Science and Exploration

Lasiurus_cinereus · 10-15-2012, 10:01 PM

"Use of population-genetic data to predict economic success sparks war of words.

The invalid assumption that correlation implies cause is probably among the two or three most serious and common errors of human reasoning.” Evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould was referring to purported links between genetics and an individual’s intelligence when he made this familiar complaint in his 1981 book The Mismeasure of Man.

Fast-forward three decades, and leading geneticists and anthropologists are levelling a similar charge at economics researchers who claim that a country’s genetic diversity can predict the success of its economy. To critics, the economists’ paper seems to suggest that a country’s poverty could be the result of its citizens’ genetic make-up, and the paper is attracting charges of genetic determinism, and even racism."

for the complete article:
http://http://www.nature.com/news/ec...-union-1.11565

10-15-2012, 10:01 PM	#15
Lasiurus_cinereus Junior Member How Do You Identify?: neither femme nor butch simply as a woman Preferred Pronoun?: she, elle, sie,.... (female pronouns) Relationship Status: Not into LDR Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Montreal, Canada Posts: 34 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 72 Thanked 82 Times in 21 Posts Rep Power: 1503253	Economics and genetics meet in uneasy union "Use of population-genetic data to predict economic success sparks war of words. The invalid assumption that correlation implies cause is probably among the two or three most serious and common errors of human reasoning.” Evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould was referring to purported links between genetics and an individual’s intelligence when he made this familiar complaint in his 1981 book The Mismeasure of Man. Fast-forward three decades, and leading geneticists and anthropologists are levelling a similar charge at economics researchers who claim that a country’s genetic diversity can predict the success of its economy. To critics, the economists’ paper seems to suggest that a country’s poverty could be the result of its citizens’ genetic make-up, and the paper is attracting charges of genetic determinism, and even racism." for the complete article: http://http://www.nature.com/news/ec...-union-1.11565