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Did evolution leave all races equal in terms of mental and physical competence?

Did evolution leave all races with equal mental and physical competency?


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Wake

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Discussion in another thread gave rise to this poll.

Simply, do you think evolution, with it's supposed changing of humans, left mental and physical competence equal among all races? I ask because I haven't been given much if any empirical proof or valuable evidence for either side. I, for one, am highly suspicious of the notion that evolution left all races equally intelligent. So I'm left to question each side.

Do the Chinese have an overall higher intelligence than, say, Aboriginees of Australia? Looking at history, I can see that certain races advanced far faster than other races. All humans can almost be treated like a bacteria, with different strains of the same virus, what with the way we've spread.

Do you think evolution, with it's "magical" ability to cause people to vary from physical features and skin color, change everthing save mental competence? If mental competence wasn't touched in the slightest so that all races are equally intelligent, do you think physical prowess was also untouched in the slightest? What other things do you think political correctn---ehm, evolution, decide to leave equal?

Please support your claims with evidence otherwise this'll just be a repeat of the other thread.

EDIT: "Ye" is "yes". Confound you, Computer.
 
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Discussion in another thread gave rise to this poll.

Simply, do you think evolution, with it's supposed changing of humans, left mental and physical competence equal among all races? I ask because I haven't been given much if any empirical proof or valuable evidence for either side. I, for one, am highly suspicious of the notion that evolution left all races equally intelligent. So I'm left to question each side.

Do the Chinese have an overall higher intelligence than, say, Aboriginees of Australia? Looking at history, I can see that certain races advanced far faster than other races. All humans can almost be treated like a bacteria, with different strains of the same virus, what with the way we've spread.

Do you think evolution, with it's "magical" ability to cause people to vary from physical features and skin color, change everthing save mental competence? If mental competence wasn't touched in the slightest so that all races are equally intelligent, do you think physical prowess was also untouched in the slightest? What other things do you think political correctn---ehm, evolution, decide to leave equal?

Please support your claims with evidence otherwise this'll just be a repeat of the other thread.


what I always find amusing is that people have no problem admitting that environment has affected physical evolution, but if you dare suggest that environment might have affected mental evolution you are suddenly a flaming racist.
 
what I always find amusing is that people have no problem admitting that environment has affected physical evolution, but if you dare suggest that environment might have affected mental evolution you are suddenly a flaming racist.

This. This all too much.
 
Discussion in another thread gave rise to this poll.

Simply, do you think evolution, with it's supposed changing of humans, left mental and physical competence equal among all races? I ask because I haven't been given much if any empirical proof or valuable evidence for either side. I, for one, am highly suspicious of the notion that evolution left all races equally intelligent. So I'm left to question each side.

Do the Chinese have an overall higher intelligence than, say, Aboriginees of Australia? Looking at history, I can see that certain races advanced far faster than other races. All humans can almost be treated like a bacteria, with different strains of the same virus, what with the way we've spread.

Do you think evolution, with it's "magical" ability to cause people to vary from physical features and skin color, change everthing save mental competence? If mental competence wasn't touched in the slightest so that all races are equally intelligent, do you think physical prowess was also untouched in the slightest? What other things do you think political correctn---ehm, evolution, decide to leave equal?

Please support your claims with evidence otherwise this'll just be a repeat of the other thread.

Is it possible? I think so. And I mean that it's possible that there may be slight variations as to how brains think, operate with regards to race. I don't think these differences make anybody better or worse, ect, they're just variations. I think we see this in nature all the time.

I also believe that any variations will be so slight that it's of no consequence at all, at the end of the day. Also I think any slight biological differences are trumped 10 fold by 'nurture' or environmental differences.

Is there any way of being able to confirm/deny this scientifically in the reasonably near future? No. Too many culture-related variables that would make any study based on intelligence tests - for example - virtually impossible to accurately conduct in my opinion. How do you judge intelligence anyways? What's 'smart' for one person or culture is not always smart for the next...

Therefore, it is not worth debating because at the end of the day every human race deserves the same basic respect & human right, and I think as we delve farther into a topic like this scientifically, all that will happen is we will have theoretical "winners" and "losers", and I can't see any good coming out of that.
 
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Let's start with the premises. What are the races you are referring to? Let's get a complete list first, then we can try tackling the question posed...
 
Let's start with the premises. What are the races you are referring to? Let's get a complete list first, then we can try tackling the question posed...

Nope.

A List Of Fallacious Arguments

Argument By Question:
asking your opponent a question which does not have a snappy answer. (Or anyway, no snappy answer that the audience has the background to understand.) Your opponent has a choice: he can look weak or he can look long-winded. For example, "How can scientists expect us to believe that anything as complex as a single living cell could have arisen as a result of random natural processes ?"

