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Stephen Hawking goes on Safari in Search of African Einstein

timesonline.co.uk — Professor Stephen Hawking, who has devoted his career to finding the origins of the universe, is to begin a new search – for Africa’s answer to Einstein. Despite suffering from motor neurone disease which has left him almost completely paralysed, Hawking, 66, has made the journey to South Africa to launch the project today.

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  • WaxenPith, on 05/12/2008, -149/+41African Einstein is an oxymoron...
    • flossdaily, on 05/12/2008, -13/+87... if you're a racist *****.

      (there, I finished that sentence for you.)
      • sockpuppets, on 05/12/2008, -6/+9Douchebag and WaxenPith is not.
      • ryananger, on 05/12/2008, -6/+5I see what you did there.
      • zenithmbr, on 05/12/2008, -18/+16can facts be racist??
        http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7e/IQ_b ...
        • Jus7in, on 05/12/2008, -21/+4What's wrong with being racist if statistics and crime reinforce it? Nothing. This is Digg though, so this will get buried because...
        • 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.
          • zenithmbr, on 05/12/2008, -18/+6you obviously haven't read much about this subject
          • 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.
          • zenithmbr, on 05/12/2008, -7/+4here, i'll direct you to pages 272-3 of this study just like everyone else. it compares hereditary theory v. cultural theory and scores them. this is one of the most extensive studies on race and cognitive abilities ever.
            http://psychology.uwo.ca/faculty/rushtonpdfs/PPPL1 ...
          • JITerraza, on 05/12/2008, -2/+6Show me a study made not by a psychologist, but by a neurologist and/or a psychiatrist, and then I'll pay more attention to the paper.
          • zenithmbr, on 05/12/2008, -9/+3who is more qualified for intelligence testing than a psychologist? nobody. you're just being ignorant and ignoring well-established facts.
          • Jus7in, on 05/12/2008, -7/+1I'm not just talking about African-born blacks, I'm talking about blacks in general.
          • Jus7in, on 05/12/2008, -8/+2Can somebody explain the crime statistic to me?
          • JITerraza, on 05/12/2008, -3/+9@zenithmbr:
            1) to answer your last question, and repeating myself, a psychiatrist or a neurologist (they measure cognitive abilities with tests to determine dementia, and these are even legally accepted. Again, these test, as the Bender test, are not to measure intelligence, but they test memory, ability to do math, and to make congruent phrases, but I digress)
            2) define intelligence. Show me how it's a feature of the human mind that can be objectively separated from social, geographical and economical status, and how is that the IQ test accurately and objectively measure it.
            3) As someone else points out in another thread http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_intelligence this article lists studies and critiques that contradict the article that you keep posting everywhere. So, you have 1 article, posted by a psychologist, and one that the rest of the scientific community has already "buried".

            In Conclusion: YOU are being ignorant for ignoring well-established facts, as in "Facts that are well established in various articles and by various people and different from that one article that you keep posting".
            Do you want more proof? Enter www.pubmed.gov (aka Medline). Show me the consensus over there. See you then.
          • 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”"
          • JITerraza, on 05/13/2008, -1/+2wow br0ck: you did the smart thing and proved us both (zenith and me) wrong:
            - him for using a text that he clearly hasn't read to try to prove something he can't.
            - me for not even bothering to read the text that he kept throwing at the forum, and answering him without a more thorough analysis of what (he thought that) supported his views.

            kudos to you, sir.
        • zenithmbr, on 05/12/2008, -10/+7great some brilliant digger took it upon themselves to remove the link from wikimedia because it made them uncomfortable, here's one with the same info on it:
          http://www.vdare.com/images/IQ%20of%20Nations.gif
          • 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.
          • zenithmbr, on 05/12/2008, -10/+270 is actually the high range for retarded, and not all people b/w 50 and 70 are retarded, it depends on other factors. facts don't lie buddy, sorry.
          • JITerraza, on 05/12/2008, -3/+8@zenithmbr:
            facts don't lie to people. People lie to people.
            And you do. Or you've been lied to and repeat it.
            All I know is: if you took the time to think that you're calling an entire continent "borderline retarded", then you would put some more thought on what you use to repeat it.
            Show me more than one study on Medline written by doctors specialized on the brain that support what you say. Show me consensus on the psy community that Africans are retarded.
        • JITerraza, on 05/12/2008, -5/+13yes, they can. since IQ testing is mainly done with questions and tests that are socially biased. And basic education counts too.
          So if you were making an Education Quotient, then this would be more accurate. But since it's an Intelligence Quotient, it's not.
          You could say that some "facts" are "in the eye of the beholder", since numbers and statistics become "facts" depending on who interprets them.
          Anything that says that a large sector of the world's population is not as "intelligent" as the rest gives me pause, and since I searched for an explanation, here it is.

          Since you didn't even bother searching for it and thought that your first conclusion was the truth, and your conclusion is racist, so are you.
          • zenithmbr, on 05/12/2008, -9/+7hmmm, maybe you can explain why minnesota twin adoption studies found that even black children adopted by non-black parents still had lower iq's than all other minorities? if that doesn't prove it's genetics, i don't know what does. i'm not racist, but i won't discount what science has proven. that would just be ignorance.
          • KibibyteBrain, on 05/12/2008, -3/+6@zenithmbr Umm, even if you were right, you would be racist. Look up what racist means. You would just be advocating racism as a correct philosophy, as opposed by the enlightened view today of it being horribly wrong. Also, notice how people are so rarely racist against their own races. Would you concede that Asians or Jewish people are genetically more gifted than you, because IQ tests and such biased studies claim that to be a fact?
          • zenithmbr, on 05/12/2008, -7/+7actually yes, I do admit that asians and jews are more gifted in intelligence on average than my race (i'm white). this isn't a 'one race is better than the other' claim, it's just about intelligence. you chose to hear the data and cover your ears and go 'la la la la la', i look at it and see it for what it is. also here's one of the most comprehensive studies on race and cognitive ability to date. of particular interest are pages 272 and 273. at least i checked my facts before i opened my mouth. you didnt.

