THE MIND

Compared to other creatures, Man is a fragile being, born with little in the way of sharp claws or fangs to defend himself. Yet he has a much greater gift, one that has allowed him to eventually rule the earth: the human brain, the most complex structure known in the universe. Some of us are gifted with truly extraordinary minds. Take Michael Kearney, who began to talk at the tender age of 4 months, when most babies aren’t even crawling. When he was six months, Michael was taken to a pediatrician with an ear infection. When the pediatrician asked his mother what the problem was, Michael piped up, “I have a left-ear infection,” to the doctor’s stunned disbelief. At 10 months, Michael was reading signs and labels out loud at the supermarket – other shoppers were convinced his father was a smart-mouthed ventriloquist! This young prodigy started high school at age 5, then graduated at 6, promptly entering San Joaquin Junior College. At 10, he graduated from the University of South Alabama with a 3.6 grade-point average in Anthropology.

WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE AND IQ?

Most agree that intelligence means how efficient a person is at problem solving, learning, and remembering. So, its not really what you know, but rather your ability to figure things out. One measure of intelligence is “IQ”, which stands for “Intelligence Quotient”, and is the score a person can achieve on a standardized intelligence test. The first of these was developed by French psychologist Alfred Binet in 1905. Since that time, a great deal of research and development has been done to advance the practice of IQ testing. All major psychological organizations recognize that IQ scores are an important and valid type of intelligence measurement. Just about all psychologists agree that IQ tests are a reasonably useful tool when attempting to measure an individual’s general level of intelligence. However, they are especially useful and reliable when comparing large groups with each other to make comparisons between different populations.

IQ AND THE BELL CURVE:

Everyone has a different level of intelligence or IQ. On one hand, there are those that are profoundly gifted like Michael Kearney, while on the other hand, there are those that have mental handicaps. Most of us have abilities somewhere in between. We can show this statistically using a bell curve. For Whites, the average IQ is 100. In the bell curve graph, you can see that 34% of Whites have an IQ from 100 to 115 (normal to bright), but only 2% have an IQ that is considered to be gifted (over 130).

CORRELATION

It is also helpful to understand the concept of Correlation, which shows how strongly two things are related to each other. A correlation of 1 means things are perfectly related. For example, having wings and being a bird has a correlation near 1 (almost all birds have wings). On the other hand, there is very little correlation between red-haired people and owning a car. Since being red-haired and owning a car have hardly anything to do with each other, they correlate near 0. So, for example, if we find that 2 things correlate at 0.6, we can say that is a very strong relationship. But, if two things correlate at 0.1, we have a fairly weak relationship.

IS IQ INHERITED?

The ancients strongly believed that we inherit our minds and bodies from our mothers and fathers. For example, in the Greek classic, “the Odyssey”, the author writes, “The blood of your parents was not lost in you, but ye are of the line of men that are scattered kings, the fosterlings of Zeus, for no churl could beget sons like you”. With the aid of science, we now know that the ancients were quite correct, that there are many things that we inherit from our parents, such as eye color, skin color, height and so forth, confirming the old saying that “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. Genes have been shown to be directly linked with certain diseases such as cancer, mental conditions such as schizophrenia and social problems such as alcoholism.

These inherited traits include our mental abilities. The understanding that we inherit not only our physical traits but also our mental traits is also common sense. I’m sure you would not be surprised if very smart parents ended up with very smart children. In one U.S. Supreme Court case, Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was instrumental in deciding to approve the sterilization of mental defectives, declaring that “Three generations of imbeciles is enough!” Holmes based his ruling on the belief that intelligence – or the lack of it – is hereditary. While we may not agree with Holmes’s decision, it is clear that IQ is something that runs in families.

This was studied by the eminent Victorian scientist and explorer Sir Francis Galton, who was the product of a distinguished lineage, with men of marked ability in every one of ten preceding generations. Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, showed in his work Hereditary Genius that giftedness runs in families. For example, Michael Kearney’s siblings and parents are also gifted, and Stephen Hawking, the genius in physics, came from a family of intellects.

