Notes on the question of Intelligence Quotient and “Race”

Being extracts from a book (BFN) and two manuscripts (Scientific

Hinduism Books 1 and 2)

Sanjeev SabhlokDraft 1 October 2013

In summary, I believe there IS a small genetic component to differences in IQ across different populations. But MOST of the differences are explained by environmental factors such as the level of dignity/ freedom/ nutrition.

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Contents

1. Discussion in the book, Breaking Free of Nehru................................11.1 People in Free Societies live Longer, are Taller and Smarter..................................11.2 Discussion in Online Notes.....................................................................................2

1.2.1 Freedom increases intelligence.................................................................2

2. Hypothesis: Vegetarianism partly explains low Indian IQ.................72.1 Chidren’s early nutrition is related to brain development and intelligence...........72.2 Severe malnourishment in Indian children.............................................................7

2.2.1 Nearly half of India’s small children are malnourished.............................72.2.2 Adolescent anemia in Indian children today.............................................7

2.3 Low Indian IQ – an explanation..............................................................................82.3.1 Indians have perhaps the lowest IQ in the world......................................82.3.2 Social oppression and vegetarianism are a lethal combination................92.3.3 Vicious cycle: poverty leads to lower IQ....................................................9

2.4 Objections to the hypothesis that vegetarianismis linked to low IQ......................92.4.1 Why are SOME Indian vegetarians smart?................................................92.4.2 If meat and IQ are related, why scientific advance after the agricultural

revolution?..............................................................................................102.4.3 Why do intelligent children apparently become vegetarian in later life?10

3. Deliberate lowering of intelligence of the oppressed?...................113.1 Indian average national IQ is extremely low........................................................113.2 How can we explain the superior (on average) intellectual performance of the

Brahmin ‘caste’?...................................................................................................153.3 Self-perception of the Dalits.................................................................................173.4 My revised model of IQ that includes pre-birth IQ factors and links with freedom,

to explain GDP......................................................................................................183.5 Increase in IQ expected among the Dalits once oppressions is eliminated..........183.6 Narrowing the IQ gap with China.........................................................................193.7 Disproving the myth of race will require abolishing caste....................................19

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1. Discussion in the book, Breaking Free of Nehru

1.1 People in Free Societies live Longer, are Taller and SmarterFreedom also drives the vital indicators, namely, things like height and longevity. These are impacted primarily through the effect of freedom on wealth and then on nutrition. Genetic factors obviously play a limiting role.i The effects of nutrition on human height are relatively well-documented and quite startling. For example, young Koreans were roughly the same average height across the Korean peninsula before South Korea decided to expand its freedoms while North Korea choose to shut them down. As a result of this difference in freedom, young South Koreans are now 7 cm taller, on average, than their North Korean counterparts – a change brought about in merely two generations. Similarly, wealthier countries are healthier, as measured by longevity; noting that it is possible for shackled countries like Cuba to also do well in healthcare while underperforming in everything else.

Most problematically for India, freedom also impacts intelligence. Despite intelligence quotient (IQ) being only a relatively modest predictor of success, and despite its well-known limitations being a construct, as well as difficulties in measurement, the average IQ of a society’s population surely counts for something. While the average IQ of an average Western society is standardized to 100, the average IQ of Indians living in India is around 85, which is very low. This figure is based on measurements conducted in India by a range of different researchers over decades. Despite the methodological issues that the underlying data may raise, I have little doubt that this IQ difference is real (I would be pleased to be proven that this is an error.) We can’t simply shrug aside a difference of this magnitude; we should try to explain it. The model in the diagram below explains this difference from the perspective of freedom. For a fuller discussion of the model, with a detailed discussion of the pathways, please see the Online Notes.ii

The model is underpinned by a simple argument. India and the West were very similar in income levels till 250 year ago. What has changed in the past 250 years is the way the Western people use their brain; not the genetic makeup of their brain. Free societies have moved from tribalism and coercive restraints on human thought to free thinking, thus significantly increasing their IQs.

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IncomeFreedom

(dignity)

Nutrition

Mental stimulation

IQ

Genetics (sets upper limit)

Innovative thinking

1

23

This model suggests that it is our lack of freedom as well as our deeply entrenched caste system, through which nearly half of our population suffers from a sense of inferiority, that has made us relatively less intelligent as an entire nation. iii India therefore underperforms in every way relative to their potential. The good news is that this can be reversed simply by increasing the level of freedom in India, which will also help to break down the caste system. A study reported that the IQ of Indians living in the UK was 96, which is close to the Caucasoid mean, demonstrating that with greater freedom, normal IQs should re-emerge in India.iv

In concluding this section we note that India has tremendous scope to become far more free. We also note that if India does opt for becoming free, everyone in India will become enormously better off not only in health and wealth, but also in mental capacity.

1.2 Discussion in Online Notes

1.2.1 Freedom increases intelligenceFreedom also impacts intelligence. Despite the intelligence quotient (IQ) being only a

relatively modest predictor of success, and despite its well-known limitations as a construct well as difficulties in its measurement, a society’s average IQ surely counts for something. The average IQ of an average Western society is standardised to 100. The average IQ of Indians living in India is around 85, which is considered to be very low. This figure is based on measurements conducted in India by a range of different researchers over decades. Despite the methodological issues the underlying data may raise, I have little doubt that this IQ difference is real (I would be pleased to be shown my error of understanding.) We therefore can’t simply shrug aside a difference of this magnitude; we should explain it.