            http://psychology.uwo.ca/faculty/rushtonpdfs/PPPL1 ...
        • blagoaw, on 05/12/2008, -1/+4I don't like your comment, but dugg for the map. I've never seen anything quite like that map before.
        • blagoaw, on 05/12/2008, -7/+9JITerraza:
          I find it interesting that Asians fare better on IQ tests despite them being largely devised by people of European origin. If you look at *average* brain size of children, Asians have the largest, Europeans are in the middle, and Africans have the smallest. If you try to make sense of this as a scientist, the pieces do seem to fit together and tell a story -- Science doesn't always start out so well though, and research on this is stifled, so racism is stuck. However, we're talking about averages here. Mutations are random, and genes that favor high intelligence would be expected to be beneficial to people all over the world. Africa is very genetically diverse and it's a practical certainty that there are genes favoring and/or affecting intelligence that exist solely in Africa, just as is the case anywhere else. So they do have IQ's that are below average, *and* their scientists do have the potential to shock the world just like anyone else.
          • KibibyteBrain, on 05/12/2008, -2/+7But most Asian education systems emphasize testing. Indeed, the entire Japanese high school system is devoted to preparing students for their intense college entrance exams, but focus little in the way of professional development or direct education in the arts and sciences. Other asian countries have similar system goals.
          • 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.
          • blagoaw, on 05/12/2008, -1/+7It's true that they tend to emphasize testing in those places. That muddles the issue. That could be interpreted in another way too though. China spent at least around 2000 years rewarding people who excelled on imperial exams with positions of nobility where they became wealthy and fathered lots of children. What kind of effect would you expect this to have on a population? (disclaimer: I'm not Asian -- I just happen to think that the stereotype of East Asians being smart appears to be backed up by a both evidence and my personal experience)
          • blagoaw, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2gnomead: It's not the sort of thing that's ever going to be linked conclusively. It could however be found to be false -- and it's conspicuous that it isn't happening despite how much we would like that to be true.
          • JITerraza, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3as gnomead says, since IQ tests aren't trustworthy or scientifically accurate methods of measure, then: what do you use to correlate intelligence with brain size? How do those two pieces "fit together"? Yes, they can fit together as "scientifically inaccurate ways to support someone's racism".

            Great difference in size of frontal lobes has been the main way in which humans have evolved. But little differences in size or weight in brains of contemporaneous human beings have not been correlated with nothing, as far as I know. Certainly not with intelligence, at least.
          • blagoaw, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3This gets back to what 'intelligence' means anyway. It's just a word manufactured by people. Generally people tend to consider it to be some kind of "brain power" or general intellectual aptitude, but don't hold a particularly careful definition. In this case, it may or may not correlate well with IQ test results. Then there are occasionally people who choose to define intelligence strictly with IQ test results -- in which case intelligence isn't necessarily so important, since it just means you're good at a certain test. When talking about these things, there's sometimes miscommunication which goes undetected due to too much faith in our ability to communicate with words.