The American Psychological Association’s 1995 task force on “Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns” concluded that within the White population the heritability of IQ is “around .75.” This is an extraordinarily strong correlation, even greater than the inheritability of height, which has a correlation of about 0.7. The evidence for the heritability of intelligence is overwhelming. For example, we know that full siblings have an IQ correlation of 0.6, while adoptive siblings have no correlation. Some of the strongest evidence for it comes from studies of identical twins separated at birth. Identical twins are of course born with the exact same genes, so their brains will also be identical. When raised in the same family, twins have a correlation of 0.86 when taking an IQ test. That’s the same similarity as one person taking the test on two different occasions! When raised by different parents, they still have a correlation of 0.76. This means that 2 exact copies of a person, raised completely apart from each other have IQs that are extremely similar, which can only mean inheritance can be responsible.

DOES BRAIN SIZE CORRELATE WITH IQ?

Studies show that we inherit the size of our brains from our parents, which has an amazing correlation of about 0.85 (the brains of identical twins are almost identical). And not surprisingly, having a larger brain is associated with having a higher IQ, and vice versa. Researcher Arthur Jensen has found that even within families, siblings with higher IQs have larger head sizes. Modern studies using MRI imaging have shown that brain size correlates with IQ by a factor of approximately .40. Other studies have shown that the volumes of frontal grey and white matter have also been associated with general intelligence, and are also highly inheritable. Another more recent study shows that big-brained people are smarter, learn faster and do better on intelligence tests.

DOES BRAIN STRUCTURE AFFECT IQ?

Yes. Researchers have used a new type of brain-imaging scanner to show that intelligence is strongly influenced by the quality of the brain’s axons, or wiring that sends signals throughout the brain. The faster the signaling, the faster the brain processes information. According to studies, “since the integrity of the brain’s wiring is influenced by genes, the genes we inherit play a far greater role in intelligence than was previously thought”. In addition, intelligence is shown by brain wave patterns that can be detected. When smart people think, their brains emit different electrophysiological signals from those of the less smart. This shows that it is not only the size of the brain, but also the structure that is related to intelligence. And because both of these things are strongly inherited, we have additional firm evidence that intelligence is an inherited trait.

DOES YOUR UPBRINGING AFFECT IQ?

According to the evidence, which is recognized by all major psychological organizations, most of the difference in IQ is inherited (about 75%). That means 25% of the difference is due to your environment, affected by such things as nutrition, education, experiences, etc. In some extreme cases, such as severe malnutrition, IQ can be greatly affected. But, for the vast majority of us, our IQs are mainly determined by what we inherit from our parents. We can always learn more, improving our knowledge and our understanding of the world. But remember that when we speak of IQ, we are talking about our ability to process information and make decisions, which is related to the wiring and size of our brains – and this has a genetic basis. Just like we can do little to become taller, there is very little that we can do to increase the size of our brains. Unfortunately, studies show there is little we can do to improve our performance on an IQ test.

DO IQ SCORES CORRELATE WITH OTHER TEST SCORES?

Yes, on average IQ tests correlate at 0.81 with achievement test scores. For example, one study found a startling correlation of .82 between IQ and SAT scores while another found a correlation of .81 between IQ and GSCE scores. This is reinforced by the research of Arthur Jensen, professor of Educational Psychology at the University of California at Berkeley. He has found that in fact, all major tests of mental ability have positive correlations with one another. Even more interesting, the American Psychological Association states that wherever it has been studied, children with high scores on tests of intelligence tend to learn more of what is taught in school than their lower-scoring peers. The correlation between IQ scores and grades is about .50.

DOES IQ PREDICT JOB PERFORMANCE?

Yes. In fact, when hiring employees without previous experience in a job, IQ is the best predictor of future performance, and IQ-test scores predict performance ratings across all occupations. Of course, lower IQ scores are more of a barrier for highly qualified activities such as research and management.

DOES IQ PREDICT INCOME?

