• Leate Woncelsace@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Intelligence has a genetic component. Every single test we have that attempts to measure intelligence that we’ve checked for heritability shows that intelligence likely has a generic component. Furthermore, we know that some species are more intelligent than others. Given the demonstrable existence of Darwinian evolution, this implies that some populations of a species are more or less intelligent than another because that’s a requirement for a speciation event that results in a species that’s more intelligent than its cousin species.

    Anyone who says otherwise is likely allowing their ideology to cloud their judgement.

    • FMT99@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Conversely be on guard against people that say this proves any particular population, especially based on specific phenotypes, is inherently more or less intelligent than any other. They most likely also have an ideological axe to grind.

      That besides the fact that, as another commenter mentioned “intelligence” is a pretty nebulous term to begin with.

      • Leate Woncelsace@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        This exactly. Intelligence being heritable does not imply that any one particular population is more intelligent on average than another.

        “intelligence” is a pretty nebulous term to begin with

        This is also accurate, but I’m glossing over that because it’s late and that fact is only tangentially relevant to the question.

    • Julian@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Does that apply to intelligence as a whole or does it vary for different skills (i.e. logical reasoning like math vs more creative skills like reading/writing.