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James Watson has died

nytimes.com

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Re: James Watson has died

#301

Is someone able to tell me what about the genetics, race and IQ stuff is backed by evidence and what part is pure prejudice?

Given he said it in 2007, pretty much no evidence to back it up. Genetic differences between races are small compared to those within races, so much so that the concept of races does not really stand up scientifically. He seemed to have been basing the comments on IQ tests, which are not really a good way of comparing groups of people with different cultures or education. They score an individual within a group of co…

Nonsense. By 2007 it was already a settled matter. There had been decades of attempts to tease out environmental influences. We’d seen that no amount of education funding, government employment, government schools, adoption by white parents, or any other way of approaching the matter would boost black test scores close to whites’ in America. Nor could blacks find a way themselves to do it, not in any locality. It was also clear by that time that serious environmental influences on individuals were small relative to the observed performance differences between blacks and whites, which meant the theory that its environment would imply insane levels of deprivation that weren’t happening. Social scientists had already given up.

Re: James Watson has died

#302

Didn’t he steal the discovery from the woman who actually took the photo?

No, but feminists and white knights maintain that the photo that was actually taken by a man (Gosling) was taken by a woman (Franklin) and that she (Franklin) hadn't given permission for them to steal the photo. They didn't steal it, they saw it briefly and immediately knew what it meant (because they had been preparing hard and already knew most aspects of the structure of DNA) and they were allowed to see it (Wilkins who showed it to them had the right to do so). Neither Franklin nor Gosling understood what the photo meant.

Edit: wrote "Wilkinson" by msitake.

Re: James Watson has died

#303

It is sad, however, that he stole the research of Franklin and by today standards should be stripped from his honors. And by today's standards, I mean those applied to everyday scientists, not the "important" ones that should not be disturbed. A terrible person indeed.

One hundred percent agree with you. This is a perfect example where what's remembered as history is largely influenced by what was told by the victor.

Looks like Franklin won, then.
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