Yes. Arthur Jensen provides evidence that there is a correlation of 0.4 between IQ and income. These findings are strongly supported by the best-selling and groundbreaking book, The Bell Curve, whose findings were supported by the American Psychological Association. In the graph below, you can see that the link between IQs and incomes is quite strong. For example, those with an IQ less than 75 earned an average of $5,000 per year by age 32, while those with an IQ over 125 earned an average of $36,000 per year at that age (in 1993 U.S. Dollars). That is 7 times more for those with high IQs!

DOES IQ PREDICT SOCIAL PROBLEMS?

Yes. The authors of The Bell Curve also conclusively demonstrate that IQ correlates with success in life. This can be seen in the chart below, where those with lower IQs are shown to have more social problems. For example, women with an IQ less than 75 (those considered to be very dull) have a 32% chance of having an illegitimate child, while only 2% of those with an IQ over 125 do (those considered to be very bright). In addition, you can see that lower IQ men are much more likely to go to prison, etc.

WHAT ELSE DOES IQ CORRELATE WITH?

Obviously, IQ is something very important, because it correlates so strongly with so many measures of success in life. This is because smarter people have more brain power, and just make better decisions. An IQ correlates with many other things, some of which are:

• People with lower IQs commit more crime.
• Low IQ people vote least and are least interested in political issues.
• Low IQ is associated with persons who are unemployed, injured often, or have removed themselves from the workforce.
• One major study found that 82% of poor people have below-average IQs, as do 90% of chronic welfare recipients.
• 95% of the children living in poverty have mothers with below-average IQs.
• Low-IQ parents also tend to be bad parents; child abuse and neglect are overwhelmingly concentrated among the poor and unintelligent.

As you can see, IQ is an important predictor of human behavior, especially when comparing different populations with each other. It is important to note that the bulk of research shows that a person’s intelligence is pretty well set at birth, and is likely to make a huge difference in how he turns out.

ACCEPTING DIVERSITY

The Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”. By this, of course we mean that all people should be treated equally under the law, and all people have fundamental human rights that should always be respected. However, we can all agree that no two people are born exactly equal. Some people are endowed with astounding athletic abilities, while others are born with genetic problems that make even walking impossible. Some people are born with incredibly gifted minds, while others have inherited severe mental handicaps.

Many of these traits are genetic, and each family group has different genes that affect their abilities. Each ethnic group is similar to a large family, as it consists of a large group of people related by ancestry, having similar genes. Each ethnic group has been specifically designed by nature for a different environment. For example, some groups have more melanin in their skin, which helps protect them from harmful rays in sunny environments. This is one difference among many. We should accept and welcome these differences as part of our natural human diversity, without attempting to classify any group as superior or inferior. Every ethnic group is a valued part of the quilt of humankind.

DIVERSITY IN AVERAGE IQ:

And because we wish to understand humanity, it is important that we explore the differences that exist between ethnic groups. A great deal of research has been done in this field, including over a century of intelligence testing. At this point, just about everyone in the field of intelligence testing recognizes that each ethnic group has a different average IQ. This is no surprise to many anthropologists, because populations of any living being separated for tens of thousands of years will inevitably develop differences in ability. These differences in IQ have remained remarkably consistent through the decades and are seen throughout the world. In the U.S., the average IQ of each ethnic group is mirrored by their performance on other tests such as the SAT and National Achievement Tests. The average IQ of each ethnic group also correlates with the average brain size of its members:

As you can see, on average, in comparison to Asians, African Americans have 97 cubic centimeters less brain matter (about 6 cubic inches), and 21 fewer IQ points. That is a big difference, and correlates with the academic success, higher incomes and lower rates of dysfunction in society that Asians experience. Of course, U.S. Blacks do very well in other areas of endeavor. For example, they are on average 2-3 inches taller than Asians, more muscular, and heavily over-represented in sports such as basketball. Interestingly, although [North Asians have the largest brains], their bodies are the shortest and lightest of the three major races, while those of African Americans, with the smallest brains, are the tallest and heaviest. So, these brain differences are not due to body size.

