Sure, I would still bet they’re going to be statistically significant if we get millions of people into the dataset. They may also have some important consequences in real life (a higher resistance to a specific disease may be important for a person with some usually small probability. A population of million that is more resistant to the disease than it could be is about million times that important). It just shouldn’t influence policies much. Though it can make a difference in healthcare… well, no. It actually can influence some policies and economic results for countries with different populations. Lactose tolerance may have effects on agriculture and the export structure, especially long term. The question singles out intelligence and personality traits for no apparent reasons but controversy, being hard to measure and being on the spiritual side of dualism. And probably being more involved in our ideas of human worthiness than height is.
I am not sure what are you arguing. The fact that there are important genetic differences between populations at the medical level is uncontroversial. The controversial issue is whether these differences, as some people put it, “stop at the neck”.
the question singles out intelligence and personality traits for no apparent reasons but controversy
Nope, there are apparent reasons. Intelligence of the populations is massively, hugely important, much more so than lactose intolerance or propensity for exotic diseases. See e.g. this or this.
Not really arguing anything. I’m asking if there is a rational non-meta reason to believe they do “stop at the neck” even if we throw away all the IQ/nations data.
Thanks for the reason I’ve missed. Are personal traits as important?
I’m asking if there is a rational non-meta reason to believe they do “stop at the neck” even if we throw away all the IQ/nations data.
Of course there are. The standard argument is that the history of human evolution suggests that increased intelligence and favorable personality traits were strongly selected for, and traits which are strongly selected tend to reach fixation rather quickly.
But then the difference in intelligence would be almost completely shared + nonshared environment. And twin studies suggest it’s very inheritable. It also seems to be a polygenic trait, so there can be quite a lot of new mutations there that haven’t yet reached fixation even if it’s strongly selected for.
I’m asking if there is a rational non-meta reason to believe they do “stop at the neck”
Not to my knowledge.
Are personal traits as important?
That is a more controversial subject. They are clearly less important than intelligence, but things like time preference (what kind of trade-offs do you make between a smaller reward now and a bigger reward later) or, say, propensity for violence got to be at least somewhat important.
There is the unstated but implied “differences which are significant and have important consequences in real life”.
Sure, I would still bet they’re going to be statistically significant if we get millions of people into the dataset. They may also have some important consequences in real life (a higher resistance to a specific disease may be important for a person with some usually small probability. A population of million that is more resistant to the disease than it could be is about million times that important). It just shouldn’t influence policies much. Though it can make a difference in healthcare… well, no. It actually can influence some policies and economic results for countries with different populations. Lactose tolerance may have effects on agriculture and the export structure, especially long term. The question singles out intelligence and personality traits for no apparent reasons but controversy, being hard to measure and being on the spiritual side of dualism. And probably being more involved in our ideas of human worthiness than height is.
I am not sure what are you arguing. The fact that there are important genetic differences between populations at the medical level is uncontroversial. The controversial issue is whether these differences, as some people put it, “stop at the neck”.
Nope, there are apparent reasons. Intelligence of the populations is massively, hugely important, much more so than lactose intolerance or propensity for exotic diseases. See e.g. this or this.
Not really arguing anything. I’m asking if there is a rational non-meta reason to believe they do “stop at the neck” even if we throw away all the IQ/nations data.
Thanks for the reason I’ve missed. Are personal traits as important?
Of course there are. The standard argument is that the history of human evolution suggests that increased intelligence and favorable personality traits were strongly selected for, and traits which are strongly selected tend to reach fixation rather quickly.
But then the difference in intelligence would be almost completely shared + nonshared environment. And twin studies suggest it’s very inheritable. It also seems to be a polygenic trait, so there can be quite a lot of new mutations there that haven’t yet reached fixation even if it’s strongly selected for.
Not to my knowledge.
That is a more controversial subject. They are clearly less important than intelligence, but things like time preference (what kind of trade-offs do you make between a smaller reward now and a bigger reward later) or, say, propensity for violence got to be at least somewhat important.