@28 Intellignce is overarted. Much as I can talk about the life of the mind, I would dread living in a world choke full of high IQ people. High IQ often thrives at the expense of other human qualities, from the emotional and sensual to the sexual, spiritual and moral personalities, among others. A human is wholesome only to the extent all the other components are in balance. True genius courts stupidity, and it must for its own sake. It also works the other way – stupidty courts genius. Each human trait manifests with its opposite. Lacking one trait is sure indicator of lacking its opposite as well. (credit C. S. Lewis) As often as I went to Vegas, I learned I am not a gambler. I always wonder what it is I am missing of which gambling is the opposite.

Were the men of Gotham Wise or Fools? (Hmm .. the lesson of the question is hardly addressed.)

Some comments reflect the gated perspective of time and place. Philosophers – the priest of Sais (in Plato’s Atlanticus) and Cicero included – cautioned, “He who knows only his generation always remains a child.” Had a Roman living circa 35o C.E. had the means to implement the prescriptions you adovcated here, IQ floor for mating, sterlization… I very much doubt you would have been around to express your views (assuming you are not a Roman descendant). Romans did not think much of barbarians. You seem to be infatuated by the age you live in, and baffled by what the “poor” and others do, the destruction of the planet, elephants, and all. Only yesteryear, these shores teemed with buffalo, wolves, bears, and elk. Again, were it possible to administer your prescription then, a big part of the present American generation would not be around. If you should look for a culprit, look to the culture of mindless consumption. IQ is no match for greed, however high it may be.

If you ask me, I always thought 1850-1950 was the most stupid age, the age of Francis Galton and Flinders Petrie, slavery, colonialism, manifest destiny, opium wars, eugenics, chemical warfare, holocaust, atomic bomb ….. How soon you forget? Your heart may be in the right place, but I am afraid your mind has betrayed you. That is what meditating on intelligence does best: it exposes to delusion and endows the meditator with a false sense of self importance.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_GF6hiVj3bao/TEPfbSr5orI/AAAAAAAAADc/CZVdKB8Fzos/s1600/strangelove

Ok, more serious, as there is little upper crust around these parts; I say so, because of: self-interest. None of my peer groups include Dumbo, or pheasants, so I tend to care less.

I think, like PConroy the other week, you are raising intelligence to too high a standard here. IQ might be correlated with personal success, but given intelligent people seem to have if anything a greater capacity for self-delusion than stupid people, I don’t think a society comprised of nothing but intelligent people would, by definition, make better policy choices. This is particularly the case for “deep time” problems like the environment. Reason evolved not to discern objective truth, after all, but to help us in some manner survive as individuals and perpetuate our genes to the next generation.

29 -

While in general I dislike the glibness of Steve Sailer’s writing (he mixes genuine fact, anecdote, and unsourced assertions too much for my liking), I find little to object to regarding his solutions, although I have somewhat mixed feelings on immigration in general. None of it seems particularly conservative to me however.

The distinction is mainly in where empathy should sit in the priorities list. I have contempt for most of humanity, sure, but I came from a modest background and I don’t think it’s plausible that we’ve reached the complete convergence of genetic/economic meritocracy, as you’ve previously conjectured. Also I don’t share Darkseid’s hard-on for massive race and IQ-based sterilization. Have some perspective dude, life is still getting better and in hindsight Germany didn’t need all that lebensraum.

“i am aware of the elephant problem and i don’t consider most asian cultures to be eligible for my Dream Team.”

Well that will solve your overpopulation problem right there.

Anyway, surviving as a HG involves a lot more than a “hard life” scrounging for nuts. I don’t think poverty can be blamed on low IQ. Also, I didn’t realize you were referring to Africa. What about the poor in the US?

And you are making a *lot* of unfounded assumptions about me. For example, I think most people who call themselves liberal progressives are huge hypocrites, and I think Bill Gates should be spending his money saving wildlife instead of people. I am also in favor of restricting immigration. And I know all about IQ.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EngenderHealth
Formerly called – “Association for Voluntary Sterilization”
then you add in all of the history of pop. control:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_population_control#Present-day_practice_by_countries
and Melinda Gates’ current work, the UN, etc.
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/05/04/u-n-population-control-agenda-in-the-shadow-of-chen-controversy/

only a small minority of people would support your idea. but my personal experience is that these people are more likely to be liberal than conservative, at least in america. but then my personal experience is also skewed toward people with advanced degrees in the life sciences, who tend to be biased toward a malthusian ‘lifeboat’ model of the world.

“Yet you feel the poor struggling people of our modern civilizations are not capable of better than their current lot. ”
a “hard life” doesn’t mean you could work for NASA. you clearly don’t understand what IQ is. we have PEOPLE LAUNCHING THINGS TO MARS and they’re still looking around for nuts to bring back to their hut. so *could they* do much better? could you prove they can? because i think they’ve already proven they can’t. sure, *many,* would but, obviously, my point is that you reach diminishing returns much faster than populations who’ve already shown they’re exceptional. read: a trillion in aid money for Africa with nothing to show for it. i’m not surprised you weren’t able to surmise that given you’re suffering from the same ailment i used to have.
i am aware of the elephant problem and i don’t consider most asian cultures to be eligible for my Dream Team. they have no respect for animal rights – i think often times their type of intelligence is too close to autism fwiw. (i’ve linked to several examples of asian animal cruelty on my Delicious feed. you should check it out – i think you’d be a big fan!;)

M. Mohling – who said a peasant is worth more than a pheasant?

Cynics among England’s 19th century gentry had a word for that attitude: “starve the peasants to save the pheasants”.

@17. Chris_T_T:
> The importance a lot of people place on conducting
> verbal debates mystifies me.

To own the agora, and so the polis, rhetorics are among the things you’ll need. To ensure consensus gained in the market place it must be enforced everywhere, always. As long as you don’t mind others to mind your business you may care for truth alone, which is noble and important, no snark, but not enough if you care for the society you’re in. May be futile, but some would still plant their apple trees.

Okay, so you are not really serious.

And my point was that whether they are a HG today or not, it is not an easy, or simple, life. Yet you feel the poor struggling people of our modern civilizations are not capable of better than their current lot.

“he Great Barrier Reef is almost gone! fewer, smarter people is my dream for the Earth.”

And smart, rich upper class Asians are now paying Africans to kill off the elephants and other large game at a rate that far exceeds that of subsistence hunters. See the recent NYT series on the subject.