AVERAGE IQS FOR EACH ETHNIC GROUP:

In an ideal world, all races would have the same abilities in sports, education, the workplace, etc. However, Mother Nature in her wisdom has created racial diversity in humans. While the average IQ of each ethnic group is different, it is important to note that this does not make any race “better” than another. Also, every ethnic group has intelligent individuals within it. The average IQs for various races are :

HOW COULD THE IQS OF AFRICANS BE DIFFERENT THAN AFRICAN AMERICANS?

As seen above, African Americans, with an IQ of 85, score significantly better than sub-Saharan Africans, with an average of 70. Part of the reason for this is that American Blacks enjoy a better environment than Africans in a number of respects, including much higher living standards and better nutrition and health. However, most of the difference is explained by that fact that African Americans have on average about 25 percent of European ancestry, and this increases their IQs above that of Africans in Africa. Research has shown that the more European genes an African American has, the higher his IQ will tend to be. For example, African Americans with 50% European genes have an average IQ of 90, and those with 75% European genes will have an average IQ of 95. Likewise, the more African genes a person has, the lower their IQ. For example, children who have both White and Black parents will tend to have lower IQs than the white parent.

Psychological associations such as the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities consider those having an IQ below 70 to be border-line retarded. About half of Blacks living in Africa fall into this category. However, this IQ score does not mean that they have a disability, as this is completely normal for their ethnic group. While their reasoning abilities fall in the retarded region, they are overwhelmingly quite healthyand completely capable of working, marrying, raising families and leading their own lives normally according to their cultures and traditions.

DIFFERENT BELL CURVES

The largest ethnic groups in the U.S. are Whites, Hispanics and Blacks. Hispanics have an average IQ 13 points below Whites, and Blacks have an average IQ 15 points below Whites. This can be seen on a bell curve graph, and greatly affects the numbers of gifted and retarded individuals in each ethnic group. For example, as mentioned before, an IQ of 70 or below is considered border-line retarded; 16% of African Americans fall into this category, while only 2% of Whites do. In addition, as you can see in the chart, half of Whites have an IQ of at least 100, while only 16% of Blacks do.

CAN IQ DIFFERENCES BE EXPLAINED BY DISCRIMINATION?

Although we know from separated twins studies and a mountain of other evidence that IQ is strongly inherited, and is based mainly on our ancestry, this is not a politically correct conclusion, and so it is natural that people will look for other explanations. Some people suggest IQ differences are due to discrimination or racism, especially against Blacks. However, the evidence does not support this. First, personality tests show that blacks have higher self-esteem than other races. If blacks suffered emotional damage from discrimination that reduced their IQs, you would expect them to have lower self-esteem. Secondly, the IQ differences appear at about [3 years of age]. It is hard to imagine white society managing to damage black children permanently during the very years when most blacks have virtually no contact with whites. Thirdly, if racism lowers intelligence, it is remarkable that Jews in the United States and Britain should have IQs of around [108], since Jews have been exposed to some degree of racism for many centuries. Fourth, blacks in Africa have even lower IQs, and they are not exposed to racism, except possibly in South Africa, where the average IQ of blacks is the same as elsewhere on the continent. The suggestion that racism could low IQs seems very unlikely, especially because there is just no known or plausible manner in which this could occur.

CAN IQ DIFFERENCES BE EXPLAINED BY NUTRITION?

It is unlikely that nutrition is a factor. It is especially unlikely that Blacks have nutritional deficiencies in the U.S. because they are [quite healthy] – they mature faster than other races and do very well in sports. Also, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has shown that Black preschool children actually consume more protein than do White children. It is striking that the IQ differences we see between ethnic groups are the same around the world, in every nation and geographic region. For example, East Asians consistently show higher IQs, scoring the same in locations as diverse as China, Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea. This suggests that such widespread differences are not due to environment, but rather due to genes.

CAN IQ DIFFERENCES BE EXPLAINED BY INCOME?

It seems very unlikely that the socio-economic status of families could be the reason for IQ differences, because children from wealthy African Americans families score lower on tests than poor Whites do. It is also very noteworthy that American Indians, who often live in conditions far worse than American Blacks during their entire lives, still consistently [outscore them] on IQ tests.

