To research or not to research
so a few days after darwin’s birthday we’re seeing a discussion in one of science’s biggest journal about whether we should actually investigate to what extent genes may affect different groups’ behaviors.
dan macarthur linked to articles in the journal nature that argue the point from both sides. i’ve discussed the same issue with friends. the argument basically comes down to whether there is any “good” to be gained from such research, or whether it would inflame racial relations.
i hold the view that biological information is instrinsically neutral and should be gained regardless of politics. whatever ppl chose to do w/ that information afterwards is what makes its effects a “good” or a “bad.” all science is the same way including physics, which many ppl consider the closest area of study of pure truth next to mathematics. physics gave us both the bomb and nuclear energy.
the fact is that we don’t know where the research will lead. ppl like jensen, hernstein and murry, lynn, and clark have argued that biological differences exist while others like gould, flynn, and ceci and williams have argued that they don’t. the ppl calling for a halt to such research implicitly accept that group differences will be found, and that they will find that stereotypes will be proven true. if they truly believed otherwise, why would they argue against such research? but research into these areas isn’t fated to bring bad news. even if it does bring bad news, it may come w/ a silver lining in the form of a solution to said bad news.
if such research is stopped there’s no chance of finding a solution, and it’s possible that society will continue to segregate. and by segregate i don’t mean primarily by race, although that may be a corollary. i mean by ability. to you who read this blog, who do u associate with? how many of these associations include the college educated? the avg american gets only 12 years of schooling. how many adults do u know who only have 12 years of schooling? if u graduated college, chances are high that u will associate will primarily other college educated ppl. if u associate with anyone from an ivy school, chances are high that many of ur friends will have advanced degrees and/or have attended highly ranked colleges. in a meritocratic nation, separation by class is inevitable and the internet can only make it worse. i don’t have the data on US class segregation, but i did manage to find a UK study that looked into this issue. when ppl aren’t bound to the major news networks for information b/c of the internet, ppl are more likely to read only sources they agree with and even then pay selective attention to the facts that agree w/ their political outlook.
the research in question might not reduce political segregation (although political views are heritable and hence may be selected for in the future), but at least it would reduce meritocratic segregation. it would also mean that incidents like this won’t piss quite so many ppl off b/c the kids likely wouldn’t be such leeches on society.
