What does it say that it took a Canadian to do this well? And why so much confusion over whether he is liberal or conservative? He is a new type of liberal - or a new type of conservative, if you prefer. 
 
Obviously the site is seen from many perspectives and it's popular with most. That is what he has done well.

Add creativity to the list of possible differences since they apparently make no effort to teach it. Can it be taught in our schools? Hard to measure for sure, but still interesting; especially for the "new economy".

vantage, see Flynn's response to question 3 which is pretty much the opposite of all you said. I know you probably disagree with him, but apparently he knows something about this subject. ;) I'm not challenging what you said and I'm not interested in debating this topic, just saying it's probably not as simple as you make it out to be. 
 
The result was a pattern of IQ that put the subsequent generation of Chinese Americans at an IQ of 109 at say age six gradually falling to 103 by the late teens, as parental influence faded away in favor of peers. The extra 3 points the present generation has as adults is due to the fact that they are in cognitively more demanding universities and professions and because they have internalized a positive attitude to cognitively challenging activities and companions. 
 
I think it's plausible there are different types of intelligence and that emphasis on one or another can change those abilities or testing for them. For example, there is no science instruction in Amish schools. Does that mean they will test poorly in raw cognitive abilities related to science even though their "overall average intelligence" seems to be the same?

pconroy, that kid was probably in that experimental period when they allow teenagers to try out normal life for a time.

8. Out of the many research designs you propose in What is Intelligence, which one would you most like to see performed and why? 
 
The one that calls for investigation of urban and rural Brazil. I think the former approximates where Americans are today, and the latter approximates where Americans were in 1900. We could get direct evidence for or against the cognitive history of Americans in the 20th century that my book relates. 
 
I had a chance to look up more on the Amish and it turns out that Amish children have consistently and currently still score at or slightly above the norm on standardized tests. 
 
This is despite more than a few possible handicaps. 
 
1) no kindergarten so there is one less year overall (grades 1-8) 
2) all instruction is in English which they start learning when they enter 
3) teachers have the same Amish eighth grade education 
4) one-room school so no division by grade or ability 
5) use old primers 
 
So not only do the Amish have a 19th century lifestyle, their children are taught in a 19th century manner. I think this is closer to America in 1900 than anything you'll find in Brazil. And they score around the norm on standardized tests which might indicate "average intelligence". Also (as stated earlier), none of the proposed explanations of the Flynn effect (improved nutrition, a trend towards smaller families, better education, greater environmental complexity, and heterosis, familiarity with multiple-choice questions and brain-teasers) apply to them so it would be an excellent opportunity to look at overall IQ and certain subtests vis-a-vis the mainstream.

The Amish are interesting not just in terms of any Amish/mainstream IQ gap but also for the Flynn effect as well. From the "Proposed explanations" section of the Flynn effect from Wikipedia: 
 
Attempted explanations have included improved nutrition, a trend towards smaller families, better education, greater environmental complexity, and heterosis[6]. Another proposition is greater familiarity with multiple-choice questions and experience with brain-teaser IQ problems. [7] 
 
None of which apply to the Amish or if they do, not nearly to the same degree. Also, it seems the Amish had the mainstream average IQ about 40 years ago. Alas, you can't do much without data. If only researchers had the forsight to comprehensively study the Amish 75 years ago knowing that there would be little to no change in the environment and genetics of these people compared with the world around them. 
 
But I suppose it doesn't really matter now since that sort of thing is rapidly becoming obsolete.

8. Out of the many research designs you propose in What is Intelligence, which one would you most like to see performed and why? 
 
The one that calls for investigation of urban and rural Brazil. I think the former approximates where Americans are today, and the latter approximates where Americans were in 1900. We could get direct evidence for or against the cognitive history of Americans in the 20th century that my book relates. 
 
I've suggested before that Amish IQ should be measured, especially because the little data I have seen so far puts the average right around 100. If that is the case, it certainly points to 20th century cultural changes having little relevance. 
 
What is the current Amish/mainstream IQ gap? Does anybody know?

On second thought choosing science over intense personal subjective experience is probably a leap of faith very few are likely ever to make. 
 
And of course many people deny scientific findings that don't suit them regardless.

Another illusion the brain creates is the ego or the sense of self, the "I". Science sheds ever more light on the subject (the "switching" of consciousness, maybe you could call it the "consciousness shuffle"). Also interesting is to read reports of salvia divinorum drug use which seems to interfere with the brain's construction of this. Some people have reported the mystical experience of complete loss of the sense of self, but even more interesting are the reports of people "becoming" and "being" objects (such as a chair) and of "being" multiple things at the same time. I don't think it makes any sense to ask the question of what happens to the "real" self when all this occurs. If identity is eventually shown to be an illusion, what becomes of the Abrahamic faiths?

Some of you Americans might be interested to know that the Canadian meda is abuzz again with the Toronto District School Board's consideration of black-focused schools.

Finns are the most violent of white peoples 
 
Good thing they're too cynical and morose to be expansionists. :) Just co-belligerents.

Actually Anabaptist origins fit the mould of that excerpt as well. Almost all of the leaders of the Swiss and South German Anabaptist movements were learned men, i.e. Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, Balthasar Hubmaier, Wilhelm Reublin, Pilgram Marpeck, Hans Denck, Ludwig Haetzer, Michael Sattler, and others. Humanism and classicism were prevalent in the universities they attended. Many came from the clergy or well-to-do families. Of course, none of this except their core ideals were passed on to the converted. 
 
