What Can You Say about Race?

James Watson got in big trouble saying that Africa may be incapable of governing themselves due to lack of intelligence. Perhaps the co-discoverer of DNA was a little blunt and un-PC in his pronouncement. However, that does not mean there is no validity to his genetic explanation.

If we assume he was referring to western-style government in Africa, it would be very plausible that Europeans had optimized their governing scheme to take advantaged of their genetic features. These strengths (and weaknesses) may not be the same as those of the African population, thus the government may not be suited for them.

From this, we can add the debacle of colonization and state boundaries that were drawn specifically for European convenience.

If Intelligence is being measured by Europeans, then you would expect it to favor Europeans. After all, wasn't it defined by Europeans? It would be a statement of inferiority for a group to describe their intelligence as less than other groups. It reminds me of some of the New Guinea tribesmen that have a totally different vocabulary for 'poisonous mushrooms' and 'edible mushrooms'. To them it seems illogical that somebody would confuse them. This is critical intelligence, for them, while it probably would not have made a whole lot of difference for may others.

It is a pity that Watson's comments sparked such a negative reaction. Instead they could be seen as a source for improvement. Maybe the African governance system needs to take advantage of the strengths of the people there rather than the strengths of people in the industrialized north. This may actually make things much more difficult for westerners to deal with. (At least a corrupt western system is recognizable.)

It would be nice to acknowledge that there are genetic differences among people and races. Many people could never win a marathon even with a great deal of training. Similarly, there are people that could never become of a genius. Instead of denying this, why not let people focus on their strengths, rather than get discouraged by their weaknesses?