NewsClick

NewsClick
  • हिन्दी
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Covid-19
  • Science
  • Culture
  • India
  • International
  • Sports
  • Articles
  • Videos
search
menu

INTERACTIVE ELECTION MAPS

image/svg+xml
  • All Articles
  • Newsclick Articles
  • All Videos
  • Newsclick Videos
  • हिन्दी
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Science
  • Culture
  • India
  • Sports
  • International
  • Africa
  • Latin America
  • Palestine
  • Nepal
  • Pakistan
  • Sri Lanka
  • US
  • West Asia
About us
Subscribe
Follow us Facebook - Newsclick Twitter - Newsclick RSS - Newsclick
close menu
×
For latest updates on nCOVID-19 around the world visit our INTERACTIVE COVID MAP
Science
International

IQ Difference Based on Genetics, Racist Propaganda?

The well-known scientist and Nobel laureate, James Watson has started a controversy by claiming that blacks and whites have differences in IQ due to genetic differences that evolved through natural selection.
Sandipan Talukdar
17 Jan 2019
 James Watson

Image Courtesy: Sky News

James Watson, the scientist who won the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine for discovering the double-helix is in the spotlight for his controversial racist remarks. He has also been stripped of his honorary titles at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL).

The scientist had appeared in an interview in the PBS documentary called “American Masters: Decoding Watson” where he made the comment that blacks and whites have average differences in IQ (Intelligence quotient) because of genetic differences that evolved through natural selection. Earlier, in 2007 too, Watson had remarked that black people are not as smart as white people. He was removed from his administrative duties from the CSHL where he was serving as the chancellor. He later apologised for what he said and admitted that his statement has no scientific basis. But his recent statement reaffirms his deep-rooted racist beliefs.

What Watson believes in is a very narrow way of looking into matters, especially cognitive capabilities of humans. Human cognitive capability is much more complex a phenomenon than what could be thought of as only genetically controlled. Genetic architecture primarily provides an individual the basis or the structure of the being. But the psychological make-up of an individual is crucially dependent upon the environmental and social factors, especially during the early childhood period. The differences of IQ, if there are any, have to be seen in this context as well.

Brain Circuitry Not Product of Genetic Architecture

What do the genes do? The central dogma of molecular biology says that a gene directs which proteins have to be synthesised in a cell via the messenger RNAs. Primary proteins are anyway synthesised in human cells, a lack of which leads to a malfunctioning of the biological processes and also leads to many pathological conditions. But as far as the cognitive processes are concerned, expression of different networks at the level of brain cells is what matters primarily. In these brain networks, different proteins get involved in different combinations. Cognitive science research over time has come to the understanding that the brain circuitry is not merely a product of genetic architecture. Rather, more complicated neural underpinnings are responsible in giving rise to cognitive expressions.

We now know that the human genome in the haploid stage consists of almost three billion nucleotide base pairs. The haploid is the stage of the cell cycle where a cell has half of the usual number of chromosomes. A normal eukaryotic organism (eukaryotes are the organisms that have a well-organised nucleus in their cells) has diploid cells- meaning they have two sets of chromosomes from each parent. Now, if we look at the genetic variation of these millions of bases between humans and that of chimpanzees, we find that the variation is less than 2%. Further, the difference between the genetic makeup of two randomly chosen humans would be 0.1%, and that only 10% of this 0.1%, meaning 0.001% of human DNA differs between European, African and Asian populations. This gives the impression that out of the 22,000 genes in the human body, only 22 genes will differ between populations. But this is not the exact case. There is something called the non-coding regions in the human genome. In fact, 98% of the entire DNA in human genome consists of non-coding regions.  The non-coding region in the DNA is that region which doesn’t have any role in the process of protein synthesis. So, the 0.001% variation between populations contains this non-coding region as well, indicating that the variations in the genes would go further down.

It is now known that complex traits like intelligence, learning and memory, etc., are influenced by very many genes that are scattered throughout the genome and each of these genes have only a small contributory effect. Given that so many genes take part in determining IQ and each of these genes’ contribution is so little, it is apparently very unlikely that a large race difference in IQ would arise only from the tiny DNA difference of 0.1% between populations.