Actually, pretty well any question has this effect to some extent. It usually takes longer to answer a question than ask it.

Variants are the rhetorical question, and the loaded question, such as "Have you stopped beating your wife ?"
 
Why didn't you put an "I don't know" option?
 
Why didn't you put an "I don't know" option?

Search "confound" in this thread. But if there was an option to edit a poll then you'd see it in there.
 
What is harder, surviving in a South American jungle or surviving in Siberia? I don't know. I know the pool knowledge required to survive in either one is different. The mental capacity remains constant for both individuals.
 
what I always find amusing is that people have no problem admitting that environment has affected physical evolution, but if you dare suggest that environment might have affected mental evolution you are suddenly a flaming racist.
Not really. The problem is that there isn't any reliable scientific evidence that mental capacity differs among "races" so believing the certain races have higher mental capacities than others either comes from ignorance or some other non-scientific place.
 
It's not a fallacy to ask someone what you mean by a specific term.

"asking your opponent a question which does not have a snappy answer. (Or anyway, no snappy answer that the audience has the background to understand.)" is.

When I say race it means "all" races. People shouldn't use the Argument by Question fallacy. I don't have the time to collect a complete list; it's just not practical.
 
I don't have the time to collect a complete list; it's just not practical.

Then how can we answer the question? We can't study relative intelligence between races if we don't know what races we're discussing.
 
what I always find amusing is that people have no problem admitting that environment has affected physical evolution, but if you dare suggest that environment might have affected mental evolution you are suddenly a flaming racist.

How is it that environment created the disparities in intelligence when you are arguing that environment plays no role on our measures of intelligence. You have argued that environmental explanations for disparities in the IQ of African Americans is just excuse making. It seems that you want to have your cake and eat it too.
 
Search "confound" in this thread. But if there was an option to edit a poll then you'd see it in there.
Okay, my option is "I don't know, but there isn't any evidence that mental capacity differs between 'races'." As far as physical "competency", that's a very subjective word. What's physically required in one environment is different for another.
 
Not really. The problem is that there isn't any reliable scientific evidence that mental capacity differs among "races" so believing the certain races have higher mental capacities than others either comes from ignorance or some other non-scientific place.

in your opinion.
 
in your opinion.
No it is not my opinion that there is no reliable scientific evidence that mental capacity differs among races. That is called a fact.
 
Simply, do you think evolution, with it's supposed changing of humans, left mental and physical competence equal among all races?

The anti-science Left is pushing nonsense here. They want people to accept the notion that diversity means uniformity.
 
Then how can we answer the question? We can't study relative intelligence between races if we don't know what races we're discussing.

The question isn't:

"What is the relative intelligence between races?"

You're a bit more clever than others here so I'll give you bonus points.

The real question is:

Did evolution leave all races with equal physical and mental competency?"

My question's a bit more general than your more specific question.
 
How is it that environment created the disparities in intelligence when you are arguing that environment plays no role on our measures of intelligence. You have argued that environmental explanations for disparities in the IQ of African Americans is just excuse making. It seems that you want to have your cake and eat it too.

I think Oscar is just saying that many people accept the fact that different environments can cause a single species to divide and evolve into different physical appearances, so why can't different environments cause a single species to divide and evolve into different variations of mental capacities/ways of thinking, ect?

I think it's a valid point.

Or was your comment including a point made by Oscar in a prior post (maybe I missed that)?
 
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No it is not my opinion that there is no reliable scientific evidence that mental capacity differs among races. That is called a fact.

You've shown yourself to have the reasoning ability of a rock. Impervious to evidence and reason like a rock is impervious to water.
 
How is it that environment created the disparities in intelligence when you are arguing that environment plays no role on our measures of intelligence. You have argued that environmental explanations for disparities in the IQ of African Americans is just excuse making. It seems that you want to have your cake and eat it too.

link please, I have argued no such thing
 
You've shown yourself to have the reasoning ability of a rock. Impervious to evidence and reason like a rock is impervious to water.

...erosion...

...and Pokemon...
 
The question isn't:

"What is the relative intelligence between races?"

You're a bit more clever than others here so I'll give you bonus points.

The real question is:

Did evolution leave all races with equal physical and mental competency?"

My question's a bit more general than your more specific question.

Yes but in order to determine whether or not all races have equal and mental competency then we would first have to list all races and then compare intelligence data between all races. So your question requires us to get specific.
 
I think Oscar is just saying that many people accept the fact that different environments can cause a single species to divide and evolve into different physical appearances, so why can't different environments cause a single species to divide and evolve into different variations of mental capacities/ways of thinking, ect?

I think it's a valid point.

exactly. sadly, the kneejerk reaction of several posters here are evidence that my comment was spot on.
 
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