Should some areas be off limits to science due to social backlash (e.g difference in intelligence in races)?

Question

Fury at DNA pioneer's theory: Africans are less intelligent than Westerners

http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3067222.ece

Answer 1

Nothing should be off-limits to scientific study. That's how we learn what theories to accept and which to refute (such as the theory you referenced).

Answer 2

of course not because GOD made us all equal and we are a image of him.. I think all that would do is separate and segregate us more than what we are already.. I don't think Caucasians are any smarter than anyone else. If minorities were given the opportunities the same as they were they would be able to prove that..

unfortunately all minorities have been targeted and stereotyped and we have just as much motivation as caucasians, it's just that we have more obstacles to jump then they do....

As long as they (and I do mean the racist and prejudice) ones try to keep us down then they'll always think that they are smarter, brighter, more intelligent and intellectual, but if we all work together and if they stop acting so dang on ignorant they'll see that....

I read the article.. he apologized.. he's a fruit cake.. It's all good though cause on Nov 1-2-3 we are boycotting everything.. see how they like that, see if they are able to tell that we matter then.. It's blackout day...

Answer 3

Nothing should be off-limits to science in my opinion.

Having said that, I must take issue with the idea that an I.Q. test can truly measure intelligence. It has been widely acknowledged that an I.Q. test measures a variety of other sociological factors rather than what we would consider to be "intelligence".

Answer 4

Before he opened his mouth, he should have had test results proving what he was saying. Without facts, expect to be verbally attacked! He was just giving a hypothesis.

One problem with what he said; ALL OF US came originally from Africa. I THINK the difference is climate. In Africa you do not have to deal with snow, sleet, etc. so you would not have a need to build better housing, better weapons, etc. to survive. Many places in the world is tough!!

Answer 5

Maybe for ETHICAL reasons, but certainly not intelligence. Darwinian theory applies to intelligence too. In the scientific community...Prosperity of the Smartest.

Answer 6

No, but I don't get how you could judge who is more intelligent when the 2 groups live on diffrent continents in such different conditions.

Answer 7

The answer is NO. Social backlash as you call it has no place in science. Science should boldly go wherever the evidence leads without being restricted by State or Church or Social BS.

All that aside, the belief that the races have significant differences in IQ has been debunked by science for years and no legitimate scientist buys into it. Certain governments like Nazi Germany basically created scientific experiments and research to "prove" such things as blacks are less intelligent than whites, or Jews incapable of anything but greed, and certain idiotic groups in the USA still accept the findings of Nazi "scientists" all in the employ of their government.

In reality, there is no significant difference between the races (generally speaking) as far as intelligence goes. What is different is the CULTURE. I spent time in Africa among the Kara Hamar people and found them some of the smartest, most beautiful and friendliest people on Earth, while some of the whites I've encountered in the Southern USA deserve the epithet----the only one that fits them---of TRASH.

But all that aside, no race has any huge advantage over the others in virutally any trait, and it is known to science in no uncertain terms that genetic diversity leads to a healthy superior people while genetic conformity leads to a stunted inferior people, in other words, the direct opposite of Hitler's BS. The purest races on the planet are among the most disadvantaged, poor, uneducated, and have the highest incidences of mental retardation.

Nature loves diversity, and the broader your gene pool, the less likely you are to go extinct. Race mixing often results in the most amazing results often producing the best of both combined in a single individual, or are you the type that would refuse to date Halle Berry because she's the product of "evil" race mixing?

There's always rogue scientists out there who are enslaved by a faith or an ideology, whose science is impure, enchained and enslaved and who do not follow the scientific method at all, so instead of boldly going where no man has gone before like Cpt. Kirk, they force their evidence and research to "prove" attitudes and ideas that they already HOLD.

But science should be free and open and unshakled by Church or State, and likewise the findings of scientists including the rogues are not sacrosanct and should be regarded with a heaping dose of skepticism.

Remember: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Do you think living in a shanty town with open sewers, drugs and violence everywhere, the grossest forms of poverty and malnutrition create a superior type of human being? Regardless of what race of people are raised in such squalor and poverty, it is not surprising that their undereducated, malnourished, abused children will score pathetically low on IQ tests, have larger numbers of mentally and psychologically handicapped.

Back in the 50s, White Supremist "researchers" gave white children from good backgrounds raised in good neighborhoods IQ tests and compared them to blacks and latinos taken from the ghettos and the poorer districts and the results were in : Whites score better than blacks and latinos on IQ tests. Oh really? The entire test was biased and skewed from the get go.

Learn the truth about yourself, about this world.

There are no superior races, just superior people and superior education produces superior people, happier people, healthier people. There are no INFERIOR races, there is no such thing as the Master Race, but there are INFERIOR cultures, INFERIOR ideologies, INFERIOR sciences.

Beware of any scientist who works for an ideology, whether a political or religious or any other type. Such a scientist will naturally force the evidence to fit their preconceived notions and ignore evidence that would refute their theories. These scientific ideologues like the pathetic excuse for science known as "Creation Science" which has never discovered anything or undertaken any serious research whatsoever or broadened scientific horizons, and instead force the facts to fit their theories instead of the other way around, these pseudoscientific practitioners are above all men, a truly inferior sort of human being.


The repeated attempts by some White Supremist groups to enlist scientific support for their theories reminds me of a Peanuts comic strip where Lucy proclaims that scientists recently proved that women were smarter than men and Charlie Brown asked "What scientists?" and Lucy smirked "Women Scientists, you blockhead!". Yes, no surprise that women scientists would "prove" women to be smarter than men, or White scientists would prove Whites smarter than Blacks, Asians or Latinos. No surprise at all. But logically that's known as "stacking the deck", an experiment or study designed to prove a conclusion that was held BEFORE the experiment. It's like cheating at cards, or rigging the lottery.

Uh?

But by all means, allow the bloody bastards to do their research and publish their findings in scientific journals so the true scientists can relish demolishing their flimsy arguments, their specious logic, and their fraudulent experiments!

That's what my primary function as a scientist is, I'm a debunker especially of scientific fraud, a bit like James Randi who is a debunker of the paranormal. I love scientists who go bad! They are my prefered prey, and like a lion I devour them.

Answer 8

No. When delusions and facts collide, facts should prevail. We don't all like learning all facts, but it is no answer to then deny them.

Answer 9

No, I do not think anything should be taboo for true science.