I have a hypothesis for this difference, but before I present it, I would like to outline a 2002 research finding.1 This research asked the question: Does a nation’s IQ determine its national income? The researchers found a small correlation between these two variables, and claimed that IQs of countries can ‘predict’ their economic success. Their proposed pathway is essentially shown below.

If IQ is genetic alone, and if income is caused directly by IQ, then India cannot do anything about it, and is presumably destined to eternal poverty. But in my view this model is wrong. Just because two variables are correlated doesn’t mean that one causes the other. Or if there is a causality, it may not be in the direction hypothesized. A good econometric model requires a theory to explain its hypothesis; else one can start ‘proving’ causality of the most absurd sort. The relationship depicted in the diagram is wrong: IQs don’t ‘cause’ income. Income is caused by an interplay of genetics and freedom. Let me explain why this model is wrong first, before suggesting the more likely model.

1 IQ and the Wealth of Nations by Dr. Richard Lynn and Dr. Tatu Vanhanen. See also the scattergram at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations

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IQ IncomeGenetics

Even people with high IQs, ie, those who would be classified as geniuses today, could barely light a fire and create stone tools 40,000 years ago. Their income would be close to zero. If we imagine they had a barter economy and convert their ‘income’ into current PPP values, we could say their income was about $300 (this is a very crude approximation!).

About 1000 years ago England was a primitive tribal society, and India was a prosperous and advanced civilisation. Let us say the average English tribal earned half of what an average Indian earned at that time.

By 1750, according to Adam Smith’s deductions, there was no significant difference between the per capita wealth of India and England despite initial advances in freedom in England. At the overall level, the world’s wealth was distributed: namely, with greater India at the top, China a close second, and the rest of the world a distant ‘also-ran’. Let’s say by 1750, all major societies of the world had roughly the same per capita incomes.

Today things are different, with the English earning about 10 times more than an average Indian.

Cross-section data (ie, data extracted at one point in time) are potentially quite misleading. By making a time series we can often get a better understanding. I have created a table below of these hypothetical comparative incomes over the past 40,000 years.

Year England

Per capita income*

India

Per capita income*

40,000 years ago

$300 $300

1000 AD $500 $1,000

1750 AD $1,000 $1,000

2008 AD $40,000 $4,000

*A crude guesstimate with purchasing power parity or equivalent dollars.

This table leads to great problems for our 2002 researchers! If income is caused by IQs, then we can deduce from this table that 40,000 years ago the average IQs of England and India were similar. Indian brains then mutated and doubled in IQ by 1000 AD. English brains then mutated and doubled in IQ between 1000 and 1750 AD to equal India’s. Thereafter English brains mutated in the past 250 years and increased in IQ by 10 times. In this manner the English IQ must increased 20 times over the past 40,000 years. I am of course simplifying things given that IQs are not linearly measured but are distributions. Either way, this mutation theory is ludicrous. Hence the model (and its conclusion) is wrong.

But then what is the true relationship? I have outlined a model in the diagram below to show that if we simply look at correlations, income and IQ are definitely correlated; but

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the relationship is complex and works the other way around than postulated in simplistic model above.

What has changed in the past 250 years is the way people in free societies use their brain. During this period, free societies have moved from tribalism and coercive restraints on human thought to freedom and free thinking. Yes, there is a genetic component in IQ, just as there is a genetic component to height. But what really makes a difference to IQ is the level of freedom in the society. Freedom helps an individual to achieve his or her fullest IQ, exactly as it helps a South Korean to achieve his or her maximum potential height.

A feedback loop also operates in my model (not shown in the diagram). If a person achieves his or her highest level of intelligence, then that person becomes more likely to provide greater mental stimulation to his or her children, which then increases their freedom, hence innovation, and hence wealth. Freedom creates a virtuous cycle of success. Indeed, if my hypothesis is valid, we should find that the IQ of the pre-industrial world was around 15 to 20 standardised points less than the average IQ in those societies today, and that the measured (and real) IQ of the human species will hereafter continuously increase with freedom, though at an far slower, even insignificant, pace. The pathways from freedom to IQ are discussed below.

Pathway 1. First, wealth (proxied above as ‘income’, to match with the researchers’ model), which is the natural by-product of freedom through the channel of innovation, leads to a nutritional advantage for children in free societies. Wealth also leads to improved educational opportunities for children of wealthier parents which means more intellectual stimulation. These two—nutrition and mental stimulation—then lead to an across-the-board increase in IQ.

Box 6

Evidence that IQs increase with wealth

IQs have increased by up to 21 points in 50 years in some countries in the West (Flynn effect) as these societies have grown wealthier. Since Western nations have not mutated at an alarming rate in these 50 years, good nutrition and better education is clearly causing this change. Studies also show that when children from very poor families are adopted into wealthy families, their IQs become, on average, dramatically higher than their parents.

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IncomeFreedom

(dignity)

Nutrition

Mental stimulation

IQ

Genetics (sets upper limit)

Innovative thinking

1

23

Pathway 2. Second, the culture of openness and discovery in a free society leads to innovative thinking. Release from dogma and inherited conditioning alone should boost IQ significantly. The greater the flexibility in our thinking, the greater are the number of brain connections formed in our brains, hence higher the IQ. This ‘softer’ cause of differences in IQs can be understood by comparing the different methods of teaching in India and countries like Australia.