            In my personal opinion, people shouldn't be proud of themselves for excelling on an IQ test and I won't particularly respect someone for just being good at taking tests. Do I think that all else being equal in a healthy person, that if you have more brain cells as opposed to fewer you will fare better on a typical test? Absolutely -- At least I certainly wouldn't expect the opposite to be true (though I would expect the difference to be slight). It's not proven, and if there were more evidence to the contrary I would accept it, but it just seems to me that it would follow from our understanding of the brain (which is weak thusfar) to be the case.
        • blagoaw, on 05/12/2008, -1/+1(if you're wondering why I didn't reply in the proper thread, it's because Digg's comment system got bugged out by my previous comment and wouldn't allow me to do it)
        • fabthegerm, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1people with an IQ over 2,37 understand the fundamental methodological problems with such "statistics". i feel sorry for you.
          no wait, i don't. not at all actually.
        • jamdogg, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2Stephen Hawking has probably thought this through before going to Africa. He believes there's untapped potential.
          zenithmbr has a racist mindset and has skimmed the internet and thinks there is no intelligence in Africa - better call off your trip Stephen.
      • RX9735, on 05/12/2008, -2/+5One thing to keep in mind for those non USA diggers, blacks in Africa are nice people and much like whites in the US however many blacks in the US live a slave and ganster life style. Blacks in the US does not equal blacks in Africa.
        • CiXeL, on 05/12/2008, -0/+5you mean blacks in the midwest and southeast. the middle class blacks i knew in california were just normal people. i and another guy were the only two whites in an fully black IT department and it didnt even faze us.
          • RX9735, on 05/14/2008, -0/+1You are correct. I didn't mean to clump all into one group. I do have some that work for me and I never even think of skin color.
    • akkibaba, on 05/12/2008, -8/+17WaxenPith is just a moron...
    • rnwen2750, on 05/12/2008, -5/+22Mmm, I love the smell of trolling in the evening.
    • Jus7in, on 05/12/2008, -30/+15Actually, this statement is supported by some of today's leading geneticists. But it's Digg, so scientific and statistical logic (when applied to race) get buried.
      • 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."
        • zenithmbr, on 05/12/2008, -10/+5the scientific community is in a sad state if he lost his job for stating a fact. people may be uncomfortable with the truth, but that's their problem, not science's.
          http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7e/IQ_b ...
        • JITerraza, on 05/12/2008, -2/+4@zenithmbr: you're spewing the same nonsense as "expelled" supporters are.
          Watson didn't loose his job.
          All his colleagues did was try to find out if he did have some facts to support the claims that he had done, and since he didn't they critiqued him for making not only racist comments, but unfounded ones.
          He then "apologized", but since he had made similar comments earlier, and since he said that he had been "misunderstood" when what he said was clear, few chose to believe him.
      • 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.
        • CiXeL, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2i think the problem isnt IQ so much as EQ. it seems like a large problem with societies in africa is self control or controlling their desires. this is why aids is rampant and why mothers are flattening their daughter's breasts which is a physical work-around to that problem when people can't control their desires.
          a reduced ability to control your id could also explain many crimes like petty theft.
      • gnomead, on 05/12/2008, -1/+9This is false. James Watson himself has made an unequivocal apology stating he could "understand why people, reading those words, have reacted in the ways they have ... To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologize unreservedly. That is not what I meant. More importantly from my point of view, there is no scientific basis for such a belief." Watson has always been known to have a rather abrasive personality. He seems to be an equal opportunity offender. He's said things like "That's why you have Latin lovers. You've never heard of an English lover. Only an English patient."
        Francis Collins, Director of the Human Genome Project, has confirmed that there's no such evidence of there being a difference in intelligence between ethnic groups. I challenge you to provide a more credible source than Francis Collins. People who insist on such certainties without proper evidence are closet racists.
        • zenithmbr, on 05/12/2008, -5/+7maybe you can explain the findings of one the biggest studies on race and cognitive ability every conducted. look at pages 273-3 for a comparision b/w cultural and genetic bases for intelligence.
          http://psychology.uwo.ca/faculty/rushtonpdfs/PPPL1 ...
          • gnomead, on 05/12/2008, -0/+4Okay, let me first commend you for actually posting a proper scholarly work. That was a little hard to get through, but I think I got the gist of it. But the following wikipedia page suggests that there's enough disagreement within the scientific community on this subject. It even includes critiques of the article you posted. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_intelligence
        • JITerraza, on 05/12/2008, -1/+3Yes. Watson made an apology. But this is not the first phrase for which James Watson has had to apology. It's not even the first racist one.
          So the rest of what you say is true. But I can't believe that James Watson didn't mean to say what others understood.
        • Jus7in, on 05/12/2008, -8/+4I admit to being racist, openly and loudly. Again, I'm like a broken record when it comes to this, but let me try to get you to understand this. There are 300 million people in America. 42 million of those 300 million are black. Fifty percent of the crime in this nation is committed by those 42 million. If that isn't enough to make someone racist, I'd say they were an idiot. Now, I'm not a racist to the point where I won't talk to or get along with or even enjoy the company of blacks, but my first impressions on seeing a negro are certainly different than when seeing, say, an Asian. But blacks certainly do have a very serious and damning argument against them when it comes to criminal activity, and that, along with personal experience, is why I am a racist.
    • BeyondGoodNEvil, on 05/12/2008, -24/+10Digg down the guy who says what history supports! Hurray for blind egalitarianism. Kill the heretic! It's the new religion that's supplanting logic in this era. Believe differently at your own social risk.
      • 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.
        • BeyondGoodNEvil, on 05/12/2008, -9/+9The Germans weren't barbarians. They were advanced enough to ward off the Romans. If the Romans had kept their civilization, they'd have invented much more advanced technology earlier. How about that ancient Greek device found near Antikythera? If only they'd kept their civilization intact, we could have been flying centuries earlier, I'm firmly convinced. They knew the earth was round already. Woe to humanity that Christianity was invented and gained dominance, and that the Romans and Greeks didn't conquer the entire world and out-reproduce everyone, instead of intermarrying with their slaves and arabs (to produce the modern curly-haired Greeks and southern Italians). Romans used to have the most pronounced nose-bridge, which only Nordics have now.
          • CiXeL, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3youre getting dugg down but you do have a very interesting arguement. i didnt realize that.
        • deadmann, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Except that the oldest civilisations remain the least advanced. If there is no pressure to 'advance' then there is no reason to expect it.
      • deadmann, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Boo for acknowledging reality and designing solutions to problems that aren't based on critically flawed assumptions.
    • Tacobake, on 05/12/2008, -14/+9I can't believe that I actually reported someone.
      • Jus7in, on 05/12/2008, -8/+9You can't debate a point so you just tell on them? Take your political correctness and go to hell.
    • kevinzak21, on 05/12/2008, -4/+7Did anyone else think this was about the web browser?
    • luet, on 05/12/2008, -5/+3How dare you abuse a beautiful aphex twin song in your name by posting such a horrible comment? You don't deserve Richard D. James.
    • drakethegreat, on 05/12/2008, -9/+7The irony in this statement is that this project has the support of people who are closer to Einstein then you ever will be. So indeed it would appear whatever you are is an oxymoron.
      • sl9sl9, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2The project has the support of dead people?
    • UltramegaOK, on 05/12/2008, -5/+3I wish I could block you
    • deadmann, on 05/12/2008, -5/+1Can't wait to see this African Einstein they bring back that proves you wrong you evil racist. That'll show you. And such.
    • Pedlya, on 05/12/2008, -10/+5Lol, stupid ***** thinking they can learn to do anything besides eat their watermelons and chickens.
    • AllYourBase3, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2he's right, if they were as smart as einstein they'd get the hell out of africa
  • frieddonuts, on 05/12/2008, -9/+129Good 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.
    • mooseontheloose, on 05/12/2008, -32/+12uh, what? Yeah, underprivileged children really need more advanced graduate schools to study nuclear physics or algebraic topology.

