tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post3087532910997957515..comments2024-03-28T11:58:31.928+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: The harshness of selection for higher intelligence: mostly a matter of the lethality of low IQBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-8391682121566503912013-03-16T13:41:23.684+00:002013-03-16T13:41:23.684+00:00It is interesting how intelligence is best nurture...It is interesting how intelligence is best nurtured in a harsh environment. Similarly the body is most healthy in some degree of physical stress.<br /><br />This certainly contrasts our modern aproach - equality of material comforts for all wihout struggle. If we think what hat literally means materially we have death! this corresponds directly to Fr. Rose's observations on how modern intellectuality leads to nowhere but Nihilism and destruction of all higher aspirations. Georgenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-80304778642165230652013-03-16T06:46:03.519+00:002013-03-16T06:46:03.519+00:00@Drawbacks, Thanks for getting me to read the Unz ...@Drawbacks, Thanks for getting me to read the Unz article.<br /><br />(I had heard of it, but I tend to discount what people say about Unz because he funds so many of them!) <br /><br />It was an excellent essay, and indeed I suspect I shall never forget his depiction of Chinese society. <br /><br />The Chinese national character, and the nature of their abilities, are exactly what would be expected from hundreds of years of harsh selection in the kind of society described - the character of a successful farmer. <br /><br />And this contrasts quite easily with the kind of character and abilities which would be expected from the European conditions of selection - the character of a successful clerk/ craftsman. <br /><br />And this, in turn, explains why creative genius is essentially a European phenomenon. I had tended to explain it in terms of the duration of selection - that the Chinese had been under selection for high intelligence and conscientiousness for longer and were further down the path.<br /><br />But I now perceive that there was a large difference in the most adaptive personality type between China and Europe (a difference among the most intelligent, I mean) which could also be a major selection factor.<br /><br />In China it seems that low C was rapidly punished by death from starvation - in Europe the class/ caste system provided a cushion (and the high rate of death from disease rather than starvation made European life easier for survivors). Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-25987488657816289322013-03-15T20:41:12.646+00:002013-03-15T20:41:12.646+00:00You don't mention Ron Unz's recent article...You don't mention <a href="http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-social-darwinism-made-modern-china-248/" rel="nofollow">Ron Unz's recent article</a> on the evolution of high Chinese intelligence, although the timing may not be coincidence.Drawbacksnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-78466014557584357062013-03-14T23:30:11.120+00:002013-03-14T23:30:11.120+00:00Differential mortality by IQ is alive and well, so...Differential mortality by IQ is alive and well, so to speak.<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/09/21/health/a-troubling-trend-in-life-expectancy.htmlDannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-72322405182067086452013-03-14T23:19:57.408+00:002013-03-14T23:19:57.408+00:00Being unintelligent is more dangerous in more extr...Being unintelligent is more dangerous in more extreme habitats than in more mild habitats, yet human intelligence was more acutely selected for in these safe and mild regions.<br /><br />Human intelligence is a product of male territorial aggression, having been selected for most acutely in the regions which were categorically the most populous and, therefore, the safest.<br /><br />Furthermore, this hypothesis suggests that all the animal kingdom would be selected for increased intelligence levels. If intelligence were a generically useful environmental adaptation, a stroll through the forest would be like a stroll through a Disney film of talking animals prancing and chattering about.Matt Parrotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00794652979966181081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-60147374773124249302013-03-14T23:04:30.269+00:002013-03-14T23:04:30.269+00:00"Low intelligence didn’t have to be lethal. S..."Low intelligence didn’t have to be lethal. Stupid people couldn’t support a family so they didn’t marry. They had their hands full just subsisting."<br /><br />Exactly.<br /><br />If you have good cultural norms, things can be quite harmonious. <br /><br />In Europe for centuries, a man could not marry if he couldn't provide, and if he didn't marry he wasn't making babies, for the most part. <br /><br />Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-44179088262269967592013-03-14T22:12:21.858+00:002013-03-14T22:12:21.858+00:00@Thomas - No, I am not. @Thomas - No, I am not. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-4125459046327300442013-03-14T21:09:43.927+00:002013-03-14T21:09:43.927+00:00Are you suggesting that God wanted us to become le...Are you suggesting that God wanted us to become less intelligent?Thomasnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-49324831763680191632013-03-14T16:42:02.313+00:002013-03-14T16:42:02.313+00:00Plausible, but there have to be other factors invo...Plausible, but there have to be other factors involved, because there are significant disparities in IQ between different agricultural areas.Adam G.http://www.jrganymede.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-46862555812220595342013-03-14T16:14:25.889+00:002013-03-14T16:14:25.889+00:00Low intelligence didn’t have to be lethal. Stupid ...Low intelligence didn’t have to be lethal. Stupid people couldn’t support a family so they didn’t marry. They had their hands full just subsisting.Bruce B.noreply@blogger.com