An Irish Reader Questions The Existence Of Intelligence—We Inform Him
July 25, 2012, 02:51 AM
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Re: David Sanders’s article Has Ron Unz Refuted “Hard Hereditarianism”?

From: Michael Kenny [Email him]

Assuming that, contrary to the claims of the scientists who develop and administer IQ tests, such tests measure an objective thing called "intelligence", how do you explain the fact that Americans of European origin have higher IQs than Europeans?

Either the IQs of the American descendants of European immigrants have increased due to some factor connected with their ancestors' change of residence or the IQs of those who remained behind in Europe has declined for a reason that you would need to explain. In either case, doesn't that demolish the idea that "intelligence" is hereditary?

James Fulford writes: It’s always interesting to hear from Michael Kenny, because his letters are intelligent, literate, and totally wrong-headed. Only a very bright person is capable of doubting that there is such a thing as intelligence—people with IQs of eighty know that they’re dumb, and will frequently come up to you on  the street and ask  you to explain things.

As David Sanders made clear, the belief that there is no such thing as intelligence is something that Stephen Jay Gould used to say, that most people no longer believe, and that the “the scientists who develop and administer IQ tests” never believed—see Mainstream Science on Intelligence, Wall Street Journal, December 13, 1994. I don’t know which group of Europeans are supposed to have lower IQs than Americans, but as for demolishing the idea of intelligence being hereditary, no one says it’s one hundred percent hereditary. Steve Sailer wrote an IQ FAQ which goes into more detail.