      This has nothing to do with helping impoverished underprivileged children.
      • Gerz1219, on 05/12/2008, -3/+19It would certainly help underprivileged children if a brilliant mind in Africa solves the world's energy crisis.
      • superdoofus, on 05/12/2008, -2/+7are you myopic or stupid or a jerk?
        by increasing the wealth base of africans (even if they choose to work in other countries) not only will the continent gain pride and garner a little more respect in the global market, but even on a lesser scale the high-profile scientists that emerge from this program will have rather strong voices when they appeal to their own nations and others across the globe for future programs that might enable more individuals to achieve heights greater than what they are able to obtain due to financial, or other, restrictions.
    • Jus7in, on 05/12/2008, -14/+9And you're saying that with Abe Lincoln as your icon. He would have spewed on you.
    • Thefascist, on 05/12/2008, -11/+10If they're so brilliant maybe they should figure out how to make a power plant out of like a ***** lion or something. Lion's got alot of power, you know.
      • slezzzter, on 05/12/2008, -4/+6Can you express lion power in horse power? Is there a conversion ratio?
        • elDud3rino, on 05/12/2008, -1/+6You dare put boundaries on the power of a lion?
        • EffYoo, on 05/12/2008, -0/+5Get horse, feed horse to lion, measure change in power
      • derekcannon, on 05/12/2008, -1/+3This is the best comment in here.
    • BeyondGoodNEvil, on 05/12/2008, -3/+12How 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.
      • Jus7in, on 05/12/2008, -22/+9Negroes are too busy raping, stealing, and killing. 14% of the population in America, and 48% of the crime. Besides, why rise up when the NAACP and Al Sharpton will suck your dick and the government will send you to college. Pardon me while I go throw up...
        • 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.
          • Jus7in, on 05/12/2008, -9/+4Right, since that was just saturated with intelligence. Douche. Go look at the statistics.
          • Jus7in, on 05/13/2008, -1/+1It's telling nobody can say anything to that.
        • Bouncybanana, on 05/12/2008, -3/+7i bet you there are some other factors at play here, such as poverty. don't you think that poor or uneducated people are more likely to commit crimes?
          • Jus7in, on 05/12/2008, -5/+2That's the point. They're poor because most of them are innately stupid (which is verifiable if you idiots would just examine and dissect the facts). It is a revolving issue that they really can't get out of, but that doesn't change the fact that most blacks are, very simply, dumb criminals. They make up 14% of the population in the U.S., and they commit 48% of the total crime. LOOK IT UP.
          • Bouncybanana, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2@Jus7in: I never questioned the validity of your statistic. I am just asking you to step out of your comfortable middle-class mindset for a bit and try to imagine having grown up in a poor black household. If you went to a school where none of your friends dreamed of going to college, made fun of you for wanting to do so, and frequently stole things, do you really think you'd go on to do great things?

            Most people will stay ignorant if it is easy for them to do so. And most people are innately stupid. Please stop thinking that being born into a financially stable household has endowed you with superior intelligence.
          • Jus7in, on 05/13/2008, -0/+1Intelligence IS innate, friend. In fact, it has been proven that rigorous training can only raise an IQ up to 10 points, at best. It is most assuredly a matter of being born smart, or being born stupid, and blacks are almost always born stupid. If I was born in a poor household, I would do my best to get out of the situation, not contribute to it. But that's what an IQ of 147 will do for you, as opposed to one in the 80s. Also, I'm paying for college (and med school) entirely by myself. So don't relish in your 'financially stable household' argument too much.
      • superdoofus, on 05/12/2008, -0/+11an 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.
        • KibibyteBrain, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3Not only that, but most success in science or mathematics requires a great deal of sweat and blood and resources in addition to talent and brainpower. Many smart people don't succeed because of laziness or lack of resources. Look at most people on /. or digg for a good example of wasted time/energy....
      • zspeed78, on 05/12/2008, -2/+5Surely the African 18 yr old making $1 a day for his family should quit that, and focus on his Physics 7a problem sets while his parents and siblings starve because he no longer can help them. Ya, if youre smart and try, you can do ANYTHING, no matter the fact that theres a huge pile of problem that most people never have to face because luck of the draw landed them in a suburb and a volvo.
        You may be smart, but dont think youre THAT much smarter and could have done everything youve done if you had everything going against you as well.
      • Dystisis, on 05/12/2008, -3/+2No, you're a moron. You can not *RISE* yourself out of poverty if you haven't been allowed even a normal education. When will people understand that you are restrained by your social/economical position? You can not do whatever you want in life, obviously, because things cost money. Only ***** (like you, probably) with their pockets full of cash can sit and say "rise yourself out of poverty". Upwards mobility is largely fiction created by the greedy bastards in charge.
        • EffYoo, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2"Upwards mobility is largely fiction created by the greedy bastards in charge."

          There's bllions of people all over the world who would like to disagree, tell you that you're full of ***** and give you a swift kick in the nuts. If you're worse off than your parents wore than you're in the minority and it's probably your own damn fault.
        • keepitlegal, on 05/12/2008, -1/+0i agree on it's probably their own fault, as half of them are Drop outs, not that they couldn't be smarter, they choose not to be, then daddy isn't home which begins a stupid pysch that, well if my dad can leave my mom, or that the goven. is against me (even though it was their choice) i'll turn to crime. It's all on choices, I mean look at Obama (lol)
        • Thefascist, on 05/13/2008, -0/+1I hope you know that in america the whole idea of poverty is subjective. Is anyone starving, or homeless because they have no money, no they're not. That's what makes black people's behavior inexusable. What black people need to do is pick up, let's say, a guitar and tinker with it untill they can play it like hendrix, maybe they won't feel so poor if they had something to do, other than raping, stealing, killing, drug dealing. I apologize for bringing up a false stereotype of blacks being extraordinarily talented at music.
    • L0t3k, on 05/12/2008, -8/+7Wait, I thought everyone on Digg thought Steven Hawking was an irrational idiot? He does believe there's a god, you know.
      • darkciti2, on 05/12/2008, -2/+8Digg is a reflection of society in general. Just because Hawking he doesn't know how things "started" doesn't dilute his magnificent contributions to society as a whole.

        Furthermore, don't make assumptions. We're just people reading news and posting about things we feel for...
      • 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.

        • Dystisis, on 05/12/2008, -4/+1And how do you connect believing in God with believing in zombies and teenagers giving birth without sex..?
          Seems that is more irrational.

