Should Fee-Paying Private(?) Schools be abolished?

[Skashion]

Everything I've ever read indicates there is a fairly substantial link between IQ and genetics. Educate me Damocles. I suppose you could say ultimately that link is unimportant i.e. in the same way that we share 98% DNA with chimps, it's the 2% that matters.

You're getting into pretty dodgy grounds with IQ tests measuring general intelligence, but if we take that as a true presumption for a minute, it still doesn't bear out with most long term quantitative studies. There was a study that I used which shown that although adoptive children had a slight 'IQ lag' with their siblings, it evened out into their twenties so that they were within standard deviations of their intelligence.

Adoptions studies were on way to go in determining the heritability of intelligence, but they have a few variables that aren't properly adjusted for, including the age of adoption and social class of those families adopted into. The ones that did, shown a universally positive response in children normalising to the same IQ as their siblings.

Anyway, more on the genetics front, it has long been a dream of geneticists to find an 'intelligence gene', but despite many different studies across different ages groups, different IQ groups, different social groups, etc, nothing has ever been found that is shared any more than statistically likely.

There are various genetic disorders to cause retardation, but none that seem to create above average intelligence.

EDIT: Sorry mate, did you want to read the studies or just a general reply?

I'd like to read/skim them if it won't cause you any hassle.

 

[Damocles]

There are various genetic disorders to cause retardation, but none that seem to create above average intelligence.

Autism is a genetic condition and there are many cases of those who have it being geniuses in a particular area. It has been suggested that Einstein was autistic. If a genetic illness can cause this it is surely possible (maybe even probable) that less significant alterations in genetic make up (ie, inherited genes) can lead to what we would describe as the more widely understood definition of genius?

Hmmm...I think you've got me there, but that's a very specific case. My knowledge on Autism isn't great and hopefully fbloke can jump in with this, but I'm under the impression that there are a few functioning autistic people who have pretty high IQs. Would this mean that autism is a beneficial trait in intelligence?

However, it seems that the ability to do well at IQ tests (yet not score high on the general intelligence factor) would be a byproduct of autism.

Is autism actually genetic?

(Sorry, I really know very little of it)

 

[Damocles]

I'd like to read/skim them if it won't cause you any hassle.

Sure pal, I'll grab them for you later and drop you a PM, my dis is buried on one of my bookcases somewhere and I'm too lazy to currently look for it :)

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

Autism is a genetic condition and there are many cases of those who have it being geniuses in a particular area. It has been suggested that Einstein was autistic. If a genetic illness can cause this it is surely possible (maybe even probable) that less significant alterations in genetic make up (ie, inherited genes) can lead to what we would describe as the more widely understood definition of genius?

Hmmm...I think you've got me there, but that's a very specific case. My knowledge on Autism isn't great and hopefully fbloke can jump in with this, but I'm under the impression that there are a few functioning autistic people who have pretty high IQs. Would this mean that autism is a beneficial trait in intelligence?

However, it seems that the ability to do well at IQ tests (yet not score high on the general intelligence factor) would be a byproduct of autism.

Is autism actually genetic?

(Sorry, I really know very little of it)

we've got him! finally!

 

[Cheesy]

Autism is a genetic condition and there are many cases of those who have it being geniuses in a particular area. It has been suggested that Einstein was autistic. If a genetic illness can cause this it is surely possible (maybe even probable) that less significant alterations in genetic make up (ie, inherited genes) can lead to what we would describe as the more widely understood definition of genius?

Hmmm...I think you've got me there, but that's a very specific case. My knowledge on Autism isn't great and hopefully fbloke can jump in with this, but I'm under the impression that there are a few functioning autistic people who have pretty high IQs. Would this mean that autism is a beneficial trait in intelligence?

However, it seems that the ability to do well at IQ tests (yet not score high on the general intelligence factor) would be a byproduct of autism.

Is autism actually genetic?

(Sorry, I really know very little of it)

Most experts (of which I'm not one!) agree that autism is indeed genetic. Two autistic parents are far more likely to produce an autistic child and twins are highly likely to share autistic traits.

Is it beneficial for intelligence? I suppose the answer to that depends on the definition of intelligence, but as someone else has said, how the hell do you define it?

 

[Damocles]

Hmmm...I think you've got me there, but that's a very specific case. My knowledge on Autism isn't great and hopefully fbloke can jump in with this, but I'm under the impression that there are a few functioning autistic people who have pretty high IQs. Would this mean that autism is a beneficial trait in intelligence?

However, it seems that the ability to do well at IQ tests (yet not score high on the general intelligence factor) would be a byproduct of autism.

Is autism actually genetic?

(Sorry, I really know very little of it)

Most experts (of which I'm not one!) agree that autism is indeed genetic. Two autistic parents are far more likely to produce an autistic child and twins are highly likely to share autistic traits.

Is it beneficial for intelligence? I suppose the answer to that depends on the definition of intelligence, but as someone else has said, how the hell do you define it?

Yeah, that's a problem that you come across regularly, as although IQ methods are been constantly refined, there's no generally accepted definition for intelligence.

I like to think of it as critical thinking, reasoning and lateral thinking. Inventiveness too. Intelligence is nothing without creativity, which is why I'm unsure on the intelligence of some of the "fact machines" out there who can recite oodles of knowledge yet understand very little of it.

Off Topic, but btw Skashion, have you ever seen this:
<a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_choice_quantum_eraser" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_ch ... tum_eraser</a>

 

[Skashion]

Off Topic, but btw Skashion, have you ever seen this:
<a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_choice_quantum_eraser" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_ch ... tum_eraser</a>

If I have, it's been a long time and have since erased it from my memory. It's fascinating stuff. This is why I love the world of quantum physics.

 

[117 M34]

People with autism are no more likely to have a special talent than those without autism.
However the cases of autistic people with a talent are highlighted more than people with talents who are not autistic, which leads many people to believe that autism leads to having a particular talent.

 

[Cheesy]

People with autism are no more likely to have a special talent than those without autism.
However the cases of autistic people with a talent are highlighted more than people with talents who are not autistic, which leads many people to believe that autism leads to having a particular talent.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4882699.ece" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 882699.ece</a>

Here's an excerpt...

The finding has emerged from a study of autism among 378 Cambridge University students, which found the condition was up to seven times more common among mathematicians than students in other disciplines. It was also five times more common in the siblings of mathematicians.

 

[117 M34]

7 of the 378 surveyed were autistic. That is 0.0185% of them, hardly a convincing figure. Also, the control group of students who were not as likely to be autistic were all still students at a top university, so they were probably very gifted in their chosen field. Why is maths considered to be better than the other subjects being studied?