I'd be interested in Godless Capitialist's views on this paper. I recently came across some comments of his and was quite impressed (see here). It's a shame he seems to have cut back his comments.

That is really sad to hear. I thought he was terrific in Kill Bill. Also, I'd recommend his karate fight with Chuck Norris which I saw on YouTube. A talented man who will be greatly missed.

"Is there some other grand large scale benefit that will arise when society acknowledges this GNXP sanctioned truth?" 
 
The argument is that people should be treated as individuals. Placing group rights above individual rights & this focus on equal outcomes undermine the free, meritocratic nature of our society. 
 
The reality is that policymakers focus on group inequality. To fix problems you need an understanding of what causes them. If you rule out powerful explanatory factors, like cognitive ability, then you're going to pursue unhelpful policies. Also, people will be blamed for things that are not their fault. You only need to look at the persecution of market dominant minorities discussed in Amy Chua's 'World on Fire'.

"In Before the Dawn, Nicholas Wade makes a good case that humanity has been taming itself for the past 50,000 years. In other words, over the long run, criminality has declined because of evolution." 
 
Greg Clark, author of 'A Farewell to Alms' discusses the hereditability of criminality in this response to critics of his book: 
 
Studies of criminality, using either twins or adoption methods, have similarly revealed a 
similarly strong genetic connection. One classic study is that of 14,427 Danish adoptees where the 
court convictions of the adoptees, their biological parents, and their adoptive parents are all known. 
 
When both sets of parents were non-criminal, the chances of the adoptee being convicted for a 
crime were 13.5%. When only the adoptive parent had a criminal record this chance rose very 
slightly to 14.7%. However if only the biological parent had a criminal record the chance of the 
adoptee having a criminal record rose much more, to 20.0%. If both sets of parents had a criminal 
record the chance of the adoptee having such a record was 24.5%. This suggests that genetic 
influences on the propensity to crime are much greater than environmental influences.10 
 
Could the same forces identified above also cause significant genetic change over the course 
of 20-200 generations? 
 
.... 
 
Dogs have their origin in East Asian wolves of about 15,000 years ago, but they have acquired traits wolves do not possess. Thus dogs can read human faces and human actions in a way that wolves 
cannot, even when wolves are socialized with people from birth as with dogs. Until recently, however, the one creature in the modern farmyard that was believed to be unchanged from Paleolithic times was man himself... 
 
But evidence from the modern world establishes that economic success has a very important 
genetic component. Putting these together we can establish that there must have been significant 
genetic change from generation to generation in this dimension in societies like pre-industrial 
England. 
 
This evidence fits well with recent claims that the rate of evolution among humans speeded 
up in the past 10,000 years." 
 
http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/Farewell%20to%20Alms/EREH%20response%20-%20revised.pdf

"I guess what I am saying is that we have to look for a general factor for criminality, somewhat like that for intelligence, before we start assuming that people are generally just becoming better behaved." 
 
Well, testosterone levels & low MAOA activity appear to make some people more at risk. 
 
"Finally, Meyer-Lindenberg and his co-workers draw the lines to other studies relating MAOA variance to a highened sensitivity in low-MAOA males to aversive events (e.g. abuse) during childhood. The combination of a low-MAOA genotype with such events seem to produce abnormal regulation (through the cingulate) of the amygdala and an increased predisposition to impulsivity and violence." 
 
http://brainethics.wordpress.com/2006/07/11/maoa-and-the-risk-for-impulsivity-and-violence/

Just a heads up that Rushton & Jensen have released a working paper reviewing Nisbett's recent book on IQ. Comments are invited.  
 
Working Paper, May 10, 2009, 
 
Rushton, J. P., & Jensen, A. R. (2009). Race and IQ: A Theory-Based Review of the Research in Richard Nisbett?s Intelligence and How to Get It. Working paper, Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.  
 
http://psychology.uwo.ca/faculty/rushton_pubs.htm 
 
E-mail: rushton@uwo.ca 
Nesnejanda@aol.com

Regarding the middle class genes, that is well known to anyone familiar with twin studies. Sandra Scarr, after conducting the Minnesota Transracial Adoption Study: "Within the range of 'humane environments,'variations in family socioeconomic characteristics and in child-rearing practices have little or no effect on IQ measured in adolescence." P. 476 'The G Factor' 
 
"There is simply no good evidence that social environmental factors have a large effect on IQ, particularly in adolescence and beyond, except in cases of extreme environmental deprivation." P. 476 
 
Recent study discussed in New Scientist: 
 
It is clear that intelligence is at least partly genetically determined. This was supported by the discovery in 2001 that the volume of the brain's grey matter, made up of "processor" cells, is heritable and correlates with certain elements of IQ (Nature Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1038/nn758). The amount of white matter, which provides the connections between these processors, has since been shown to be heritable too (Journal of Neuroscience, vol 26, p 10235). 
 