CAN IQ DIFFERENCES BE EXPLAINED BY CULTURE?

A very important study was conducted to determine this, known as the Minnesota Transracial Adoption Study. This compared Blacks that were adopted as infants by White families with Blacks raised in African American households. This study found that being raised by White adoptive parents had no beneficial effects on the intelligence of the Black children, since their average IQ is the same as that of Blacks in the north central states from which the infants came. This is reinforced by several other studies that show that when babies from other races are adopted by Europeans in Europe and the United States, there is no change in their average IQ. This has been shown for Australian Aborigines in Australia and for East Asians in the United States and Europe, where Korean infants adopted by Europeans have been tested. There have, of course, been many attempts to raise black IQ by “enriching” the environment, such as Head Start and various pre-school programs. All have failed to change IQ scores over the long term.

ARE IQ TESTS BIASED AGAINST SOME ETHNIC GROUPS?

This does not appear to be the case. If the races are equally intelligent, it should be possible to find a task requiring intelligence that Blacks perform as well on as Whites. Although many different things have been tried, no such task has ever been found. The IQ differences between ethnic groups have been demonstrated repeatedly by every test ever conducted by every branch of the U.S. Military, every state, county, and local school board, the U.S. Dept. of Education, etc. The same ratio of difference has held true over a 40 year period. In addition, American Africans score [one or two points higher] on the verbal parts of IQ tests, which would be the part of the test that is culturally biased under this hypothesis. Also, Asian immigrants who speak English as a second language consistently [score much higher] than Blacks who speak only English.

In fact, [researchers] have found that a person’s speed of decision making correlates strongly with IQ. In tests, subjects are set before a series of lights and respond to which one comes on. The speed of their mental reaction strongly correlates with IQ test scores and is higher for White and Asian children than for Blacks. One would be hard-pressed to understand how reaction time to a flashing light could be culturally biased.

CAN THERE REALLY BE RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN INTELLIGENCE?

This subject has been researched in depth by Dr. J. Phillipe Rushton, psychology professor at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Dr. Rushton notes that even before there were any intelligence tests, philosophers, statesmen, merchants, and others thought there was a link between race, intelligence, and cultural achievement. Aristotle, Plato, Voltaire, and David Hume all believed this. But this began to change in the 1920s with Franz Boas and others who believed that culture could change just about anything. Today, some writers tell us there is no link between race, intelligence, and culture. According to them, the differences we see are all just because of bad luck or White racism.

The first explorers in East Africa wrote that they were shocked by the nudity, paganism, cannibalism, and poverty of the natives. Some claimed Blacks had the nature “of wild animals… most of them go naked… the child does not know his father, and they eat people.” Another claimed they had a natural sense of rhythm so that if a Black “were to fall from heaven to earth he would beat time as he goes down.” Sound familiar? All just a reflection of racism? Maybe so, but these examples are not from 19th Century European colonialists or modern hate literature. They come from the Muslim Arabs who first entered Black Africa over 1,200 years ago (in the 700s), as detailed in the book, Race and Slavery in the Middle East.

Several hundred years later, European explorers had the same impressions. They wrote that Africans seemed to have a very low intelligence and few words to express complex thoughts. They praised some tribes for making fine pottery, forging iron, carving wooden art, and making musical instruments. But more often, they were shocked by the near nakedness of the people, their poor sanitary habits, simple houses, and small villages. They found no wheels for making pots, grinding corn, or for transport, no farm animals, no writing, no money, and no numbering systems.

The Whites who explored China were just as racist as those who explored Africa, but their descriptions were different from what they and the Arabs had written about Africans. In 1275 Marco Polo arrived in China from his native Italy to open trade with the Mongol Empire. He found that the Chinese had well built roads, bridges, cities connected by canals, census takers, markets, standardized weights and measures, and not only coins, but paper money as well. Even a postal system was in existence. All of these made him marvel when he compared the Chinese to what he saw in Europe and the Middle East. Even though he was an Italian, proud of his people and well aware of the greatness of Ancient Rome, Marco Polo wrote: “Surely there is no more intelligent race on earth than the Chinese.” Historical research bears out Marco Polo’s impressions.