          Believing in god =/= christianity.
          • EffYoo, on 05/12/2008, -1/+5nobody said it was, how about staying focused long enough to be useful for something instead of trying to turn an honest comment into the kind of religious flame fest where you can get some attention and your inability to contribute to a meaningful discussion is easily overlooked
    • darkciti2, on 05/12/2008, -8/+5I digg Steven Hawking because he has singlehandedly contributed more to mankind than anyone in history.
      • Bouncybanana, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2really, anyone???
        excuse me while i go try to think of one way in which he has directly and/or significantly impacted my life...
      • bosssmiley, on 05/12/2008, -0/+6Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch and Alexander Fleming (he of penicillin fame) collectively say "Oh, is that so?"
      • rodrigo74, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1The whole History?
      • EffYoo, on 05/12/2008, -2/+3pfft, i can hijack this thread with one word

        jesus

        flame on!
    • cbmd, on 05/12/2008, -2/+2What about the other non brilliant people? They live and die there too.
      Worth as much as these "brilliant" ones.
      • Dystisis, on 05/12/2008, -2/+0Agreed...
      • EffYoo, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2hey, I'm no genius and there's nothing wrong with admitting that our contributiont to our nation and mankind wil probably be less than those from the people who are brilliant. If you're trying to invest in the development of a continent you don't run around the streets and give $50 to everyone you see, you find the exceptional people and give them millions to do something big. It's the smart thing to do, not everyone in the world can afford the idealism of socialism, it's a very expensive hobby
    • chikkychappy, on 05/12/2008, -0/+0No one can do everything you know, so quit whining. They're not saying that those other people are worthless. They're scientists and it's their initiative. The world does not work through perfect logic.
  • alimighty1, on 05/12/2008, -13/+9hawking hero
  • flossdaily, on 05/12/2008, -9/+178Can we please get that man some stem cells?
    • isparadiselost, on 05/12/2008, -37/+1I'd recommend you donate some but am sure he'd prefer them from someone with a triple digit IQ such as his.
      • djcreamy, on 05/12/2008, -1/+35You didn't pass high school biology, did you?
        • kipmartin, on 05/12/2008, -9/+5another reason i believe in natural selection--nature abhors morons like you.
      • 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.
    • ZenMojo, on 05/12/2008, -0/+9I've got a Five-spot. Who else is going in on the first injection?
    • inhaler, on 05/12/2008, -1/+6Iirc, can't they use bone marrow, or at least the stem cells within bone marrow. In which case, I'd definitely donate: Nothing more honorable than giving to help prolong the life of one of the world's most brilliant minds.
    • kaplanfx, on 05/12/2008, -3/+32***** stem cells, lets build him a cyborg body!
      • black27696, on 05/12/2008, -0/+4with lasers attached to his head.
    • Yatata, on 05/12/2008, -3/+1lol
    • Lyk4n, on 05/12/2008, -0/+4Why not Powerthirst?
      • Crosshare, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3Then his babies can field a track team down there to take on Kenya. That's right, Kenya!!!
  • cowcowmoomoo1, on 05/12/2008, -8/+144The title made me think that Hawking was supporting the Safari browser.
    • Shawshanksr, on 05/12/2008, -5/+7yeah me too
    • mahsah, on 05/12/2008, -4/+71I'm pretty sure Hawking can render HTML in his brain.
      • superdoofus, on 05/12/2008, -0/+6not only that, he also thinks in machine code.
    • nickleonhardt, on 05/12/2008, -15/+1i hate to say it, but his disease makes him the man and symbol that he is
      • ncairns, on 05/12/2008, -1/+19Yeah, that whole development of theoretical cosmology thing had nothing to do with it.
    • christophe971, on 05/12/2008, -2/+1same here
    • zeptobyte, on 05/12/2008, -2/+9Yeah, he's browsing the South African craigslist entries under "services: theoretical physics".
    • Jus7in, on 05/12/2008, -8/+4Your reading comprehension sucks, apparently.
    • iPastafarian, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1The first time I read it I thought it said "Stephen Hawking goes on Safari in Search of African Elephant."
    • dalos, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1And searching here http://www.google.co.za
    • picpak, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1This is where improper capitalizing gets you.
    • Wakuko, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1I thought he used Firefox, what a disappointment :-(
  • OffPiste, on 05/12/2008, -25/+9Ugh.
    • bicyclethief, on 05/12/2008, -0/+10Make 'em say
    • tehbored, on 05/12/2008, -4/+19What's the problem? Can't stand the idea of black people learning?
    • paulisnotdead, on 05/12/2008, -2/+20woah, woah, relax guys he's just speaking caveman, I can handle this.
  • eminiguy, on 05/12/2008, -8/+27Good 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.
  • DesignEx, on 05/12/2008, -2/+8Neil Turok,mentioned in the article, just gave a talk about this program (AIM) at TED.

    http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/232
  • diggrnumber1, on 05/12/2008, -1/+12do they know yet where in africa this university will be located?
    • inspecality, on 05/12/2008, -0/+19The Finance-focused University will be located in Nigeria.
      • vlurk, on 05/12/2008, -1/+7This fine piece of humour will fly above a lot of heads but seriously, thank you.
      • dalos, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3I see what you did there...
    • skyshock1, on 05/12/2008, -0/+7Hopefully away from famine, disease, civil war, and malcontent. Very much narrows down the options doesn't it?
    • elDud3rino, on 05/12/2008, -2/+0Wait, we know where africa is located?
    • MrSlumberjack, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2Itt'l most likely be in South Africa. Hopefully far away from Oprah's silly operation down there.
    • agimat, on 05/12/2008, -1/+7Detroit
  • bicyclethief, on 05/12/2008, -0/+5Brilliant. And he finds the time to report the weather radar too.
  • tehbored, on 05/12/2008, -5/+5About time someone did this.
    • EpicSelekta, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2You'd think they would've started looking for African geniuses after George Washington Carver.