Now it seems that the quality of these connections, which is governed by the integrity of the protective myelin sheath that encases them, is also largely genetic, and correlates with IQ. 
 
Paul Thompson and colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, scanned the brains of 23 sets of identical twins and the same number of fraternal twins, using a type of magnetic resonance imaging called HARDI. MRI scans typically show the volumes of different tissues in the brain by measuring the amount of water present. HARDI measures the amount of water that is diffusing through white matter, a measure of the integrity of myelin sheathing, and therefore the speed of nerve impulses. "It's like a picture of your mental speed," says Thompson. 
 
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126993.300-highspeed-brains-are-in-the-genes.html

Regarding the middle class genes, that is well known to anyone familiar with twin studies. Sandra Scarr, after conducting the Minnesota Transracial Adoption Study: "Within the range of 'humane environments,'variations in family socioeconomic characteristics and in child-rearing practices have little or no effect on IQ measured in adolescence." P. 476 'The G Factor' 
 
"There is simply no good evidence that social environmental factors have a large effect on IQ, particularly in adolescence and beyond, except in cases of extreme environmental deprivation." P. 476 
 
Recent study discussed in New Scientist: 
 
It is clear that intelligence is at least partly genetically determined. This was supported by the discovery in 2001 that the volume of the brain's grey matter, made up of "processor" cells, is heritable and correlates with certain elements of IQ (Nature Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1038/nn758). The amount of white matter, which provides the connections between these processors, has since been shown to be heritable too (Journal of Neuroscience, vol 26, p 10235). 
 
Now it seems that the quality of these connections, which is governed by the integrity of the protective myelin sheath that encases them, is also largely genetic, and correlates with IQ. 
 
Paul Thompson and colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, scanned the brains of 23 sets of identical twins and the same number of fraternal twins, using a type of magnetic resonance imaging called HARDI. MRI scans typically show the volumes of different tissues in the brain by measuring the amount of water present. HARDI measures the amount of water that is diffusing through white matter, a measure of the integrity of myelin sheathing, and therefore the speed of nerve impulses. "It's like a picture of your mental speed," says Thompson. 
 
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126993.300-highspeed-brains-are-in-the-genes.html

Just in relation to the brain size comment, there is a recent summary by Rushton & Ankney: 
 
Rushton, J. P., & Ankney, C. D. (2009). Whole-brain size and general mental ability: A review. International Journal of Neuroscience, 119, 691-731.

She has a great phenotype by the way...

I'm in my early 20s, male, a college grad, engineer, and virgin.  As someone who has always done well in school, aced the ACT, etc., I presume I am at the high end of the IQ spectrum (though haven't been measured).  However, I have had multiple long-term successful and loving relationships over the past several years, and came to consensual decisions with my (also highly intelligent) girlfriends to delay sex.  Perhaps some of those high-IQ virgins are people like me, who have the opportunity but opt not to partake?  (Note that one of these girls was not a virgin herself, but despite her wish to have sex with me was willing to respect my decision)  I'm not particularly spiritual, I am reasonably attractive, am very athletic, but have not to this point in life been willing to assume the risks that come with sexual activity.  That choice will change as my life's circumstances change, but the point is that I made a rational decision, and simply came to a different conclusion than the majority of my peers.

Oops, I meant p-ter...

Orac, as an actual physician who does research, are you familiar with any of the penal schemes that allow convicts to be assigned to treatment or rehabilitation programs rather than serve jailtime? I'm pretty sure we keep track of the results without violating any ethical standards. I don't think Razib was suggesting anything that couldn't pass ethical muster...

I think the guy who did the superficial at the beginning now does www.wwtdd.com. Those are the two celeb blogs I read!

Perhaps if people would get to the point in meetings, others would actually pay attention.

I prefer "naturalist" to "brights".

I haven't been to this blog for a few months, so I don't understand what the point is about warning that "brown" chicks are short. Please explain.

Razib, it doesn't appear to like me or won't allow me to read your essays.

--Brian

Note: Is Condolezza a ghetto name? I've searched a number of name databases and have not come across it. I think her parents made it up.

Her father did make it up...he said it was from "con dolcezza" (he played violin and piano IIRC).