--- In [email protected], "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: <snip> > > I thank Judy for providing a perfect example of Ashkenazy > > overclocking for those who are too busy to look the syndrome > > up and read its technical definition. That was both considerate > > and useful; an example almost always conveys things better > > than a wordy definition. > > Actually, if you look the "syndrome" up, you'll find > that it has virtually nothing to do with what Barry > is attempting to attribute to it.
To elaborate a bit: "Ashkenazi overclocking" is not a "syndrome," it's a hypothesis that suggests a possible explanation for why Ashkenazi Jews tend to score a few IQ points above the average, and are also subject to a bunch of inherited diseases. The idea is that social conditions centuries ago had the effect of selecting for intelligence in Ashkenazis, but that there was a linkage between the "smart" mutations and those associated with these diseases (such as Tay-Sachs). One couldn't be selected for without selecting for the other as well. Hence the term "overclocking," by analogy to the fact that overclocking a CPU to make it run faster than it was designed to do may have unintended negative side effects on its functioning. In an earlier post, Barry managed to dig up and quote the single reference to what he is trying to suggest here constitutes the "Ashkenazi overclocking syndrome" in all the material about it--which isn't much--on the Web. It was an informal, throwaway comment by one of the three researchers who have proposed the *real* "overclocking" hypothesis: "But I'll hazard a guess: the change accelerates some brain system tied to cognitive functioning - nearly redlines it, leaves it vulnerable to common insults in a way that can cause spectacular trouble." That's it, one sentence, a guess. It's not related to any of the other discussion of the "overclocking" hypothesis. Unfortunately it also has extremely anti-Semitic overtones. None of this bothered Barry any; what got him all excited was the potential to add a new and different putdown to his already sizable repertory, by extracting the idea from its context and presenting it as if it were a scientific conclusion. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
