The Pseudoscience of J. Philippe Rushton

You said all of Rushton's data was incomparable and then failed to demonstrate that.

 

I said that he did not control for variables with his brain size research then provided a source backing up my statement.

 

So you think the figures of 1415, 1362, and 1268 cm3 found again and again for Asians, Whites and Blacks is attributable to height and nutrition differences? "Temperature after death" etc? Did researchers include meninges and blood vessels on Asians but cut them off for Blacks? Drain out fluid for Blacks but include it for Asians? Sex is also stated for the data.

 

Everyone has their fools who make them look stupid by association. This guy wasw just a white persons Cornell West

 

Well, just to throw some fuel on the fire, here's an article about a major study trying to link genetics and intelligence and comes up short: http://arstechnica.com/science/2014...enes-behind-intelligence-find-almost-nothing/

It seems that to effect of genes on intelligence is 20 times less than the effect genes have on height, which already been shown to be very small. In fact, they only found three genes that had any effect on intelligence and those effects were almost negligible. From the article: "Even if someone had two copies of the variants associated with intelligence at one of genes, their IQ would get a boost of about half a point compared to someone who lacked them."

This was not a small study, but a collaboration of 60 scientists.

 

Expecting to identify genes for intelligence by looking at 69 loci is absolutely absurd. The entire genome would need to be scanned (ie. 3 billion loci).

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3182557/

 

The fact is that very few studies mentioned by Rushton control for variables so there could be all kinds of errors with the brains that were weighed. The fact is that the data is not reliable for all of the reasons Lieberman mentioned.

 

Specifically where was it stated that those studies didn't consider those variables? You expect us to believe researchers didn't drain brains, strip them of external matter, sever them at similar points? Where is your evidence these medics didn't do that? (And that all of them screwed up against Blacks, all producing the same result) Your position is obvious garbage.

 

They didn't all come to the same result and many of these studies cited by Rushton are very old. The procedures in previous decades are different than they are today and there are many variables that are clearly not controlled in these other studies which were reviewed by Tobias.

 

If you read a few sentences before you would have seen that the authors accounted for that:

I also found this quote to be interesting:

 

You've presented no evidence any of these basic errors were commited and your position is just biased speculation. Sure, all of these researchers failed to clean meninges and blood vessels from East Asian brains and didn't drain them, severing Black brains at a lower point, all producing the same result. Your accusations are bogus and disgraceful.

 

No, they looked at 69 points in the genome which is absurd.

The assertion in your magazine artice is false, as my peer reviewed study by top geneticists shows.

 

I didn't suggest that they treated the brains differently, only that they didn't control for several variables listed by Tobias.

Stop making stuff up.

 

Didn't they? You are saying they drained the Black brains but not the East Asian brains?

Further, they all did that producing the same result. You understand that you are slandering medics at this point?

 

Again, stop making stuff up. I didn't say or suggest any of that.

 

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My evidence is the statements by Lieberman and Graves that Tobias reviewed these studies. If I had access to the specific studies I could verify their claims but unfortunately I do not so I'm going off of the available scientific literature.

 

You're just parroting the lies of Graves and Lieberman. You have no evidence and are just parroting liars. These medics obviously controlled variables and treated all brains the same.

 

How do you know they controlled for all the variables? Did you review the studies yourself?

 

So 60 scientists have no idea how to do a study?

The magazine article may not be peer reviewed, but the study is (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/09/05/1404623111) and the study kind of casts doubt on those other studies.

 

Why wouldn't they? The default assumption is that of course they did. Why would they not clean and drain East Asian brains? All medics falsify research against Black people?

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Your magazine article misrepresents the study.

 

So you are assuming they controlled for all of the variables mentioned by Tobias. Tobias reviewed the studies himself and showed that they did not. What we're talking about here is comparisons between the brain weight of racial groups and the controls necessary to make the comparison. I'm not saying that they treated the brains differently necessarily only that they didn't control for all of the variables mentioned by Tobias.

 

You haven't demonstrated those "variables" have any effect, that they weren't controlled for, and you are lying that Tobias reviewed all of Rushton's sources.

 

I didn't say that Tobias reviewed all of Rushton's sources. Tobias reviewed numerous studies related to brain weight at autopsy that compared racial groups. According to several sources he reviewed most of them up until his published article in 1970. Tobias identified numerous errors in the available studies and a lack of controlling variables which he listed. Rushton cited Tobias as a source and aggregated data from a lot of these older studies based on Tobias' review without acknowledging Tobias' findings and as Graves said basically dismissing his conclusions.

 

I'm no expert on genetics, so maybe you can click on the link I gave you and read the study and tell us where they went wrong?