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Study Links Genetic Diseases to Intelligence
FleaPlus writes "The Economist, Sun-Sentinel, and FuturePundit report on a controversial study by Gregory Cochran and others which proposes a link between certain genetic conditions and above-average intelligence in Ashkenazi Jews. The 40-page study, published in the Journal of Biosocial Science, analyzes data on unusual patterns of genetic disease and relates it to a number of intelligence metrics. Although the intelligence data have traditionally been attributed to cultural factors, Cochran proposes that due to the unusual selection pressures the Ashkenazi faced between 800 and 1600AD certain genes developed which promote intelligence as single copies, but lead to particular diseases when somebody inherits two copies. According to Harvard cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, "It would be hard to overstate how politically incorrect this paper is... [though] it's certainly a thorough and well-argued paper, not one that can easily be dismissed outright.""
It's not a subset of the jewish religion, it is where those jews came from.
in modern usage, ashkenazis come from europe. Sephardic jews come from the near/middle east.
the definitions are a little different though. Ashkenazis are, by definitions, supposed to be jews whos family came from germany or eastern europe. sephardics, oddly enough, are supposed to be descended from families from spain or portugal.
the latter makes a little more sense, though. a lot of iberian jews were expelled during the spanish inquisition. many fled to the near east.
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
I'm friends with Cochran. One of his interests is in using this research to find out methods of copying pharmecutically what these genes are doing naturally. (The genetic disease occurs for most of these genes when a person has two copies of the gene. The intelligence advantage comes from just one.) In other words, he wants to create a "smart pill" to raise IQ.
The selection would only apply to people who are heterozygous for Tay-Sachs, i.e. they are carriers of the gene. Infants who are born homozygous, with two copies of the gene, only live a few years. All die by age 5. There is no cure.
So, as you can see, there wouldn't be a whole lot of people crippled with Tay-Sachs running away from the Cossacks....
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Challenging that claim would certainly not be incorrect, but I hardly think that's what judaism claims. There are a lot of religions out there that claim to be chosen by god, and while, yes, it does come across as elitist, it is necessary to realize that it is not in reference to a bloodline or genetics, but a way of life. Similar to most religions, Judaism feels that religion brings them closer to god, and by choosing to follow this religion that they become a part of god's people. This isn't something that is only common to Judaism either.
Yes, it is tracked through the bloodline, but many other religions are also traced this way for the simple fact that people of a certain religion tend to bring up their children to hold their same beliefs. But make no mistake - just because something is passed down through parents does NOT mean that Jewish people claim RACIAL superiority.
For example, I am jewish, but not by blood...converted when I was quite little, actually. But even without that genetic trace, I've never been treated any differently, and I'm able to participate fully in all of the rites that all jewish people are. It's not a genetics/race thing, it's a beliefs thing, and it's common with a large number of religions.
...no two people are not on fire.
Turns out that Pinker was one of the defenders of President Summers' comments concerning gender. From the Harvard Crimson: