Remix.run Logo
robwwilliams 4 days ago

Not sure what you mean precisely. Yes lots if work in IQ, but that does not mean there is a grand consensus. I am a geneticist who studies cognitive function. The single most common misunderstanding about estimates of heritability is that a high heritability implies full genetic causation without potential malleability. That is total wrong. Heritability is always measured in the context of Environment X. If you change to Environment Y or Z then the heritability will often change greatly.

EnPissant 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

> Heritability is always measured in the context of Environment X. If you change to Environment Y or Z then the heritability will often change greatly.

That's not a very meaningful statement. If you took two twins and severely malnourished one of them it would not be useful to say: "See! IQ is mostly environmental!".

You have to assume some kind of baseline environment that nearly everyone will share, and that can be full-filled just by the virtue of growing up in a country like America. Otherwise, you are just concerning yourself with insignificant outliers.

Here is a twin study that places the heritability at ~80%: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/twin-research-and-hu...

robwwilliams 3 days ago | parent [-]

Wow, a baseline environment everyone in America shares. Come visit Memphis.

EnPissant 3 days ago | parent [-]

Do you think that twin study included any children raised in a Memphis ghetto?

cakealert 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Unfortunately most of the malleability is non-systematic (can't be engineered by a third party). Which means it's caused by the nonlinear dynamics between the genes and environment.

hirvi74 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

As a geneticist who studies cognitive function, if you get a moment, do you mind reading this blog [1] and stating if you think it's factually correct or not? My genes are too poor, and thus, my IQ is likely too low for me to be certain I can trust my own opinions on the matter.

[1] http://bactra.org/weblog/520.html