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275 Comments
- flossdaily, on 05/12/2008, -9/+179Can we please get that man some stem cells?
- cowcowmoomoo1, on 05/12/2008, -8/+145The title made me think that Hawking was supporting the Safari browser.
- frieddonuts, on 05/12/2008, -9/+130Good to see that someone is taking the initiative to give underprivileged children the education they need. Makes you wonder how many brilliant people lived and died in poverty, because they didn't have access to a formal education.
- flossdaily, on 05/12/2008, -13/+87... if you're a racist *****.
(there, I finished that sentence for you.) - mahsah, on 05/12/2008, -4/+72I'm pretty sure Hawking can render HTML in his brain.
- djcreamy, on 05/12/2008, -1/+35You didn't pass high school biology, did you?
- kaplanfx, on 05/12/2008, -3/+33***** stem cells, lets build him a cyborg body!
- kingmanic, on 05/12/2008, -5/+31Odd note: It's common knowledge that many of the top students in all the top schools are disproportionately Asian (either North American born or Immigrants). Whats uncommon knowledge is that the highest ratio of advanced degrees to people (Masters or better) actually belongs to African immigrants (Not African Americans but recent African immigrants). So all the stereo types of 'dumb' Africans are fairly backwards and wrong. The ones that reach North American shores seem to be astonishingly well educated. Obama's father was an example of these well educated Africans (Kenyian).
- tdwtomcat, on 05/12/2008, -1/+23Dugg for guy being named Turok.
- inactive, on 05/12/2008, -8/+28Good cause. Worth supporting, not just in Africa, but in any other community. Bright but underprivileged kids can be found everywhere. Help them if you can.
- ncairns, on 05/12/2008, -1/+19Yeah, that whole development of theoretical cosmology thing had nothing to do with it.
- inspecality, on 05/12/2008, -0/+20The Finance-focused University will be located in Nigeria.
- paulisnotdead, on 05/12/2008, -2/+20woah, woah, relax guys he's just speaking caveman, I can handle this.
- neocr0n, on 05/12/2008, -0/+21"The people who will make Africa rich are the brightest people because they will generate wealth,” Sadly I don't think that's the case, those people will most likely move to America or other countries that have big research grants and better job opportunities.
- rnwen2750, on 05/12/2008, -5/+22Mmm, I love the smell of trolling in the evening.
- Gerz1219, on 05/12/2008, -3/+19It would certainly help underprivileged children if a brilliant mind in Africa solves the world's energy crisis.
- tehbored, on 05/12/2008, -4/+19What's the problem? Can't stand the idea of black people learning?
- prkchpsndwiches, on 05/12/2008, -3/+19Anyone else see this every time they hear/see "Turok"? http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/1126/turokrf0.j ...
I just keep visualizing some dinosaur-slaying Native American setting up collegiate facilities in Africa because he needs to find all the pieces to the Chronoscepter, only to realize he only gets three shots out of it... ***** - KibibyteBrain, on 05/12/2008, -3/+26All that shows is that tests to measure IQ are flawed and have a bias. All evidence points to "intelligent" people being statistical anomalies with little basis in genetics. Basically, anyone can get a "smart" mutation, and that variance might be developmental and not entirely genetic at that. And of course, sometimes geniuses are just more interested in academics and mathematics and such as a matter of personal tastes. it would be awfully hard for an african who's village doesn't even have a single book on modern mathematics to be proficient in logic to the degree to do well on an IQ test, even if he was more than smart enough at some level. Cultural bias is inherent to any test.
- superdoofus, on 05/12/2008, -2/+17FTFA:
"Turok and Hawking hope that Aims’s students will help to overturn the negative stereotypes of Africa that were recently given expression by James Watson, the co-discoverer of DNA.
Watson lost his job as director of the Cold Spring Harbor laboratories in America after suggesting that Africans were less intelligent than Europeans. A subsequent analysis of his own DNA showed that he had part-African ancestry." - Riggs, on 05/12/2008, -1/+13But on the whole, people in the states have more opportunities than people in Africa. That's why Hawking's safari still makes sense.
