I get a little queasy reading some of the commentary on Wade’s latest book. Math is hard. Most people struggle with basic concepts like sets and relationships. When it comes to population genetics, the math is the easy part. Understanding the science is, as Steve Sailer puts it, the intellectual big leagues. Teasing out what could be nature from what is nurture from what is noise requires a big brain and a whole lot of humility. A lot of it is unknowable, at least at this time.
This reasoning doesn’t hold up. The global Jewish population is 13,854,800. This would seem to indicate 318,660 Jews with 140+ IQs. However, since Ashkenazim account for 74 percent of the global Jewish population and “enhanced cognitive capacity is confined to the Ashkenazic branch of the Jewish population”, the likely number of high-IQ Jews around the world is 235,809 Askenazim plus 14,409 non-Ashkenazim for total of 250,218. A very conservative estimate of the global European population is 680 million. This indicates 2,720,000 Europeans with 140+ IQs around the world.
Therefore, crediting Jewish success to their high level of intelligence when there are at least 11 high-IQ Europeans for every high-IQ Jew isn’t logically credible. Especially because there are at least 48 high-IQ Han and 5 high-IQ Japanese to factor in as well.
No one, as far as I know, makes the claim that IQ alone explains the success of Jewish people. Askenazim gave up farming 2,000 years ago. Their religion required an enormous investment in education when the return on investment was limited. Jews adapted by moving into towns and cities to take up work that would reward literacy and numeracy. That made the Askenazim uniquely positioned when trade and commerce began to dominate European economics.
There’s also the cultural angle. Jews have always been under external pressure requiring a high degree of cooperation within the tribe. A whole bunch of people who are smart and prosperous working together will outperform a scattered, disorganized group with lesser IQ’s. The point being that IQ is one of many factors contributing to Jewish success. The fact that IQ correlates to success across groups makes it a good place to start when trying to explain something like Jewish success.
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As I’ve commented similarly elsewhere, it’s the Jews’ near-addiction to kosher hot pastrami streaked with fat for juiciness and flavor, that is the genesis for their contributions in various fields to our civilization.
Of course the pastrami must be sourced from prime beef. Choice beef source drops one’s IQ by at least 10 points vis-a-vis prime source. Taste both kinds, and you’ll assure yourself that you’d have to be dumb(er) to prefer choice to prime.