      (yes, I do realize he was also American, but Africa was still his ancestry)
  • suntzusputnik, on 05/12/2008, -10/+5i too am on safari
  • Shaman760, on 05/12/2008, -14/+4Steven Hawking uses a Mac?
    :D
    • jasekasp, on 05/12/2008, -1/+3Safari is on Windows too now!
      Not that anyone uses it...
  • ekravchenko, on 05/12/2008, -14/+6It's funny how all the snorgtees ads on this site feature females, yet maybe 1% of digg users are females :) http://ll.atdmt.com/b/MSMSNMATCDBA/TestFormat_160b ...
    • ZenMojo, on 05/12/2008, -0/+13That's the point.
    • christophe971, on 05/12/2008, -0/+6you miss the point.
      it's featuring females IN ads BECAUSE the digg users are males :)
    • oblique63, on 05/12/2008, -0/+6Wow, nice observation! looks like we got the next Steven Hawking on our hands here ladies and gentlemen...
    • Yatata, on 05/12/2008, -1/+3i'm female....
  • prkchpsndwiches, on 05/12/2008, -3/+18Anyone 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... *****
  • ohplease, on 05/12/2008, -1/+8Mr. Glass searches for African Bruce Willis by examining Congolese/Rwandan war survivors
    • tolbs, on 05/12/2008, -2/+2Guess no one got the Unbreakable reference :)
  • tdwtomcat, on 05/12/2008, -1/+23Dugg for guy being named Turok.
    • MrSlumberjack, on 05/12/2008, -0/+4I worked with a guy named Turok before. I'm pretty sure that he went out and ***** up raptors in his spare time.
  • ZenMojo, on 05/12/2008, -1/+4Awesome. Now we are one step closer to Deus Ex.... (Or that Utopian future from the Planeteers.)
  • agilbe10, on 05/12/2008, -2/+4he can also fly
    • oblique63, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2I think you got dugg down because you're just saying what the article already implied by having him go to africa...
  • 808ethan, on 05/12/2008, -14/+13We got brilliant people here in the states too, working as shift manager at Sear's etc because they can't pay for college and their parents cant cover the "Estimated Family Contribution". Maybe if you saved those geniuses first, you could give more money as you don't need that plane ticket to Africa.
    • akkibaba, on 05/12/2008, -6/+12Stephen Hawking is British.
    • WolverineBlue, on 05/12/2008, -6/+4Honestly, if they were even half as smart as Einstein they would've managed to get a scholarship. (Also, Hawking is English)
    • 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.
    • 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.
      • esantipapa, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Yes, student loans... ie.enormous debt to profit ratio... or slavery. You can GET the degree, but you can't USE the degree for anything GOOD but paying back your loans... ***** that.
  • 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.
    • zeptobyte, on 05/12/2008, -1/+8The brightest people don't look for job opportunities; they create them. They'll be starting their businesses IN Africa.
      • MrSlumberjack, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Exactly. Gotta start somewhere.
      • bosssmiley, on 05/12/2008, -0/+6Only if they want their earnings expropriated by thieving governments. Smart people gravitate to places where they get to keep the fruits of their labours...
    • BeyondGoodNEvil, on 05/12/2008, -1/+7People go to other areas of greater wealth because on their own in a poor area, they can't live at a high enough standard of living that their wealth is worth. Say a guy knows how to build microchips, but lives in a mud hut village in Africa... why should he stay there, when his neighbors have no skills or ability to reciprocate his own production of wealth? It's only rational for smart, highly productive people to want to get away from lower-intelligent people, since there could only be a parasitic relationship there, to the smarter person's detriment.
    • superdoofus, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2while that might be true, you don't understand that recognized scientists are very influential when it comes to setting up programs and the like in their own home countries. thus creating more opportunity and centers and schools and developments for their nation.
    • brettmurf, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Well I think the goal is to get Africans invested into African future. India has a lot going on for it, but most of the profits seem to be going to other nations that have invested into the budding economy. I imagine this is an initiative to raise the stakes for people there so that development and profit stay closer to home.
  • Doctype, on 05/12/2008, -1/+6This is great but I cannot help but picture Stephen dressed up like that hunter guy from Jumanji...
    • blagoaw, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Me neither. And this safari isn't helping.
  • skyz, 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
  • danwallace, on 05/12/2008, -7/+1I AM NEIL TUROK!
    • NeilTurok, on 05/12/2008, -1/+8No, you are quite clearly Dan Wallace. I am Neil Turok.
  • JohnJacob, on 05/12/2008, -0/+5Cool. I just watched a TED Conference video about this given by Turok (not the dinosaur hunter) - the guy who's actually behind all this. Check it out, it gives a lot more detail and even shows Hawking, albeit briefly.

    http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/232
  • parkernicky50, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1good post
  • Rwned, on 05/12/2008, -17/+16Sounds like a noble cause but there is very little chance of finding an "African Einstein." The average IQ in sub-Saharan Africa is something like 70, which is actually considered "borderline mental retardation" in America. Sad, but true.
    • Jus7in, on 05/12/2008, -14/+9Blacks as a demographic in general have lower IQs, and that isn't trolling.