Much of intelligence is about lateral thinking; Einstein’s ideas were all about lateral thinking and making connections between radically different ideas. Such thinking is liberally supported by free societies by encouraging each child to ask questions and to conduct independent research virtually from kindergarten; reliance on rote learning is discouraged. Rote learning does, perhaps build the main connections or ‘highways’ in our brain, and certainly affects some dimensions of IQ. As a result, Indians who are primarily taught through rote learning, are good at mental maths which is predominantly linear. However, it is the openness and critical thinking that leads to the laying down in the brain thousands of neuron branches and millions of extra connections: pathways that the typical Indian child simply does not have in his head because of the emphasis on rote learning. Consequently, the average Australian enjoys a higher overall IQ and is disproportionately better on creative thinking. In that sense, freedom causes greater freedom.

Pathway 3. The third pathway is through the regard for each individual’s dignity in free societies. Its opposite, eg, caste based discrimination, has been shown ‘to reduce’ IQs. For instance, it has been found that the Buraku, or the ‘lower castes’ of Japan, do as well as any other Japanese after migration to USA when discrimination against them drops. This aspect perhaps relates to our self-image: to deny that self-image matters is to deny our very identity. Our brain perhaps thinks most creatively only when it is not blocked by a deep sense of inferiority. This sense of dignity and regard also explains why the first born has, on average, higher IQ than children born later in a family.2 The first born simply expects more from himself or herself.

Indian low caste children are brought up with a sense of inferiority so they are unlikely to think as much of themselves, and therefore unlikely to challenge the limits of their minds. Similarly, blacks in USA perform poorly in IQ tests because they have experienced discrimination cumulatively for hundreds of years. They perhaps grow up with group memories of slavery even now, memories that make their brains cringe. As expected, with greater levels of equality, black and white IQs are now starting to converge.3 It will take a few more decades to confirm this convergence. Similarly, in India, when discrimination is removed, IQs of low caste children should rebound to normal levels.

This model suggests that it is our lack of freedom and our deeply entrenched caste system with nearly half of our population suffering from a sense of inborn inferiority, that

2 “The Power of Birth Order”. Time, Oct. 18, 2007. See:http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1673284,00.html3 William T. Dickens and James R. Flynn, “Black Americans Reduce the Racial IQ Gap: Evidence from Standardization Samples”. Psychological Science. October 2006.

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has made us relatively less intelligent as an entire nation.4 Indians therefore under-perform in every way relative to their potential. The good news is that this can be reversed simply by increasing the level of freedom in India, which will also help to break down the caste system.

A study reported that the IQ of Indians living in UK was 96, which is close to the Caucasoid mean, demonstrating that with greater freedom, normal IQs should re-emerge in India.5 I have not the slightest doubt that if and when India achieves its goal of being the world’s leader in freedom, average Indian IQs will potentially exceed the average IQs found in the West.

4 I must admit that there is a potential problem with this hypothesis, since China has had very low levels of freedom, but still has a high average IQ but had very low levels of income till recently. There are clearly complex interrelationships between freedom, national income, and IQ. I suspect the discriminatory Indian caste system explains most of the lower average Indian IQ. 5 Richard Lynn “Race differences in intelligence: A global perspective,” in Mankind Quarterly, Spring 1991, Vol. 31 Issue 3.

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2. Hypothesis: Vegetarianism partly explains low Indian IQ

Based on linking a number of facts together, I propose that at least part of the extremely low IQ of Indians can be explained by their vegetarian fanaticism. The problem with the freedom hypothesis that I have outlined in BFN is that it doesn’t explain the high Chinese IQ despite low levels of freedom. I’m adding the following hypothesis to the freedom hypothesis, with the hope that these two could, in combination, explain much of the IQ variation between different nations of the world.

2.1 Chidren’s early nutrition is related to brain development and intelligenceIQ is related to what babies eat. "The rapidly developing brain is more vulnerable to nutrient insufficiency yet also demonstrates its greatest degree of plasticity. Certain nutrients have greater effects on brain development than do others. These include protein, energy, certain fats, iron, zinc, copper, iodine, selenium, vitamin A, choline, and folate." http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/85/2/614S.full.

The World Bank: "In developing countries, where few children live to see their situation improve, once the effects of undernutrition are established in early childhood, they typically become permanent. The intellectual potential of such children at school entry most likely is already damaged irrevocably." [Source]

http://www.urbanchildinstitute.org/articles/updates/nutrition-and-early-brain-development

Also: Lynn R., Jindal S. Positive correlations between brain size and intelligence: Further evidence from India. Mankind Quarterly. 1993;34:109–123.

2.2 Severe malnourishment in Indian children

2.2.1 Nearly half of India’s small children are malnourished"Nearly half of India’s small children are malnourished: one of the highest rates of underweight children in the world, higher than most countries in sub-Saharan Africa". (Read my article on this subject here.)

2.2.2 Adolescent anemia in Indian children todayThe fastest cure for iron deficiency is to have red meat. But India is largely vegetarian, so we have massive anemia.

Country-wide war on adolescent anaemia: Such poor nutritional outcomes were not present in ancient India where people at a HEALTHY mixed diet (including ALL meats). India's vegetarian mania has surely added to the severe problems of brain and bodily development observed across the poorer sections of India.

