On 12/1/2003 Wei Dai wrote:
> I argue that (a) can be an equilibrium. We are rather smart in some areas,
> but the mechanisms in us that allow that are not up to the task of faking
> being dumb in other areas - we are actually dumb in those other
areas. This
> is/was an equilibrium because people who tried to fake often got caught.
I don't disagree that this occurs to some degree. But there must be
a limit to how smart you can be in one area and still be dumb in
another. I suggest we have already reached it, because otherwise the facts
are hard to explain.
Your story does have a certain plausibility. But you'd need to argue that
the huge increase in IQ that has been documented during this last century
isn't really an increase in intelligence. And doing that makes it harder
to take Jewish IQ as relevant data.
Robin Hanson [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://hanson.gmu.edu
Assistant Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323