Grebel, Manz, and Blaurock were the three that studied with Zwingli and are usually considered the main founders of the Swiss Anabaptists. After they split with Zwingli, Zwingli first argued with (but mostly against) them. In Zwingli's "Refutation of the Tricks of the Catabaptists" and "Exposition of the Christian Faith" he said of them: "this class of men so abounds and works in tricks that I have never seen anything equally oily or changeable", "not caring for the glory of Christ but for their own glory and for their bellies", ?murderous sect?, "apostles of the devil", "you raging wild ass" (referring to Grebel), "very worst and most fickle of men, indeed atheists", "lead astray the women, and in a word do many things you would hardly dare imagine", "for who will protect the foolish girls and women and countrymen and simpletons from wolves of this sort", and so on. Eventually he learned that banishment, torture, and execution were more effective than such invective. Despite this you can still read of Zwingli's "open, warm, and friendly disposition" in Britannica and the Wikipedia article has a whole section on his character in which you can learn of his "affable character and respectful deportment" and also that "he despised no one". 
 
He wasn't all bad though. Who did he expect to find in heaven? Well.. "the Baptist, Peter, Paul; here too, Hercules, Theseus, Socrates, Aristides, Antigonus, Numa, Camillus, the Catos and Scipios".

Just realized that points 1 to 4 could apply to any number of other groups around the world so in that respect they're not unique, but there are few such Caucasian groups (and that are in the U.S. as well).

50 years ago, they cant go to a university. 
 
Despite the points of others above, it would be hard to make a case that blacks had equal opportunity to attend university in the past, but one could argue that university itself is not relevant to this issue. 
 
The Amish are a group were most (if not all) have not even attended high school. What have measurements of Amish IQs shown? 
 
Well, I can't find much data. There is this 1966 paper that measured/estimated IQ of Amish children in grades 1, 3, and 5 to be 85.3, 92.8, and 101.1 respectively. The second piece is a U.S. Office of Education study referenced in the 1972 U.S. Supreme Court case Wisconsin v. Yoder. The study was conducted by Dr. John A. Hostetler of Temple University who testified at the trial that Amish children "test above the norm on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and their I.Q. is above the norm." 
 
Although the data is limited, what data we have seems to indicate that the lack of education of adults in a community does not negatively influence the education and/or intelligence of children, at least up to the 8th grade. 
 
It would be nice to get modern and accurate IQ data on Amish children at the completion of their schooling. If we get similar results to the above, i.e. no significant difference from the mainstream mean, it has the potential to tell us a lot about the relative importance of different environmental factors. For instance, the Amish modestly fund their own schools and use their own teachers. There are no prospects for higher education. Without any first-hand knowledge it's hard to know, but I wouldn't think it out of the question that Amish children are even discouraged from excess studying (unless it's the Bible? :)) or intellectual interest. At the very least, they're not being pressured to get into MIT or Harvard. Therefore, we could perhaps discount such factors as funding in schools and parental involvement and focus on what is shared with the mainstream which could be good nutrition, a pleasant and stress-free environment, a loving family, yadda, yadda. 
 
Reasons to study the Amish: 
 
1) endogamous community for ~four(?) centuries 
2) simple and uniform culture, i.e. little enviromental variation between individauls 
3) extensive genealogical records 
4) shed light on the importance of education in intelligence. For instance, could compare differences in IQ between Amish and mainstream at end of Amish schooling (about age 13) and 5, 10 years later. 
5) they would cooperate with any and all tests - they wouldn't resist ;) 
 
As an added bonus, they are one of the few other groups besides Ashkenazi Jews with a high incidence of Tay-Sachs. The other groups are certain French-Canadian communities, which carry different mututations than AJs, and the Cajun population of Louisiana, whi
More....

Until that time comes, what is to be done? Leave those left behind to squalor and misery? "Humanely encourage" them not to have children? 
 
It's not *that* bad. There are more important things than intelligence in determining quality of life. For instance, I would argue the morality of the citizenry is more important than its intelligence. 
 
I already wrote a long comment on another post about the Amish, but they're a good example here too. They're not educated or bright, they will never participate in the modern economy nor ever contribute to humanity's knowledge, they employ archaic technology and accept little help from the modern societies that surround them and yet still they have a reasonable quality of life.

Having been brought up Jewish, it's difficult to appreciate the metaphysical power of Jewish religious and ancestral archetypes on so many non-Jews. Is it religious? Cultural? Genetic? It's baffling and fascinating. 
 
Nietzsche had some insight on this in The Anti-Christ.

Shed a tear! Are you sure the New Testament isn't more your style?

IMHO, the story of the Iliad is a bore in any language, verse or prose. 
 
I prefer Ossian. ;)

Except for their claiming that "racism is bad, therefore we must practice racism." 
 
wongba addressed this well. 
 
Also remember to use their core values and not your own when determining if their position is coherent or not.

other than simple stupidity, can anyone explain how or why the "race deniers" are often obsessed with race and implementing racist (AA, etc) policies and practices? I don't understand how anyone who's smart enough to emit grammatical sentences can deal with the cognitive dissonance 
 
They deny the biological importance of race. They don't deny the importance of race as a social construct. If you make that distinction, their view is coherent.

LOL @ annykstra. Is she for real? This site has the best personal confessions. Thanks, Urza. I almost missed that one. 
 
Seriously, go and read that comment. She has to take the prize for "Worst Lay Ever". I think that's ok to say given that all indications point to her proudly accepting; and giving an amazing acceptance speech! 
 
annykstra , if you're still reading, go and see a doctor. Actually, make that two. 
 
Seriously.