Comments by others on FB

Sharad Bailur I had this to say a very long time on this subject: We believe in simple living and high thinking. The appeal to vegetarian food, to teetotalism and to ceremonious

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adherence to religious ritual, I suspect, began with the helplessness of a Hindu population put upon by Muslim rulers and later by the British or more likely their Indian vassals who had themselves become degenerate and tyrannical dinosaurs. It resulted in extreme levels of poverty (hence the vegetarianism), and a feeling of helplessness that had lasted hundreds of generations (hence the pursuit of religion and ritual as a form of escapism) and the inability to band together resulting from extreme economic deprivation.

This deprivationist approach could not have succeeded ordinarily but it had to, as a result of the loss of self-confidence that must have become the norm. The only way this could be made to happen was to elevate it into a high religious and moral principle. What evolved over hundreds of years cannot be taken away in the fifty or so years of Independence. Our present hypocrisy is merely a hangover that refuses to go away, having pickled our collective brains for those deprived centuries.

Kenneth Allen Hopf Given the popularity of vegetarianism in India, I've often wondered why they don't have more health problems than they do.

Hemanth Pothula Most of Indians now, are eating nutritional deficit diet, even though they can get better food for the same rupee. It is better to eat a kg meat, than chuck down a costly laddu/sweet, or 5kg rice or any grain. It is better to eat an egg and two bananas than pongal rice, or puri, or any grain related food.

2.3 Low Indian IQ – an explanation

2.3.1 Indians have perhaps the lowest IQ in the worldSahana Singh Can you also point me to studies showing that Indians have the lowest IQ in the world?

Sanjeev Sabhlok Re: Indians and low IQ, I studied this through publicly available data and wrote thus in BFN:

"This figure is based on measurements conducted in India by a range of different researchers over decades. Despite the methodological issues that the underlying data may raise, I have little doubt that this IQ difference is real (I would be pleased to be proven that this is an error.) We can’t simply shrug aside a difference of this magnitude; we should try to explain it."

My report on Indian IQ is accurate as at 2007 - based on review of EXTENSIVE number of studies. I suspect it wouldn't have changed much since then.

Sahana Singh What is BFN? Has your study about IQ of Indians been 'peer reviewed'? Is there a hyperlink to it? Also did you eliminate other factors such as pre-existing illnesses, genetic disorders etc? In one of the articles you posted about meat-eating causing increase in brain size, it says "From health to the environment, there are many reasons to go vegetarian, go vegan and even go raw, but evolution isn't one of them." We have apparently been having this brain size for quite some time now. As for iron, zinc, B-12 etc, it is possible to get them from fortified vegetarian sources. One has to always eat wisely and include items such as nuts, yeast etc. Of course vegetarianism could involve unhealthy eating of fried foods too. That is why right eating is important.

Sanjeev Sabhlok Sahana, re: IQ please search the internet. I had studied and did not keep a record, but my notes are based on my studies. Indian children in villages are NOT getting food that is "fortified" with necessary vitamins. I'm against any extremism, and vegetarianism is a kind of fanaticism that's unsustainable.

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2.3.2 Social oppression and vegetarianism are a lethal combinationThe following simple model perhaps explains a significant extent of the variation:

With 40 per cent of the population oppressed socially and a vegetarian diet which prevents proper brain development, what IQ can be expected in India?

2.3.3 Vicious cycle: poverty leads to lower IQ"being poor can impair cognitive functioning, which hinders individuals’ ability to make good decisions and can cause further poverty.” [Source] This adds interesting information to the IQ debate although it may not explain why poor countries like China do so well in IQ tests. Nutrition still must play a role, as well as SOCIAL oppression (which is typically found in India, not in China).

2.4 Objections to the hypothesis that vegetarianismis linked to low IQ

2.4.1 Why are SOME Indian vegetarians smart?Sahana Singh I suppose the physicist CV Raman, mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujam, engineer-statesman M Vishveshwariah, Philosopher S Radhakrishnan and scores of luminaries from India had pea-sized brains and were unsmart as a result of their vegetarian diet?

Sanjeev Sabhlok Sahana, in statistics we talk about averages. Standard deviations in ALL distributions ensure that there will be some very smart people even in poor average populations. Indians' average IQ is 85, but that doesn't mean that people with 150+ IQ wont' exist - particularly given the hundreds of millions of people involved. You are better advised to study average IQ of vegetarian populations vs. average IQ of non-veg populations; average brain size of vegetarians vs that of non-vegetarians; average longevity, average muscle power (including ability to win prizes in athletics/ olympics, etc.). Even these won't prove causality but they might disprove the view that vegetarian diet is healthy.

Sahana Singh Can you kindly refer me to a "peer reviewed study" citing low IQ to vegetarianism and isolated for all other factors that could cause low IQ?

Sanjeev Sabhlok Sahana, this is my hypothesis based on two well documented facts:

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FACT 1: Hominid brain size increased DRAMATICALLY after we became capable of eating meat (due to control over fire), and

FACT 2: Indians with the world's most vegetarian population have THE lowest IQs in the world. Despite comparable poverty, Chinese average IQ has always measured in the range of 100-105. Chinese children eat ALL kinds of meat, thus nourishing their brain. [“We have actually done Pisa in 12 of the provinces in China. Even in some of the very poor areas you get performance close to the OECD average.” [Source]]

The fact that Indian children are so malnourished, and also score deplorably on cognitive functions is a strong indicator of the link. Also, that historically the human species evolved a better and bigger brain during hunting gathering era when cooked meat was a main part of the diet.

Sahana Singh Ah so it's your hypotheses we were discussing all along. No peer reviewed studies yet apparently.

Sanjeev: Yes. This is how hypotheses start – and then they get tested.

