Daniel Starr: Proof That Being Intelligent Is Just Like Being Blonde, Only Less Useful

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April 16, 2005

Proof That Being Intelligent Is Just Like Being Blonde, Only Less Useful

Via Marginal Revolution I find this lovely article on dogs, wolves and foxes communicating with humans, in which among other things it turns out that wild foxes can be fairly easily selectively bred for the same skill at understanding humans that we take for granted in dogs.

Now, "social intelligence" is arguably a more complicated set of traits in the brain than simple abstract "develop new skill" intelligence. Yet breeding pulled social intelligence pretty easily out of foxes. Gene therapy on living humans is still just a set of experimental efforts. But once we know enough about gene-tinkering to let parents custom-design their kids' hair color, I get the feeling it may only take another few years to let parents "max out" their kids' intelligence.

What's it going to be like when every kid can be as tall as a baskeball star and as intelligent as Einstein? If the less-developed countries can't afford the technology, what will the world be like when the old racists' dreams come true, and the next generations of Americans and Europeans really are much smarter, stronger and healthier than most people in Africa or Asia?

One thing is certain: in a world where all that differentiates peoples' genes is voluntary fashion, everyone at school will take your being intelligent for granted -- but they'll still compliment you if you naturally have the 'right' hair color.

Posted by danielstarr at April 16, 2005 01:05 AM

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Comments

I think this you're making the usual mistake, Daniel. People in general do not want genius children. They want children slightly smarter than themselves. One of my mom's best friends when I was little -- a woman I considered one of my "second moms" -- took Mother aside to tell her how glad she was she didn't have to deal with a kid like me 24/7 because she just didn't know what she'd do. And I was an extremely well-behaved child. It was just all the questions.

I think it would only take a few years of watching other people with their superbabies before most people decided they didn't want an extremely high strength/energy or extremely high intelligence child and went back to trying to make sure the kid had Grandma Charlotte's eyes and didn't inherit Uncle Matt's diabetes. The people who would want that much intelligence are the people who are currently marrying for it anyway.

The thing with the foxes is that the people who bred them that way genuinely wanted them to be socially smart, and they knew how to deal with it because of dealing with dogs. With super-bright babies, I think you'd either have lots of genetic potential wasted because people didn't know how to stimulate their kid, or else you'd have increasing hostility from parents who expected that a smart kid would be *easier*.

Posted by: Mris at April 16, 2005 04:51 AM

Well, what will actually happen when parents get to max out their kids' intelligence genes is that we'll get to find out what the full effect of nurture is on intelligence. Most psychologists put the nature/nurture split on intelligence at about 50/50. So, maybe all that will happen is that it will become painfully obvious which parents are capable of providing an environment that allows their kid to develop to full potential, and which aren't. Yikes.

It would provide an interesting test of an old psychological conundrum, though. Psychologists have observed that while increasing intelligence seems to make people happier and more successful for the first few standard deviations above the mean, super-bright people (those scoring more than 3 standard deviations above the mean on most IQ tests) tend to be unhappy, poorly socially adjusted, and often not particularly successful in their careers. Psychologists argue over whether this means that being smart, past a certain point, just plain isn't good for you, or if it's just that the super-brights are ill-adjusted because they're so ahead of everyone else that they never develop a peer group. If we suddenly engineer every kid to have the equivalent of today's 145+ IQs, we'll find out the answer to that question really fast.

Posted by: Wendy A. Shaffer at April 16, 2005 05:00 PM

Oh, yeah, and What Mris Said. It's not really clear to me that most people want really smart kids.

Posted by: Wendy A. Shaffer at April 16, 2005 05:08 PM

Mris, I think you're right about what people want, but I also think society leaves people feeling obligated to make their kids as smart as possible. See, e.g., all the investment in mobiles or go-to-sleep recordings that will make your child excel in school.

Although if parents could be convinced, or convinced themselves, that being less than Einstein would be *good* for their kids -- not just pleasant for the parents, but in the kids' interest -- then yes, I do think people would leave Einsteinism to the Einsteins, or something like that.

I guess I have great faith in the power of socially perceived duty to cause parents to do unreasonable 'but good for them' things to their kids. And even a small fraction of maxed-out folk will do weird things to society and social assumptions.

But certainly parents are never going to be as reasoned, and rarely as monomaniac, as scientists breeding foxes. Mris, I find I must yield you your point, and you may have your forfeit in chocolate chips when you will.

Wendy: thank you for that lovely alarming vision, and is this the part where I blog about _The Nurture Assumption_?

Posted by: Daniel Starr at April 17, 2005 03:14 AM

Daniel Starr

April 16, 2005

Proof That Being Intelligent Is Just Like Being Blonde, Only Less Useful

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