- ZenMojo, on 05/12/2008, -0/+13That's the point.
- counterplex, on 05/12/2008, -6/+19I dunno man .. most of the Justin's I know are no-good handout-begging trash-talking incest-loving bastards without a high school diploma so I wouldn't take your word too seriously. Pardon me while I go wash off the generalization.
- JITerraza, on 05/12/2008, -1/+12@zenithmbr: "you obviously haven't read much about this subject"
and I have, I have extensively studied genetics, and is one of my fields of work.
What he says, although a little crude or basic (there isn't a "smart mutation", but I think that he was trying to be didactic) is basically true.
Intelligence could be argued to be basically a feature as height (now I AM trying to be didactic, so please don't critique me only for oversimplifying, because I know I do):
- there are a lot of genes (genotype) that predispose each of us to a certain height.
- but then, what you eat (quality and quantity) as you grow up will determine how tall you will be (phenotype), given a range of possible heights that your genotype dictated earlier.
- That's obviously how shorter or taller people have shorter or taller children. But it also explains how in developing countries children can be taller than their parents: they had more to eat as they grew up. This doesn't happen in already industrialized countries, where children have the same opportunities as their parents had.
So ¿how does this apply to intelligence? (I'll explain in case you haven't already extrapolated it):
- There are genes that predispose us to be more or less apt to understand certain facts or to make certain kind of reasoning.
- But if you're not "fed" with education (facts and lines of reasoning) early on, this won't develop adequately and you'll only be a little smarter than the mean IQ of your group. In the case of the article: the Africa Tribes.
You can also make a simile with body type, agility and sports skills. You have to be trained and then discovered.
What you say, on the other hand, is prejudiced, and the "facts" you present can be read in different ways. You chose the racist one. - superdoofus, on 05/12/2008, -0/+12an ability to maneuver in social or financial structures is very much exclusive of abilities in mathematics or physics or other high-sciences. being smarter doesn't always make everything easier.
- ZenMojo, on 05/12/2008, -0/+10I've got a Five-spot. Who else is going in on the first injection?
- curtisag, on 05/12/2008, -0/+11The sample size of the Africans that actually make it here are skewed towards the extremely intelligent I suspect. In any group of people that numbers in the millions, you will have a certain percentage of those that are extremely intelligent. So I think your evidence is flawed. Test the IQs of the Africans with these advanced degrees and you will likely see they are the "creme of the crop" of African intellect. You don't make it into universities like Harvard unless you are the best of the best. That's how they got into this country. What country would reject someone who got accepted into Harvard?
- bicyclethief, on 05/12/2008, -0/+10Make 'em say
- akkibaba, on 05/12/2008, -8/+17WaxenPith is just a moron...
- inactive, on 05/12/2008, -3/+13Seems like he only wants a black smarty. I'd like to be the first to claim he's racist.
Why exclude every other race on the planet? I'm sure he can find homeless poor people of any race in his own country. - JITerraza, on 05/12/2008, -4/+14The only geneticist that supports what you say as you say it is James Watson, one of the two people that discovered the basic structure of DNA, the double helix. The other was Crick.
Watson, has in the last few years made several racist comments, and has been ostracized by his fellow geneticists (who otherwise respect and admire him) since what he has said doesn't have any scientific basis.
Let me repeat this: Fellow geneticists checked everything that Watson argued, saw that what he said wasn't supported by anything else than his own racism, and then ostracized him in the last international science meetings.
That's the current standing of science on racism: the concept is not scientific, so don't even bother, unless you have facts to support what you claim, or you want to become a paria. - rodrigo74, on 05/12/2008, -0/+8Care to point to a source where Hawking declares he believes in some kind of personal god? All I've read from him (e.g. the "to understand the mind of God" that he used to close his famous book) seemed to me more like an Spinoza, Einsteinian kind of god, a poetic way to say "the nature", "the universe".
