA
NNTP-Posting-Host: bbn.com

Hyok H. Lee writes:
> [...]
>I have the feeling that many are afraid of this question becaused the
>idea of racial superiority was used for genocide by the Nazis and others.
>[...]

Let me address this from a paleo-anthropological point of view, my
humanities concentration in college.  Physically, there are definite
differences between races.  Anthropologist measure skeletal bone and
then place them according to race, sex, age, etc.  Monogoloids measure
broader across the chest, have flatter nose bridges, shorter thighs.
Caucasians have leaner measurements.  Female pelvises are broader than
males', and children's teeth are smaller than adults.  There are
*equations* defined for these problems.  All this is *obvious*, well
known, and commonly discussed in anthropology classes.

After the hominids entered the Homo sapiens period, about
10,000-20,000 years ago, one theory is that the Neandertals, who were
shorter and stockier, were wiped out, probably because of competition
for food.  The races that survived adapted to their particular
environments.  Scandinavian hominids developed fair skin and hair
because of the the lack of sunshine, Africans needed protection from
the tropical sun and heat, while hominids up north (on the Asian
continent or towards the Poles) developed eyes untroubled by
snow-blindness.

Culturally, sapiens developed roughly the same rate.  Drawings on cave
walls, language and customs, how the elderly and the dead are treated,
fire building, transitioning from nomadic to farming lives, all follow
roughly the same patterns.  True Homo sapien sapiens (note the
sub-special specification) have only been in existence for 10,000
years, a blip on the evolutionary time scale, not enough time to
develop noticeable differences.

We are the same species, able to inter-breed, to understand each
other.  The capability to adapt comes from the same set of genes, so
we have the same intelligence.  You would not say that bears in the
North Pole are smarter than North American bears, or that African
elephants remember better than Chinese elephants, just because they
have different ear sizes!

Intelligence is a new measurement; in the wilderness, being able to
predict where your predator is hiding is about all you need.  Culture
plays a big part in this measurement.  If your parents never cared
about your doing homework and had no ambitions themselves, did not
provide you with pencil and paper, struggled to even place food on the
table, you probably would turn to other ideals of success.
Environment and peer pressure are probably the greatest influences on
"intelligence": how well do you comprehend reading a paragraph, do you
know how to find the area of a polygon.  If your thinking is geared
towards this, then you would score higher.  If not, you are probably
better in other skills.

What matter intelligence?  We are the most adaptable species ever seen
on this planet, we can occupy any niche, even develop our own in the
hostile environments of outer space.  Why not put our intelligence to
good use and help each other, instead of arguing about it?

	-- Anita --

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| ahsiung@bbn.com    |                                                    |
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