      Look it up.
    • BeyondGoodNEvil, on 05/12/2008, -12/+5How do you know? It seems that with all their high tech gadgetry, they'd have much higher IQs... oh wait, I thought you said Asia at first. HAHAHAHA... people refuse to believe that at one point, all things WERE equal, and that variations in culture and civilizations today are the manifestation of the inherent INequality. Egalitarianism is the new religion, that ultimately rests on a sandy foundation of the denial of evolution.
    • curtisag, on 05/12/2008, -7/+11I wondered if someone would have the courage to speak the truth. In order to be considered an Einstein you need an IQ of approximately 160ish. That level of massive intellect is extremely rare. I agree it is a noble cause to bring education to Africa, but they are fooling themselves if they expect to find a wealth of intelligence there. There are no doubt some very smart people in Africa, but on the whole their average intelligence is quite low. We don't know why Sub-Saharan Africans have such low IQs, it may be environmental or a combination of factors, but the evidence speaks for itself. And by saying this I have committed the worst 'politically incorrect' sin a person can commit.
    • blagoaw, on 05/12/2008, -1/+4Relative to Einstein, practically everyone was retarded. That didn't stop him.
    • UltramegaOK, on 05/12/2008, -1/+6[citation needed]
  • 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).
    • JDove6, on 05/12/2008, -3/+3Well said. Although I think any foreigner who comes here and does well academically is very smart because they must learn and operate in a new language.
    • 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?
      • kingmanic, on 05/12/2008, -1/+4curtisag : I agree. I sprinkled my little post with plenty of qualifiers. However the point i asserted was that the stereo type of dumb Africans is wrong still holds. African is developing but it has it's share of intellectuals and academics.
    • thelif, on 05/12/2008, -0/+5For the Chinese, often to have an opportunity to come to America is indicative that they beat out like millions of people in their region to have that type of honors. I mean just the massive sample size will give you extremely intelligent people, I doubt it's the learning a new language..
      • fiasco78, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3You couldn't be more wrong. My parents are from China and they didn't come to America because they were exceptionally smart, they came here because they weren't smart enough. Why do you think a lot of Chinese immigrants are poor? It's their children that end up being successful. Getting into college in China is incredibly difficult because there are so many people and only so many universities. The cream of the crop in China stay in China.
        • kingmanic, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2He's sort of right. Right now and for the last 15 or 20 years China has become something resembling a meritocracy but before then it was still a anti-merchant anti academic nation, were the children of of the bourgeoisie or academics were not allowed to advance in education which created a motivated under class. They either fled or suffered through the persecution which skewed the demographics in the places they fled to. Chinese mores that value education, the push for advancement through education, and 1500 years of emphasis on education probably skewed it too though. Those who get out now, are the ones who don't have very bright futures there or hunger for somethign else. Those who got out before where evading the idiots who were running china into the ground/trying to kill them. Even today those who leave do so with at least determination enough to start a new life and that can skew our perception as well.
          PS. I'm Chinese, my parents left china to escape the utter failure of the aftermath of the great leap forward.a decade after they left China started sweeping reforms.
  • DIGGerPhelpsND, on 05/12/2008, -7/+1The way S was capitalized in the title, I thought the story was about Apple Safari.
  • blackjack75, on 05/12/2008, -3/+3Amusingly enough, when I go on Safari and search for African Einstein, I find myself on a recursive loop.
    http://img80.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image1pc4. ...
  • HomeNucleonics, on 05/12/2008, -11/+8South Africa? I'd give him a day or so before he gets raped or chair jacked.
    • Ninjao, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2Cape Town != Johannesburg, Cape Town > JHB
  • Thefascist, on 05/12/2008, -11/+7So .. is Steven Hawking planning on shooting the african einstein with a high powered rifle, possibly blowing his skinny, fly infested head into smitherines.
    • superdoofus, on 05/12/2008, -4/+3Learn English and then start posting again. Stupid is as stupid does.
      • Thefascist, on 05/12/2008, -1/+3safari implies shooting a lion or a monkey in africa. I don't think I made any mistakes.
        • luet, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1A safari (pronounced /səˈfɑri/) is an overland journey. It usually refers to a trip by tourists to Africa, traditionally for a big-game hunt and in more modern times to watch and photograph big game and other wildlife as a safari holiday.

          From wikipedia. Of course, nobody realizes that the title is accidentally quite offensive to Africans.
    • Thefascist, on 05/12/2008, -2/+2Also, a digg for a digg leaves the whole world diggless.
  • mrogi, on 05/12/2008, -12/+6Is Stephen Hawking serious? Searching for an Einstein in Africa is like trying to find a white Lebron James in Kennebunkport.
  • 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.
    • CiXeL, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3what i want to know is why with the many different climates in africa they dont have people bringing plants from all over the world to raise there. they should be able to thrive anywhere. do the corrupt governments cut down trees to make people starve? i mean if you plant mango trees all over the congo no one is going to starve. in the philippines the government planted jackfruit trees everywhere to so the common people wouldnt starve and it worked.
      in namibia there is a gourd that is the basis of food for people living in the desert. they could easily move this north into the sahara or other poor desert regions to allow people to survive there. it was talked about on the anthony bourdain namibia episode.
      • Hillsfar, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3Well, for countries with rebel armies hiding in the forest, I think the last thing their governments want to do is to provide more free sustenance... Still, I think if they actually did such plantings, that might change the dynamics of starvation and allow men and women to escape into the bush.
        • CiXeL, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2i mean really how difficult would it be to turn one tree into millions of trees? every fruit you harvest eat and plant somewhere. look at how many seeds are in a papaya.
          theres already fruit growing there it just isnt very good or very easy to survive off of.
          • Hillsfar, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Personally, I think if every village armed every adult - male and female - with AK-47s, there might be a chance at self-protection. But there would probably be major tribal warfare, because their tribes and clans have a different sense of inclusion than the Greek city-states. A Montana rancher has more common cause with his Colorado counterpart than a villager in one African country with another villager in the next town over.
  • julianrod, on 05/12/2008, -0/+5FTA: "Hawking is expected to repeat his call for a global effort to enable humanity to colonise space, starting with the moon and then Mars. Turok’s hopes are more down to earth..." I see what you did there, article writer.
    • Sinnic, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Hawking is right on the money, though.
  • julianrod, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1African Bill Gates = Mark Shuttleworth
  • ModerateMind, on 05/12/2008, -2/+4Who else thinks we should start an entire line of Stephen Hawking myths, that which should rival the annoyingly legendary Chuck Norris?
    "Stephen Hawking is so brilliant that the universe sprung into existence with a full falsified history the instant he was conceived."
  • soumynona, on 05/12/2008, -7/+13I find it interesting that whenever intelligence is discussed it revolves around I.Q. and SAT scores, when they were created to measure the odds of scholastic success. "Intelligence" is such a difficult term because it covers a very large range of behaviors and abilities. Moreover, many of these abilities are, because they exist as interpreted cognitive processes, difficult to define. Many of the uses of the word "intelligence" have been structured around human behavior because, honestly, it is much easier to grasp and much easier to apply. Even so, standard definitions of intelligence do not include "human" as the primary attribute. There are processes that are accepted as a component of human intelligence that could be found in other species.