2.4.2 If meat and IQ are related, why scientific advance after the agricultural revolution?Even in European nations, the SIZE of humans AND their intelligence has increased dramatically over the past 200 years as nutritional intake as improved. Finally, the last time humans were this big was when they were hunter gatherers. Humans SHRANK after agricultural era started. Only now, as nutrition has improved, they are growing back to what they were during hunting gathering days. 98 per cent of human evolution took place as hunter gatherers. Only recently has agricultural era come into effect.

Question by Sahana Singh Do you have any explanation for why most of the scientific and technological advances made by humans happened after the brain size supposedly shrank from the hunter-gatherer to the agricultural stage?

Answer: Most Indian advance took place during the meat and beef eating era. The healthier/wealthier people of the agricultural era were NOT vegetarians. They were at the forefront of such advance.

But in Europe, much scientific advance took place after freedom increased in late 18 th century, followed by increased prosperity and increased nutrition for the general population.

There remains a very strong correlation between brain capacity and good nutrition. Good nutrition INCLUDES meat all over the world.

i It is conceivable that some societies that are not free may also do relatively well on this variable while relatively more free ones may not do as well.ii [http://sanjeev.sabhlokcity.com/book1/BFN-Notes.doc].iii I must admit that there is a potential problem with this hypothesis, since China has had very low levels of freedom, but still has a high average IQ but had very low levels of income till recently. There are clearly complex interrelationships between freedom, national income and IQ. I suspect the discriminatory Indian caste system explains most of the lower average Indian IQ. iv Lynn, Richard, ‘Race Differences in Intelligence: A Global Perspective’, Mankind Quarterly, Vol. 31, Issue 3, Spring 1991.

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2.4.3 Why do intelligent children apparently become vegetarian in later life?Sahana Singh “Intelligent children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life, a study says” [Source]

My response: This further confirms that these children were LIKELY intelligent because they ate meat when they were children. That their so-called intelligence is not well developed enough to allow critical thinking, probably leads them to the cult of vegetarianism.

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3. Deliberate lowering of intelligence of the oppressed?

Those under the control of Brahmins don’t even know they are being controlled since their intelligence has beey systematically degraded over the centuries.

3.1 Indian average national IQ is extremely lowThe average intelligence quotient (IQ) of Indians is around 80-85, with SIGNIFICANT potential to increase

A few years ago, while writing Breaking Free of Nehru, I had come across data that showed that Indians had a particularly low average IQ (of around 85). I'm fully aware of the HUGE problems with IQ tests and the fact that it is very hard to arrive at substantive data on IQs. Also, other methodlogical issues.

But I do think there is something "indicative" or useful in these tests. Based on this I wrote in BFN:

"This figure is based on measurements conducted in India by a range of different researchers over decades. Despite the methodological issues that the underlying data may raise, I have little doubt that this IQ difference is real (I would be pleased to be proven that this is an error.) We can’t simply shrug aside a difference of this magnitude; we should try to explain it"

I thought that's a given. No one has questioned the data since 2008 when my book was published. Tens of thousands of copies have been downloaded, and most people on FTI claim to have read it.

However, Shantanu Bhagwat of FTI has now stated on FB: "Sanjeev: I completely disagree with your assertion on low Indian IQ. Since when did entire populations/ segments of society start having low IQs?"

Well, for Shantanu and many others who might not have come across this what I assumed was widely known information, I've quickly reviewed the literature again and here are my results:

Sources

IQ and the Wealth of Nations by Dr. Richard Lynn and Dr. Tatu Vanhanen. See also the scattergram at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations. Also see: http://www.vdare.com/articles/a-few-thoughts-on-iq-and-the-wealth-of-nations

See tables: http://www.rlynn.co.uk/pages/article_intelligence/t4.asp

National IQs calculated and validated for 108 nations by Richard Lynn and Gerhard Meisenberg, Intelligence 38 (2010) 353–360

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Global_Bell_Curve

The consistent hierarchies of IQ and achievement reported in Lynn's synthesis can be summarized as follows:

East Asians (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans) (Average IQ of 105)

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Europeans (Average IQ 100)

South East Asians (Average IQ 87)

North Africans (Average IQ of 84)

Sub-Saharan Africans (Average IQ of 67)

Australian Aborigines (Average IQ of 62)

National IQ and National Productivity: The Hive Mind Across Asia by Garett Jones, George Mason University

Also: Richard Lynn “Race differences in intelligence: A global perspective,” in Mankind Quarterly, Spring 1991, Vol. 31 Issue 3.

A further article notes: "In the detailed data for South Asians, there is a distinct smaller cluster between 90 and 100, and another bigger cluster between 80 and 90, closer to 90. But then there are a bunch of scores that go as low as 75 which bring down the average to 84." [Source]

On the I.Q. of Nations; Smart, Smarter and Smartest?

Also read this: http://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/10/education/an-emerging-theory-on-blacks-iq-scores.html

http://akarlin.com/2012/08/14/the-puzzle-of-indian-iq-a-country-of-gypsies-and-jews/

http://www.sq.4mg.com/NationIQ.htm

This is particularly eye-opening (and problematic): http://isteve.blogspot.com.au/2008/06/indias-average-iq-in-2100.html

What this article needs is a robust rebuttal based on the argument I've provided in BFN (self-respect/liberty based). I do not see "Dalit" IQs being "stagnant" or low in the future with greater liberty and dissolution of the caste system.

