1000 years of managerial roles and persecution select for greater intelligence

1000 years of managerial roles and persecution select for greater intelligence ››: Cochran and coworkers note that Ashkenazi Jews have above average intelligence as a group with more individuals at the extremes and, following a decade-old suggestion by Jared Diamond, hypothesize selection during the historical period for genes with roles in both disease and intelligence. Blimey, this is going to cause a stink. Interesting data, though not absolutely compelling. (Yet.) The anecdotal evidence is certainly impressive: Einstein, Freud, half of all chess champions, and a quarter of America's Nobels--all from 3% of the population. Neat as the hypothesis is, I didn't see them deliver a knockout punch for founder effects as an alternative explanation. One of the authors, Harpending, was also involved in the recent paper positing an Out-of-Africa and multiregional origin for modern humans; here he opines, "Absolutely anything in human biology that is interesting is going to be controversial" and he definitely has history on his side there! The paper is, unsurprisingly, getting widening coverage e.g. The Economist, New York Times. (via); [Permalink…04-Jun-05…Deserving memes……Comments (0)]

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