Dienekes: Thanks - you put the argument more clearly than I did myself!

As I have said in other posts, I do not deny that there may also be genetic influences. I am a 'don't know' on this issue.

stay tuned to an upcoming AR article on the IQ issue - which should, at least in part, blast at some handwaiving arguments about environmental effects.

One can of course ask why some nations have "prosperity" and others do not. Why the advances brought to Africa by colonialism frittered away, so that today you have cannibalism in the Congo, "Penis-snathing" riots in West Africa, and folks trying to inflate jet airliner tires with bicycle pumps, or by mouth.

To quote Forest Gump:
"stupid is as stupid does"

3. The Standard (Kenya):



"What is all the fuss about?" Weseka Sambu asked a hastily convened news conference at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. ;A technical hitch like this could have happened anywhere in the
world. You people are not patriots. You just want to cause trouble. Sambu, a spokesman for Kenya Airways, was speaking after the cancellation of a through flight from Kisumu, via Jomo Kenyatta, to Berlin: "The forty-two passengers had boarded the plane ready for take-off, when the pilot noticed one of the tires was flat. Kenya Airways did not possess a spare tire, and unfortunately the airport nitrogen canister was empty. A passenger suggested taking the tyre to a petrol station for
inflation, but unluckily the jack had gone missing so we couldn't get the wheel off. Our engineers tried heroically to reinflate the tire with a bicycle pump, but had no luck, and the pilot even blew into the valve with his mouth, but he passed
out. "When I announced that the flight had to be abandoned, one of the passengers, Mr Mutu, suddenly struck me about the face with a life-jacket whistle and said we were a national disgrace. I told him he was being ridiculous, and that there was to be another flight in a fortnight. And, in the meantime, he would be
able to enjoy the scenery around Kisumu, albeit at his own expense."

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/page.cfm?objectid=12986984&method=full&siteid=89488&headline=PYGMIES'%20PLEA

More:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s963912.htm

That this happens in the 21st century, in an age of international media, the internet, etc. is really mind boggling. It is difficult to conceive of such happening in "England of the 1930s."

As regards the "Flynn Effect" (and one must remember that Flynn is as much as an 'activist' against genetics as Jensen and Rushton are for), one wonders. Does this mean that the American Revolution was fought between armies of feebleminded idiots? That the populations of the Rennaissance were clinical morons? Does this mean that Black Americans today are as smart as European Americans of the 20s, 30s and 40s? Where is the evidence? More to the point, even if IQ is rising, does the racial gap stay the same? And if intelligence is _really_ rising (i.e., the "Flynn effect" is not an artifact) why must standards be continuously "dumbed down" in America? Is the population really smarter than in the past?

>> Does this mean that the American Revolution was fought between armies of feebleminded idiots? That the populations of the Rennaissance were clinical morons?

The Flynn effect is not a general law that extends as far back in time as that. It's an observation of a recent effect. It has clear parallels in other biometric variables, e.g., rise in stature, debrachephalization, etc. Drawing inferences from the recent effect to e.g., the Rennaissance is incorrect.

Additionally, it should be remembered that the Flynn effect is about the rise of average IQ in a population. This may have more to do with improvement in living conditions for the middle and low classes: i.e., the upper crust of society that produced great achievements in e.g., 1930 lived in conditions conducive to high intelligence.

"i.e., the upper crust of society that produced great achievements in e.g., 1930 lived in conditions conducive to high intelligence."

Are there statistics about the upper class of today f.e. Central Africa?
Is there any statistic about IQ and class in Africa?

I love how Rienzi refers to Burbridge's clever response to Lynn as "handwaving", yet he trots out this meaningless garbage anecdote about an airline tire as some sort of evidence. It's embarrassing.

I'm surprised you're seriously discussing IQ tests as a measure of intelligence. They are an effective measure of how good you are at IQ tests but thats about it. How can something you can practise and improve at be a measure of inate intelligence (whatever that may be)? Iq scores in the west are not improving because people are getting cleverer, they are improving because people are better educated and more used to taking iq tests.