    I.Q.scores are not, as many Diggers have implied, a significant measure of these concepts, but only serve to rank an individual within a group regarding certain skills or, more accurately, the individual's performance.. If it is not directly measuring these concepts but is relatively measuring the "use" of some of these concepts in regards to an individual when compared to a group, then why insist that I.Q. is the definition of "intelligence?" You are implying that "intelligence" can not be applicable in situations unless a relative score is present? I think we're looking at differing philosophical views here. "Intelligence" is not a term that is only defined by test scores.
    • CurtisSimpson, on 05/12/2008, -0/+9well Einstein said that imagination is more important then intelligence.
      • curtisag, on 05/12/2008, -1/+3I would argue it requires intelligence to have a vivid imagination. That's why some people are watching TV all day and others are pondering the true nature of the universe on a daily basis.
        • CiXeL, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1many intelligent people would be far more productive with a little bit of hallucinogen to stimulate their lack of imagination. you can be mathematically and logically bright but if you dont have any creativity how can you think of the new ideas locked into one way of thinking?
    • curtisag, on 05/12/2008, -3/+5No, I.Q. is the definition of intelligence for the applicable situations in "modern society" that are important for scientific and technological progress. You will not find a scientist that has done great work in his field that simultaneously has a low IQ. And you are correct there are multiple kinds of intelligence, but killing a wild boar is not a type of situation that is applicable to modern society (even though you might be excellent at it). There is no doubt killing a wild boar requires intelligence, just not the type that anyone cares about anymore. The debate over this topic has been rehashed by people far more versed in the subject of IQ research than you and I. It is no longer argued that IQ is irrelevant. IQ scores have some element of the "intelligence factor G" in them. They are used for a reason. If you don't know what the intelligence factor "G" is, you don't know anything about IQ research.
      • soumynona, on 05/12/2008, -2/+3I can't recall the study, but it involved autistic children and normally developed children. It found children with autism preserved information processing capacity as fast as the normal children despite poor measured IQ. Which makes me wonder how an instrument of the West can be used on semi and possibly illiterate people, then use the results to say that half the people in Africa are mentally retarded.

        One could argue that intelligence is a cultural category; cultures emphasize what is needed to survive in their society. Take the Sea Gypsies of Surin Island and the Salon of Mynanmar that spend their entire lives at sea in makeshift boats. To the Western World they are primitive but they having lived in communion with the sea for centuries, apparently knew well in advance how to cope with the tsunami that killed thousands of others. Eerily predicting it's arrival long before any western technology was aware of it.
        • curtisag, on 05/12/2008, -2/+2A big part of their lack of intelligence is clearly due to environmental and cultural problems, which can be fixed. There are people working hard to find out how we can reverse this problem. They just recently released a study that feeding infants a mother's milk instead of formula increases intelligence. But to stick your head in the sand and proclaim everyone is equal everywhere and we cannot measure intelligence in any coherent form is simply wrongheaded. This "Western instrument" you have so little respect for shows that Asians have higher intelligence than Europeans. Asians have been proven to have greater analytical and mathematical raw intelligence, while Europeans have greater verbal intelligence. And some groups of Jews are more intelligent than all of us. And it is no wonder that many of the Nobel prize winners throughout history have been Jews, including Einstein of course.

          Culture of course is a big factor in society. If there is little need for math abilities, an Einstein may live his entire life without knowing his true potential. However, this hypothetical person, would have zero advantage over anyone else to pass on his superior abilities to his offspring. As a result, over thousands of years, natural selection takes over, and that spark of intellect can get buried under certain circumstances. It's only when society has a need for his amazing abilities that it spreads through society. It took humans millions of years to evolve into the intelligent beings we are today.
      • backdoorstudent, on 05/12/2008, -0/+0Your claim is false. Feynman himself admitted to having an average (or below) IQ score. There are plenty of other examples if you care to look.
    • luet, on 05/12/2008, -3/+4Why are you getting dugg down, you're correct!
    • RationalXubrnce, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2 Those tests measure something. Get a roomful of people half with IQ 85 and the other half with IQ 130 and you will know who's who. You make it sound like this is all arbitrary babble.
    • jsaic, on 05/12/2008, -2/+1overall IQ is nonsense . for instance. i can create an IQ test that is simple patterning that might not make sense to some people but i get it cause i made it. for example: [ M,V,E,(which key on the keyboard comes next?)] let's look at africa. the only reason africans didn't create more structures in history is a result of the heterogeneous groups throughout the continent. africa is the most diverse place on earth. population, location and a fair amount of homogeneity (mostly culturally) is what determines whether or not a society has a good chance of producing a genius. knowledge belongs to the world and always has. no ethnic group owns knowledge. we all learn from each other. a white guy stacking bricks at home depot doesn't own the knowledge of newton anymore than a white mathematics professor at MIT. we are all individuals born into different circumstances. and it is our moral duty to try to help each other whenever it is possible.
  • chasealicious11, on 05/12/2008, -5/+4You know you are a mac fan when you immediately assume this is an article about Stephen Hawking now using an apple computer to talk and surf the internet.
  • dafunkmonster, on 05/12/2008, -4/+9This is silly. Why doesn't Hawking spend his time advocating policies that will help bring prosperity to the African continent? What is finding the "African Einstein" going to do for anyone?
  • enumerate, on 05/12/2008, -2/+12so like... "click click e=mc^2 click click OOGA"
    • matschig, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1I could see this being a caption for a FoxTrot comic.
    • karlhite, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2"click click e=mc^2 click click OGC"
  • aftershave, on 05/12/2008, -3/+3Does African Einstein have an afro like the real Einstein?
  • Tahiri, 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.
  • dieguchi, on 05/12/2008, -5/+0Am I the only one who thought that was a really racist use of the word "safari" in the description?
  • AsylumAleikum, on 05/12/2008, -3/+6How many racist Cambridge professors does it take to find a talented African?
  • chrgrose, on 05/12/2008, -0/+5This guy is a legend.
  • pookkake, on 05/12/2008, -2/+1After all this time talking about black holes, he is ready to experience one for the first time. Horny old bastard.
  • momsshizzle, on 05/12/2008, -1/+3I think Africa's Einstein is at a zoo. Monkey perhaps?
  • starkistuna, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Did he finally discover time travel??
    I tough he died a couple of months ago , but hes still on the news headlines everyweek!.
  • kevdotbadger, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2Sounds like a hell of a film.
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