In the past five centuries, the European nations have leapfrogged over the Chinese in science and technology. Since 1950, however, Japan has beaten the West in the production of many high-tech products. Other Pacific Rim countries (China, Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea) now follow Japan’s path. Africa, on the other hand, has fallen further behind. The poor conditions of African countries and Black America have become a concern to many. Much of the optimism of the U.S. Civil Rights movement of the 1960s is gone, along with the high hopes for independent African nations. Trillions of dollars of foreign aid have poured into Africa. Yet African economies have declined since the Europeans left. Neglect and decay are seen everywhere in Africa and much of the West Indies. International corporations often have to provide their own power, their own water, and their own phones. In the age of computers, fax machines, and the world wide web, getting a dial tone in many African cities is difficult.

For the past twenty years, Dr. Rushton has studied race differences in brain size, intelligence, sexuality, personality, growth rate, life span, crime, and family stability. On all of these traits, Orientals fall at one end of the spectrum, Blacks fall at the other end, and Whites fall in between. For example, Oriental children are slower to mature than White children while Black children are faster to mature. This is true for the rate of bone and tooth development and the age at which a child first sits, crawls, walks, and puts on clothing. Oriental children do not begin to walk until about 13 months, White children at 12 months, and Black children at 11 months.

Studies show that modern humans evolved in Africa about 200,000 years ago. Africans and non-Africans then split about 100,000 years ago. Orientals and Whites split about 40,000 years ago. The more north the people went “Out of Africa,” the harder it was to get food, gain shelter, make clothes, and raise children. So the groups that evolved into today’s Whites and Orientals needed larger brains, more family stability, and a longer life. But building a bigger brain takes time and energy during a person’s development. So, these changes were balanced by slower rates of growth, lower levels of sex hormones, less aggression, and less sexual activity.

Africa, Europe, and Asia had very different climates and geographies that called for different skills, resource usage, and lifestyles. Blacks evolved in a tropical climate which contrasted with the cooler one of Europe in which Whites evolved and even more so with the cold Arctic lands of Orientals. Because intelligence increased the chances of survival in harsh winter environments, the groups that left Africa had to evolve greater intelligence and family stability. This called for larger brains, slower growth rates, lower hormone levels, less aggression, and less impulsivity. Accordingly, traits such as advanced planning, self-control, rule-following, and longevity all increased in the non-Africans.

Dr. Rushton provides strong evidence that race is more than “just skin deep.” The pattern of Oriental-White-Black differences is found across history, geographic boundaries, and political-economic systems. This demonstrates the biological reality of race, while theories based only on culture or other factors simply cannot explain the data.

BUT HOW COULD SUCH DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RACES EXIST?

In biology, when a population becomes isolated in a geographic area, it will slowly change over time from other populations of the same species. For example, squirrels in North America evolved gray fur, while their isolated cousins far away in Europe evolved red fur. From an ancestral species of cat, we now have lions, leopards, cheetahs, tigers and jaguars. This happens because when isolated populations change over time to adapt to different environments. After a while, they can become so unlike each other that they are considered different species.

Human population groups have been isolated from each other for tens of thousands of years, and have developed a wide range of differences in body shape, color of skin, hair and eyes, blood groups, genetic diseases and so forth. In fact, Charles Darwin declared in The Descent of Man that the varieties of mankind are so distinct that similar differences found in any other animal would warrant their classification in different species. For example, anthropologists have noted numerous differences between those of African descent compared to other ethnic groups, which include:

• Skin with an extra thick, horny layer that adds protection from cuts.
• Arms and legs that are relatively longer and necks are shorter and thicker.
• Different types of skeletal muscle tissue.
• More bone mass.
• A thicker skull, especially on the sides.
• Jaws that are larger and stronger and protrude outward more.
• Teeth that are larger and wider apart.
• Noses that tend to be thick, broad and flat.
• Ears that are smaller and rounder.