I don't think Hawking believes in zombies and teenagers giving birth without sex, but I could be wrong, feel free to point me to such source if that exists.
From an interview with Larry King:
KING: Do you believe in God?
HAWKING: Yes, I do, if by God you mean the embodiment of the laws that govern the universe. - inactive, on 05/12/2008, -2/+12so like... "click click e=mc^2 click click OOGA"
- CurtisSimpson, on 05/12/2008, -0/+9well Einstein said that imagination is more important then intelligence.
- zeptobyte, on 05/12/2008, -2/+10Yeah, he's browsing the South African craigslist entries under "services: theoretical physics".
- skyshock1, on 05/12/2008, -0/+8Hopefully away from famine, disease, civil war, and malcontent. Very much narrows down the options doesn't it?
- gnomead, on 05/12/2008, -0/+8As far as I know, there is no evidence conclusively linking brain size to intelligence in humans. There really needs to be a far more robust and expansive investigation before we can start making such statements. And JITerraza is right. IQ tests are very socially biased and a low-fidelity technique for measuring intelligence.
- br0ck, on 05/12/2008, -1/+9Zenith conveniently forgot to read the conclusion of the study he posted. From page 236: "As to the cause of the mean Black–White group difference, however, the Task Force concluded: “There is certainly no support for a genetic interpretation”"
- inactive, on 05/12/2008, -1/+13do they know yet where in africa this university will be located?
- inactive, on 05/12/2008, -3/+13How about the many brilliant minds who ROSE themselves out of poverty. Isn't that the best indicator of ability, to use what you have and do more with it than others? Da Vinci wasn't born rich, neither was Newton.
- blackjack75, on 05/12/2008, -2/+11History only shows what happened so far. At some point in history Italy and greece were the only places with a refined technology. Yet, somehow one day those barbaric germans managed to build cars of their own.
- superdoofus, on 05/12/2008, -0/+7not only that, he also thinks in machine code.
- weech, on 05/12/2008, -2/+9hey dumbass, most people have a triple digit IQ, it's designed so that the average stays around 100. clearly you're an exception.
- Hegemony, on 05/12/2008, -0/+7The comment system broke your link.
http://tinyurl.com/6e56fq
But yeah... I was thinking about this as I read the article. It was kinda distracting. - ohplease, on 05/12/2008, -1/+9Mr. Glass searches for African Bruce Willis by examining Congolese/Rwandan war survivors
- flossdaily, on 05/12/2008, -4/+11That's the stupidest goddamn thing I've ever seen. The average IQ for all of South Africa is not 70. 70 is borderline retarded. That would mean that 25% of South Africans would be PROFOUNDLY retarded.
You shoud be ashamed of yourself for offering that as anything other than a bad joke. - Hillsfar, on 05/12/2008, -1/+9Genetics can help, but in a general population, nutrition and nurturing is the key. If the fetus is not fed enough nutrients even while in the womb, if the baby is not fed well (even breast milk can vary in quality due to the mother's nutrition), if there's not enough mental and emotional stimulation... all these things are difficult and self-perpetuating in a life of poverty.
- dezmo, on 05/12/2008, -2/+10where I live (northern NJ), there are schools that will give a full ride for anyone who gets a 1400 and is in the top 5% of their class. Not too mention that almost anyone can get student loans. NOT to mention that you definitely don't need to go to college to be the next Einstein.
- inactive, on 05/12/2008, -0/+7i saw a video about this at ted.com - they have these aim schools in almost all of the nations in africa and they are educating a good number of students in higher math many of whom go on to phds at oxford - this is great ! just because people are underdeveloped does not mean they are lacking in innate intelligence - in fact it would tend to make them more focused and intent on taking advantage of the opportunity of education
- chall85, on 05/12/2008, -2/+9dinosaur hunter?
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