(2007-10-18) Watson Black Intelligence

James Watson said some controversial things about the Intelligence of Blacks, which has led to the predictable furor. He says that he is "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really", and I know that this "hot potato" is going to be difficult to address. His hope is that everyone is equal, but he counters that "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true". He says that you should not discriminate on the basis of colour, because "there are many people of colour who are very talented, but don't promote them when they haven't succeeded at the lower level". He writes that "there is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their Evolution should prove to have evolved identically. Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so"... Critics may see his acceptance of "softer-science" studies - that attempt to link IQ with specific genes, but remove society and other factors from the equation - as a dangerously flippant approach to a complex issue. His comments, however, although seemingly unguarded, are always calculated. Not maliciously, but with the mischievous air of a great mind hoping to be challenged. I ask him how he placates those he offends. "I try to use humour or whatever I can to indicate that I understand other people having other views," he explains. As I motor back to New York, I reflect on a man who - at nearly 80 - is, and will remain, an immensely powerful and revered force in science. I wonder whether it's possible, as his desire to shock seems so strong, that a fear of boring people really does play on his mind.

Oct19: he apologized unreservedly.

Oct25: he resigned as chancellor of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island and from its board... In his statement announcing his resignation, he said he would remain at the laboratory, working particularly on cancer research. "Final victory is within our grasp," he said. "I wish to be among those at the victory line." (The Lab has spent decades trying to live down its past as a leading centre for EugenIcs. The Eugenics Record Office which it ran from 1910 to 1944 provided some of the "scientific" justification for European fascist movements such as the Nazis to persecute Jews, homosexuals and gypsies.)