These differences are normal, and are to be expected, due to this ethnic group being separated for so many thousands of years. All groups have such differences. For example, Eurasian women have an extra layer of fat under the skin, which is better than a fur coat in providing insulation against the arctic cold but makes it harder to lose heat in a hot climate. These differences are simply the biological realities of humankind.

AN EXAMPLE OF RACE DIFFERENCES: AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES

To illustrate how different various population groups are, it is useful to look at the Australian Aborigines and similar peoples in New Guinea and surrounding areas. The famous anthropologist William Howells described them as follows: “Australian aboriginals proper, [are] primitive men with a primitive hunting culture, lacking even the bows and arrows of the Negritos of other parts. They are dark skinned but hairy, with thick, ridged, poorly filled skulls and heavy, though fully sapiens, brow ridges; and with broad noses, short projecting faces, large teeth and receding chins. In every way they conform to a picture of Homo sapiens at his most backward, before racial specialization and before a final lightening of brows, reduction of teeth, and expansion of brain.”  This description is supported by their intellectual abilities; the average IQ of the aborigines is only 62. Interestingly, although aborigines have the smallest brains of any living population, but the parts of their brains used for vision is much larger than for other races, and their average visual memory IQ is 119, which is extremely high.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF RACE DIFFERENCES: PYGMIES

The shortest people in the world are the Pygmies of the African Forests. Adult males of some tribes average about 4-3/4 feet in height. Pygmies were kept as pets by some ancient Egyptian Pharaohs — they were prized for their size and rhythmic dancing ability. Their small size is thought to be an adaptation to hot, humid climates. Small size also helps in moving through the thick jungles where Pygmies hunt and collect food. On the subject of size, it is widely know that black babies tend to be born smaller than white babies but that black babies develop more rapidly in coordination and motor skills. Pygmies have been reported to mature especially quickly. According to Dr. Glayde Whitney, behavioral geneticist and psychology professor at Florida State University, pygmy babies sometimes walk and even run at six months of age, a developmental milestone reached on average by Caucasians at the age 12 months. Dr. Whitney notes that in all ethnic groups, this faster rate of development is associated with having lower IQs. Strikingly, pygmies have an average IQ of just 54.

WHY DO SOME PEOPLE BLAME IQ DIFFERENCES ON RACISM?

It has become very controversial in our day and age to point out IQ differences between ethnic groups, even though all major psychological associations recognize them. The belief in perfect equality in ability between all groups has almost risen to the level of a religious belief. Those who point out that the evidence is contrary are often branded as having prejudice or feelings of bigotry. Society even punishes those who point out the facts as vigorously as Islamic republics punish anyone who defames the Prophet. For example, nobel-prize winning geneticist Dr. James Watson, co-discoverer of the DNA double helix, simply commented that he was “gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really”. For this statement, he lost his job as director of England’s premier research laboratory. Like Russian dissidents under the Soviet Union, Americans who question these forbidden subjects can face serious consequences to their livelihoods. Researchers in the field of intelligence are usually denounced, often verbally abused, and occasionally physically assaulted.

This is the usual fate for those with heretical views in most societies, and there are some truths that are simply very difficult to accept. Our world would certainly be a much better one if everyone from every ethnic group was equal in all abilities. But however much we might wish this was the case, unfortunately Mother Nature did not create mankind this way.

Interestingly, until only a few decades ago, hardly anyone thought the races were equal. For example, the Encyclopedia Britannica noted matter-of-factly in its 1914 edition that “The Negro is intellectually inferior to the Caucasian.” This has also been a prevalent view in Anthropology. The world-famous Dr. Louis Leakey stated, “As a social anthropologist, I naturally accept and even stress the fact that there are major differences, both mental and psychological, which separate the different races of mankind. Indeed, I would be inclined to suggest that however great may be the physical differences between such races as the European and the Negro, the mental and psychological differences are greater still”.

The evidence that intelligence and IQ are inherited is simply overwhelming, but this is not something that many people want to hear. But although these facts are politically incorrect, understanding them is essential to understanding our nation and society. And as Thomas Jefferson said, “There is not a truth existing which I fear…or would wish unknown to the whole world.” Hopefully, you, the reader, feel the same way.