I recall having read a major list of Indian IQ studies that spanned decades. Let me list whatever I can find now:

Fitzgerald, J.A. and Ludemall, W.W. 1926 The intelligence of Indian children. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 6, 319-328

Sinha, U. 1968 The use of Raven's Progressive Matrices in India. Indian Educational Review, 3, 75-88.

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Kamat, V.V. (1964) Measuring Intelligence of Indian Children, 4th ed. Bombay, Oxford University Press.

Das, Jishnu & T. Zajonc (2010) India shining and Bharat drowning: comparing two Indian states to the worldwide distribution in mathematics achievement. Journal of Development Economics 92: 175-187.

Anupama Bhave, Roli Bhargava and Rashmi Kumar, Validation of a new Lucknow intelligence screening test for Indian children aged 9 to 15 yr, J Pediatr Neurol 2011; 9(2)

KULKARNI SD, PATHAK, NR, SHARMA CS. Academic Performance Of School Children With Their Intelligence Quotient. NJIRM. 2010; 1(3): 12-15.

Badaruddoza and Afzal M (1993). Inbreeding depression and intelligence quotient among North Indian children. Behaviour Genetics 23: 343-347.

Badaruddoza (2004). Effect of inbreeding on Wechsler intelligence test scores among North Indian Children. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health 16(2): 99-103

Dr. Analpa Paranjape (2004). A comparison of performance on Indian Child Intelligence Test (ICII) of children with mental retardation and learning difficulties.

http://www.indianjmedsci.org/

Bhatt MC. Adaptation of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children for Gujarati population [PhD dissertation]. Ahmedabad (Gujarat): Univ. of Gujarat; 1971.

Ranganath, Priya and Sayee Rajangam (Bangalore). Intelligence quotient in mental retardation. Disabilities and Impairment Vol.21 (1) 5-9. In the present study, the IQ level was test on 426 children (261 boys and 165 girls) with MR who visited the Division of Human Genetics, St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, IQ levels of <50 was observed in 60% of the males and 51-70%in 64% IQ levels of <50 was observed in 40% of the females and 51-70 in 36%.

S. Venkatesan, Basavarajappa and M Divya (Mysore). Seguin form board test: Field try out on a modified procedure of test administration. Indian Journal of Applied Psychology, April 2007, Vol. 44, 1-5.

Misra, Girishwar; Sahoo, Fakir M.; Puhan, Biranchi N. "

Cultural bias in testing: India "European Review of Applied Psychology / Revue Européenne de Psychologie Appliquée, Vol 47(4), 1997, 309-317.

Foundations of Indian Psychology, edited by M. Cornelisson, G. Misra & S. Verma, Publisher: Pearson, New Delhi.

H. S. NARAYANAN, A STUDY OF THE PREVALENCE OF MENTAL RETARDATION IN SOUTHERN INDIA, International Journal of Mental Health, Vol. 10, No. 1, Severe Mental Retardation Across the World: Epidemological Studies (Spring 1981), pp. 28-36

I know there was regular testing of IQs in India by NCERT [See this]. Some good references are available here. I recall Lucknow had something to do with these tests, but can't readily locate the data. But I found this catalogue of 2000 IQ and other tests in India.

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Source: The flynn effect: an alert to clinicians (2004), Andrade, Chittaranjan, Indian Journal of Psychiatry vol:46 iss:2 pg:166.

"The only school achievement data for India are from the First International Science Study in 1970 (Comber & Keeves, 1973), and a recent study with a subset of the 2007 TIMSS study in the states of Rajasthan and Orissa (Das & Zajonc, 2010). The school achievement score of India was averaged from these two sources." [Source: Gerhard Meisenberg and Richard Lynn (2011), Intelligence: A Measure of Human Capital in Nations, The Journal of social, political, and economic studies, vol:36 iss:4 pg:421 -454 ]

Indian IQ might be as low as 74:

India also has not participated in a recent student assessment study, with the exception of the states of Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Both states have advanced education and income levels (Suryanarayana, Agrawal, & Prabhu, 2011, Table 1, p. 16). If there is any divergence from the Indian average, test scores in both states should be higher than the national average. Nevertheless, the low raw results (327–345 SAS points, or 74–77 IQ) are astonishing. To address the likely higher than average scores in the above states, we cautiously correct the results by subtracting 10 SAS points (equal to d = 0.10 or 1.50 IQ). [Source:Coyle, T R (2013), Spearman's Law of Diminishing Returns and national ability, Personality and Individual Differences, vol:55 iss:4 pg:406 -410]

IQ is NOT fixed!

Let me emphasise that IQ is NOT fixed. I believe only a small portion of it is genetically determined. Most of it is environmental. IQ changes. I won't go into details, but read this paper:

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William T. Dickens and James R. Flynn, “Black Americans Reduce the Racial IQ Gap: Evidence from Standardization Samples”. Psychological Science. October 2006.

Also see this: http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/154/8/711.full

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090922/full/news.2009.935.html

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/why-people-keep-misunderstanding-the-connection-between-race-and-iq/275876/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444032404578006612858486012.html

Controversy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_race_and_intelligence_controversy

Also: http://www.edrev.info/essays/v14n12.pdf

Let me end by saying that I don't take the Indian IQ of around 85 very seriously, since I know everyone in India has the potential to dramatically improve their intellectual results with better nutrition and education (particularly critical thinking). However, it is important that we use this information to understand what might be doing on. And then try to fix it.

