I'd be disappointed if you didn't. I thought the article (even though it is posted on Wikipedia), particularly the references would lend some credibility to my position.
I didn't see how it did. The article concludes:
quote:
The source of and meaning of the average IQ differences between groups is not known. Many theories have been proposed, but none are generally accepted. Most of the theories are supported by only indirect evidence. The cause may be environmental. Many attribute the difference primarily to cultural factors that disadvantage caste-like minorities. Many researchers in the field of intelligence suggest that the difference is partially genetic and partially environmental. Other observers suggest that the differences may be entirely environmental. The cause of the IQ gap may be identical to the cause of IQ differences between all individuals, or it may represent a race-specific effect. This is an active area of research. In general, simple correlations cannot decide the role of genetics.
I'm sorry but that's a far, far cry from saying that the data definitively supports a genetic, racial basis for IQ differences.
I'm not sure what kinds of knowledge you assume the test assesses
It doesn't matter. You can't offer IQ tests as a metric for assessing some kind of biological, unchanging "brain number" when the test itself measures something that we know is environmental, not inherited.
As I've said, IQ tests measure education, not some innate mental quality. This is confirmed by the fact that IQ tests measure knowledge, and by the fact that you can be trained to increase your performance on them. The Flynn effect would appear to be further evidence of my position.
Moreover -
IQ doesn't actually exist. It's a normalized average of performance on these five areas. It's a statistical tool for comparison, not a real measurement.
IQ tests measure something, that's for sure. But taking that to the next step and proposing that the brain actually contains a
g factor is diving right off the deep end of pesudoscience.