Comments are ALWAYS welcome!
What do you mean no genetic difference in intelligence has been shown
to exist? Have you read Rushton, Levin, Jensen, Gottfredson, et al?
Even if you poo poo this large body of evidence on a genetic basis,
you cannot deny that the difference in mean IQ is definitely in favor
of Europeans vis a vis Africans.
Your final statement in that paragraph is pretty goofy too. I can't
even begin to understand why you'd think that a level of intelligence
just above rudimentary civilization doesn't confer an evolutionary
advantage. In what way is "social selection" not an evolutionary pressure?
I am aware of measured differences in the intelligences of races. I am NOT aware of anything tying these differences to any specific sequence or pattern of genes that are present in one race but absent in another. The most I have ever seen are correlation studies which, given the complete inability of having an experiment with a specific control population and strict limits on the number of variables, are questionable at best.
I will grant the POSSIBILITY of a genetic component that is tied to race, but that is a FAR cry from proof!
Furthermore, considering the wide range of populations that never made it past the stone age - populations that spanned many of the races we consider more intelligent than not - I would go so far as to suggest that intelligence is not even the driving force of technology in the first place! Sure, a certain level of intelligence in at least a portion of a population is necessary for technology, but obviously it is NOT sufficient.
This would mean that there is no such thing as "intelligence above rudimentary civilization" - again suggesting that once intelligence meets the basic needs of survival, it stops advancing.
As far as what IS necessary to get above rudimentary civilization, if I remember correctly, someone noted that no matriarchal society ever made it past the stone age and many others have suggested that the structures and forms of organized religion always seem to precede civilization in general, so those seem to be good areas for further investigation.
Commenting by HaloScan
