Jayani Muniappan
English Composition
John Johns
November 13, 2014
The Complexity of Human Intelligence
Intelligence is the “mental quality that consists of the
abilities to learn from experience, adapt to new situations, understand and
handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge to manipulate one’s environment.” (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/289766/human-intelligence). But for something
so prominent towards our race, there is a serious lack of understanding. For
years now humans have been grasping at straws to demonstrate the connection
between genetics and everything little thing that makes us human, from
intelligence to disease. Thus The Human Genome Project was created. The project
was completed in April of 2003 and was predicted to have a large impact on the
way we look at the human species. And I would agree, there are changes however
I have not experienced the large impact that it has had on the human race.
There are still incurable genetic diseases and there is still no way to
properly identify the causes of intelligence. For the billions of dollars
invested into this project, it did not rise up to its expectations. As such, genetics
is overestimated due to the social and political needs and assumptions of
modern society. As such, the world that humans have created is superior to the
knowledge presented by genetics.
Cornelius A. Rietveld published an article in Science magazine
highlighting his finds on the connection between intelligence and genetics.
Rietvald used the International Standard Classification of Education to measure
the level of education obtained. He found that 3 gene variants present in the
human body each caused a 0.02 % deviation in intelligence each. Overall these
three gene variants contributed a 2% change to the overall digression in
educational accomplishment.
Nevertheless, Lewontin, the realistic pessimist, unwaveringly
highlights that such experiments lead to scientific advances on paper, but to
fail to produce an operative effect in the real world. Rietveld’s study
focuses upon a mere 2 % of factors that affect intelligence. The other 98%,
(factors not even remotely connected to genetics) were effectively overlooked.
This is as misleading of a scientific discovery as found
anywhere else in the scientific community. The question that then begs to
be asked is, why? Why did a mass of scientists agree to emphasize the almost
insignificant 0.02 % and completely disregard the other 98%? The simplified
version, would be that the authors being geneticists, want to emphasize the
importance of their careers. Because honestly where would their careers be if
genetic differences were not related to human advancement and well
–being? However the comprehensive answer is more substantial than petty
conflicts of interest and hence significantly more fascinating. The extensive
elucidation, stems from the fact that Science would allow such an article to be
circulated in their magazine. The conclusion of the article, is so far-fetched,
that it leads me to believe that there are other social organizations that grip
the scientific community. These organizations must be commanding enough to
coerce such a prominent scientific journal to publish a misrepresented
study. The only social organization which would have such power over such
a large institution would be the government. The government funds projects like
these to draw attention away from the lacking educational system and any other
flaws within the country and pull the attention towards a more scientific
reason, thus throwing the blame onto something less tangible. Genetics as a
whole “is meant to legitimate the structures of inequality in our society by
putting a biological gloss on them…” (Lewontin 37)However genetics and the
research surrounding can only explain a small part of what makes a person
themselves. And hence genetics as a field of study is overestimated. “to be
genetic is not to be unchangeable.” (Lewontin 35) and as a race humans have
proved that we are extraordinarily capable of changing the unchangeable, be it
advancing or detrimental. As a race we have single handedly managed to alter
ourselves and the environment around us and hence being genetic alone, is
completely out of the question. In fact, it was the world around us that causes
us to evolve and hence the effect of our environment greatly exceeds that of
the genetic field. This applies unambiguously to intelligence.