Race as a social construct arose much before the advent of modern genetics. Linking any kind of social problem to a race is also an old practice—the outcome of which can take the ugliest form like that of witch hunting. Now, these kinds of racial supremacist ideas are being propagated in the name of scientific evidences. Declaring that white people have IQ more than the black people and that this is determined by genetics also falls into this category and James Watson has fallen prey to it.

Get the latest reports & analysis with people's perspective on Protests, movements & deep analytical videos, discussions of the current affairs in your Telegram app. Subscribe to NewsClick's Telegram channel & get Real-Time updates on stories, as they get published on our website.
White Supremacism
DNA
Racism
Genetic Make-up
James Watson
Human Genome Study
Nobel laureate
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Scientific Propaganda
IQ
Related Stories
UEFA's initiatives to help women's football bounce back

UEFA Firmly Committed to Recovery of Women’s Football, Says President; Michel Platini Called for Questioning by Swiss Prosecutors and More (Football Round-Up)

Milwaukee Bucks boycott NBA playoff in protest of shooting of Jacob Blake

Black Lives Matter: Milwaukee Bucks Trigger a Sea of Protests Across NBA and American Sporting Sphere

PSG players celebrate vs Leipzig in their Champions League match

PSG Beat RB Leipzig To Reach Champions League Final, Bayern Munich Youth Coach Sacked and More (Football Round-Up)

UEFA youth tournament restructuring post Covid-19

UEFA Defers and Curtails Youth Competitions; FA Cup Replays Scrapped In 2020-21 Season and More (Football Round-Up)

Hiroshima

Remembering Hiroshima and the Threat of Nuclear Extinction, Eighty Years On

Sport and the role it could play in education

Educate, Agitate, Communicate: Michael Holding and a Case for Rethinking the Information Age | Outside Edge

The letter signed by JK Rowling, Salman Rushdie & Margaret Atwood warns that the 'free exchange of information and ideas', the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted

Rowling, Atwood, Rushdie Among Over 150 Writers Warn Against Rising ‘Forces of Illiberalism’

Protesters camped outside New York City hall for a week to demand the complete defunding of the NYPD.

New York City’s Police Budget Cut Falls Short

Toppling Racist statues

The Toppling of Racist Statues is Historical Poetry

Racism and cricket

Casual and Explicit: Ground Reality of Racism in IPL and Cricket (5.75 Ounces, S-2. Ep.31)

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppShare via EmailShare on RedditShare on KindlePrint
Share
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppShare via EmailShare on RedditShare on KindlePrint
Share

Related Stories

Newsclick Sports

The Hat-trick | Everton-City Match Called Off Due To Covid-19 Surge; Diego Costa Seeks Contract Termination with Atletico; Scottish Club Kilmarnock’s Manager Subjected to Racist Abuse

29 December 2020
The Premier League match between Everton and Manchester City yesterday was postponed due to a coronavirus outbr
Leslie Xavier

More Than Just a Game: Naomi Osaka’s US Open Title Win is a Trinket. The Message is the Grand Slam

13 September 2020
Let us breathe a sigh of relief through the unmarked, generic masks we wear.
Newsclick Sports

Lionel Messi Decides to Remain at FC Barcelona for the Season; Reports of Racism, Homophobia Abound In UK Football and More (Football Round-Up)

05 September 2020
Lionel Messi will stay put at FC Barcelona, at least for one more year.

Pagination

  • Next page ››

More

  • Mamata Gets Taste of Public Outrage

    West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee to Contest Assembly Polls from Nandigram

  • New ‘COVID Tongue’ Symptom Identified, Claims Expert

    New ‘COVID Tongue’ Symptom Identified, Claims Expert

  • covid 19 vaccine

    UP: Health Worker in Moradabad Dies Day After COVID Vaccine Shot

  • auto driver

    First Female Auto Driver in Jammu Leading the Way in Breaking Stereotypes

  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with
about