My hypothesis in BFN focused on freedom (and self-respect), although I noted that it is not enough to explain things. I've now honed in on nutrition as a key factor, since Chinese children get good amounts of meat whereas Indian poor children get almost nothing – little or no meat or milk and only a few cereals and vegetables.

I believe self-respect and appropriate environemental conditions at home are a key part of the IQ generation process, as well.

3.2 How can we explain the superior (on average) intellectual performance of the Brahmin ‘caste’?The [unverified] data on caste related IQ that started me off on this recent spurt of analysis of caste, race and related matters, is probably (broadly) right. If other controls (like environmental/ economic factors) are ignored (for want of data), the intellectual performance of the Brahmin caste seems to be significantly higher than what would otherwise be expected.

Here are some examples. None of these sources is peer-reviewed so I'm hesitant to generalise, but they seem broadly consistent with my understanding of the way the India works. And SOME data is better than no data.

I'll make some broader comments after the data.

In the California 2012 National Merit list, there were 184 Indian winners of which

Brahmin = 112North Indian Aryan Upper castes = 40Dravidian Upper castes = 25Patels ( middle ranking ) = 3Sikhs ( middle ranking ) = 4

In the US diaspora, Sikhs and Patels despite being 40% of the diaspora, win just 4%. [Source]

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And this:

The Almighty Brahmin! by Khushwant Singh

Whatever be the sphere of curiosity – literary, scientific, bureaucratic, or whatever, the Brahmin remains the top dog. Before I give details, we should bear in mind that Brahmins form no more than 3.5% of the population of our country. My statistics come from a pen friend, Brother Stanny, of St. Anne’s Church of Dhule in Maharashtra.

They hold as much as 70% of government jobs. In the senior echelons of the civil service from the rank of deputy secretaries upward, out of 500 there are 310 Brahmins, i.e. 63%. Of the 26 state chief secretaries, 19 are Brahmins; of the 27 Governors and Lt. Governors 13 are Brahmins; of the 16 Supreme Court Judges, 9 are Brahmins; of the 330 judges of High Courts, 166 are Brahmins; of 140 ambassadors, 58 are Brahmins; of the total 3,300 IAS officers, 76 [per cent?] are Brahmins. Of the 508 Lok Sabha members, 190 were Brahmins; of 244 in the Rajya Sabha, 89 are Brahmins.

This 3.5% of Brahmin community of India holds between 36% to 63% of all the plum jobs available in the country. [Source]

And this:

Brahmins occupy a lot of the intellectually demanding positions (I cannot find the source but I recall reading that almost all members of India’s version of the Manhattan Project were composed of Brahmins). A lot of the (super high IQ) US Indian immigrants appear to be Brahmins. [Source] In the Indian Manhattan project team of 18, of which 15 were brahmin and 3 merchants. [Source]

And this: Most winners of spelling bee contests are Brahmins (including all three finalists this year, apparently) [Source]

Even in cricket, apparently 7 out of 11 cricketers in India's cricket team are/were Brahmins.

It seems an impression of Brahmin intellectual capability exists in India, so we have this: Infertile Indian couples demand high-caste 'Brahmin' sperm

Comments

ASSUMING the above data indicate a genuine difference in intellectual ability between castes, we can make one of the following deductions:

a) Environmental: Brahmins have a culture and home environment that focuses on intellectual (and spiritual) pursuits – which gives them an edge.

b) Genetic: Brahmins have created a racist caste system which is designed to preserve their "genes".

c) A combination of the two.

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My preference is for (c). I have no doubt that the caste system HAS created a genetic pool that gives Brahmins (on average) an innate intellectual advantage over other castes. But I believe that effect is relatively modest.

In the main, I believe that (a) is the main driver of the observed results. The tradition of having book/s at home, of getting formally educated, must create an environmental advantage that no other caste can offer its children.

This tells me two things:

i) The idea that Indian "race" has a low IQ is total nonsense. That myth should be put to bed. Given the right environmental opportunities (like the Brahmins get), there is no reason why the whole of India can't perform wonderfully well.

ii) EVERY Indian will do well to imbibe a similar interest in intellectual pursuits, like the Brahmins.

But there is an obstacle to achieving (ii).

One of the key obstacles is the CASTE SYSTEM itself.

It destroys the home environment of the lower castes/ outcastes, and prevents the possibility of their rising to their potential.

The reform of the caste system should start from the top. The oppressed are so intellectually weakened by centuries of oppression they have very limited mental ability to even fight it. They need all the help they can get.

The reform will need to start with Brahmins who realise the immorality of this system system and walk away from it. By doing so, they will allow other castes/groups/communities in India to rise to their potential. Raja Rammohun Roy was an excellent example. Now much more needs to be done.

3.3 Self-perception of the Dalits

An interesting experiment in that respect is the one conducted by Hoff and Pandey (2006). Children from Northern India were asked to solve mazes. When caste identity was made public, either the performance from the lower castes children dropped or they withdrew from the game. The authors argue that once identity is made salient, lower castes children either tend to conform to stereotypes or expect discrimination to occur and conform to it. This is one of the many behavioral experiments that evidenced stereotype threat and self discrimination. Caste identity does modulate individuals expectations.

Source: http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/60/86/74/PDF/thesev2.pdf

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3.4 My revised model of IQ that includes pre-birth IQ factors and links with freedom, to explain GDPMy 2008 freedom-IQ model in BFN (discussed here, as well) couldn't really explain Chinese IQ. I noted my model's weakeness in the book but didn't explore further.