Intelligence is a measure of knowledge. However, Lewontin the
unmistakable cynic, would question the existence of general information. Not
everyone is gifted in all aspects of knowledge. Then how can intelligence be
measured accurately? The measurement of knowledge would cater to the intelligence
that is easily measured, not the actual intelligence of a person. It becomes
difficult to comprehend where the scientists are obtaining their data from. If intelligence
is so complex how can one test measure it? IQ tests in general, cannot produce
an accurate image of intelligence. A study conducted by Adam Hampshire
discovered that intelligence is made up of 3 completely independent factors
that come together to form one’s “cognitive profile” otherwise known as
intelligence. As such multiple different tests would have to be taken to determine
a person’s intelligence. So how can we determine the connection between
genetics and intelligence? Intelligence is such a difficult concept to measure
and genetics is a developing field. There are just too many unknowns for a
valid and substantial conclusion to be drawn from what we know. The only
supporting argument for the IQ tests would be that the results obtained from
said tests agree with each other. If we are able to believe that a person has
tuberculosis when the rapid sputum tests agree with each other, then why can’t
we believe that intelligence is effectively tested using IQ tests and they
agree with ach other? Because intelligence does not have a specific cause like
tuberculosis. (Mycobacterium tuberculosis
bacterium spread through the air) and hence agreeing IQ tests are not
substantial evidence for the effective measurement of intelligence. So how were
the group of educated scientists able to determine the miniscule percentage of
intelligence that were determined by genes? How can we be sure that
intelligence even exists? Patterns of test scores, have found evidence for
general intelligence as well as for specific abilities. But we have already
seen that tests that measure intelligence are flawed, so does general
intelligence even exist? Why was it so important for the well-educated
scientists to research hereditary intelligence?
Lewontin states that science in general is molded and directed
by societal and political necessities and expectations. "No prominent
molecular biologist of my acquaintance is without a financial stake in the
biotechnology business. As a result, serious conflicts of interest have emerged
in universities and in government service" (Lewontin 74)The social needs
of the geneticists in the article mimic the behavior of the researchers on The
Human Genome project, and result in the over-qualification of the entire
research project. Money has been funneled into this project and genetic
research in general, even after the myriad of evidence against all major
assumptions of said study. “The cost of sequencing the human genome is
estimated optimistically at 300 million dollars”(Lewontin 73) and yet even
after the completion of this project gene variants for some of the most common
diseases have not been identified. There have been modest discoveries
made by genetic research, however the results don’t nearly pay off the amount
of money and effort that went into this research. Proof for genetic causations
has unceasingly and inflexibly denied appearance. Exceptions have been
discovered, like BRCA1 but like mentioned before, the costs outweigh the
profits. “These projects are, in fact administrative and financial
organizations rather that research projects”(Lewontin 61) The Human Genome
project was a money guzzling machine, blowing through cash like it grew on
trees. However the results were disappointing and cultivated unrealistic hope
that was inevitably crushed under the weight of the words of delusional
researchers and actions of pragmatic governmental organizations. Returning to
the original point, for common mental and physical diseases and conditions no
detailed explanation has been discovered in terms of relations to genetics. In fact
evidence provided by genetic research demonstrates the idea that non-genetic
factors are the major risk factors for such diseases pushing the importance of
genetics to a minor level. For human characteristics like intelligence the lack
of positive correlation between genetics and human traits becomes even more
ostensible. Subsequently, an exceedingly substantial scientific
justification is essential to clarify why huge quantities of taxpayer cash has
financed human genetic research even through the extensive negative results.
In conclusion intelligence
is the capability of a human being to adjust to the ever changing environment
that we are always going to be surrounded by. If our brains were simple enough
for us to understand them, we'd be so simple that we couldn't. There really is
no way to completely understand intelligence. The amount of information that we
know nothing about is tremendous and it’s a baffling idea, a delusional
perspective that there is only one prominent cause for intelligence.
The social and
political aspects of the modern world hold science captive. Just like an
organism cannot exist without the environment it creates, science cannot exist
without the social and political aspects that it governs. A large percentage of
the world’s standard failure to deal with social and environmental difficulties
stem from the overestimation on genetic experimentation and explanation. In the
end DNA does not determine the fate of the human race. It is the world that
humans have created that lead us to the comprehension of our race and our
inevitable future.
Bibliography
"IQ Tests 'do Not Reflect Intelligence'" The
Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 28 May 0019. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.
Lewontin, Richard C. Biology as Ideology: The Doctrine of DNA.
New York, NY: HarperPerennial, 1992. Print.
"Rapid Sputum Tests for Tuberculosis (TB)-Topic
Overview." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
"What Is Tuberculosis? What Causes Tuberculosis?" Medical
News Today. MediLexicon International, n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.
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