Reply To: How important are brains?

Frumnotyeshivish, your post raises various points, some of which are interesting and some of which are wrong.

“As to whether IQ measures intelligence completely and accurately, that is up for debate.”

It is up for debate, but it’s a tautological question. It measures what it says it measures. You can (and IMO, should) define intelligence more broadly than what IQ tests measure, but that would not be the test/results we are discussing.

“If IQ was intrinsically valuable (it isn’t — people should be judged by their choices), and the data wasn’t so irrefutable, you might have a slight claim toward racism.”

The two premises are not mutually exclusive. IQ is intrinsically valuable, and people should be judged by their choices.

The claim toward racism, IMO, is because the facts are dangerous. The only defensible way to oppose these facts is by acknowledging (secretly) that the facts are true, but worrying that allowing the information to be recognized will have a negative effect that would be greater than the utility of the information.

“There is also a strong correlation between IQ and wealth. Black people are less wealthy on average.”

I read recently, not sure if it was reliable, that race plays a greater role than wealth, although in the case of poor minorities, the correlation is that much stronger, of course.

“There can be many explanations as to why this possibly arbitrary measurement favors ashkenazim over sephardim over caucasians over blacks on average. Facts are never racist, though.”

Here’s one suggestion: the measurement was invented by Ashkenazic Jews.