Recently, with a view that meat provides key nutrients to the human brain, I'm veering towards a revised model (depicted below, also download PPT from here).

Comments appreciated (but only professional comments, that demonstrate understanding of the literature).

Note that in this revised model nutrition plays a PRE-BIRTH role. While post-birth nutrition is important, it seems to me that pre-birth nutrition must hold the key to a nation's longer term success.

The mother is a child building factory. This factory needs ingredients to build high quality brains, so the mother must be fed these ingredients.

Once a child is formed, the influence of nutrition on intellectual performance should decline (but other factors such as freedom and self-respect kick in), since the brain is already built.

So our focus must be on (a) feeding mothers and (b) increasing freedom and dignity. How can one feed mothers? This is

really problematic, particularly given cultural and social resistance. But maybe if this model is provided to mothers, they will choose to eat healthier food.

Note that this model is still an unproven hypothesis. It will require much more research/ thinking to arrive at a "conclusive" model. But this may be a good starting point for further discussion. Anyway, this is my current view. I'll read up some more stuff re: link between PRE-BIRTH nutrition and IQ and report back to you.

3.5 Increase in IQ expected among the Dalits once oppressions is eliminatedCurrently the IQ of oppressed groups in India is extremely depressed. increased IQ has ECONOMIC consequences for India. By keeping 40 per cent of its population oppressed India is not doing itself any favours. If nothing else, then for the sake of economic self-interest, the Hindus should ABOLISH the caste system immediately.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_intelligence#Caste-like_minorities

Caste-like minorities

A large number of studies have shown that systemically disadvantaged minorities, such as the African American minority of the United States generally perform worse in the educational system and in intelligence tests than the majority groups or less disadvantaged

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minorities such as immigrant or “voluntary” minorities.[42] The explanation of these findings may be that children of caste-like minorities, due to the systemic limitations of their prospects of social advancement, do not have “effort optimism“, i.e. they do not have the confidence that acquiring the skills valued by majority society, such as those skills measured by IQ tests, is worthwhile. They may even deliberately reject certain behaviors seen as “acting white”.[42][92][93][94]

This argument is also explored in the book Inequality by Design: Cracking the Bell Curve Myth (1996) which argues that it is not lower average intelligence that leads to the lower status of racial and ethnic minorities, it is instead their lower status that leads to their lower average intelligence test scores. One example being Jews in the early 20th century in the US who, the authors argue, scored low on IQ tests. To substantiate this claim, the book presents a table comparing social status or caste position with test scores and measures of school success in several countries around the world. Examples include Koreans, Peruvians and Brazilians in Japan, Burakumin in Japan, Australian Aborigines,Romani in Czechoslovakia, Maori in New Zealand, Afro-Brazilians, Indigenous Brazilians, Pardos and Rural Exiles (as, but not limited to, people from Northeast in Brasília, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro metropolitan areas, and including a minority of European descent) in Brazil,Afrikaners in South Africa, Catholics in North Ireland, Irish and Scottish in Great Britain, Arabs and Sephardi Jews in Israel, and Dalit, low caste, and tribal people in India. The authors note, however, that the comparisons made in the table do not represent the results of all relevant findings, that sometimes studies have shown more mixed findings, that the tests and procedures varied greatly from study to study, and that there is no simple way to compare the size of group differences. The statement regarding Arabs in Israel, for example, is based on a news report that, in 1992, 26% of Jewish high school, predominantly Ashkenazim, students passed their matriculation exam as opposed to 15% of Arab students.[95] Stephen Jay Gould in the The Mismeasure of Man also argued that Jews in the early 20th century scored low on IQ tests. Rushton as well as Cochran, Hardy & Harpending have argued that this is a misrepresentation of the studies and that also the early testing support a high average Jewish IQ.[96][97][non-primary source needed]

Murray replies that purely sociocultural factors like this cannot explain the gap, because the size of the gap on any test is dependent on that test’s degree of g-loading. As an example, Murray notes that the test of reciting a string of digits backwards is much more g-loaded than reciting it forwards, and the black-white gap is around twice as large on the first test as on the second. According to Murray, there is no way that culture or motivation could systematically encourage black performance on one test while decreasing it on another, when both tests are provided by the same examiner in the same setting. [72][non-primary source needed]

3.6 Narrowing the IQ gap with ChinaBy increasing Dalit (and lower caste) IQ to normal levels, it would become possible for India to narrow the IQ gap with China. The good thing about Chinese is that they don’t have a caste system. That means the only effect on their economic prosperity is of the level of freedom. In India, though, the OPPRESSION of lower castes has a very significant effect on national IQ, along with the level of freedom. India has a double whammy.

3.7 Disproving the myth of race will require abolishing casteI don’t see race/IQ as a biologically viable idea. But how can that be demonstrated in the case of India without SMASHING the caste system? Till the caste system is smashed and we can get Indian IQ back to normal levels, the racists will be able to argue that Indians are an

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“inferior” race. No amount of claiming superiority of the Vedas or other such things will help. Your National IQ is low – then explain it!

There are people who have suggested that my focus on caste is in order to get a “Dalit constituency” (as a politicians), but let me be clear that my ONLY concern is India as a whole. I don’t really care for narrow perspectives and would hope that others will join me in SMASHING THE CASTE SYSTEM.

It is not enough for us to promote liberty in India. We need to ACTIVELY SMASH THE CASTE SYSTEM.

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