Hacker News Reader

Comment by gota | Hacker News Reader

Idiocracy mixed being educated with being intelligent. Being educated is not hereditary and does not (I think) affect intelligence of your children*

Satisfactory nutrition and exposure to positive and engaging environments during childhood affect your intelligence no matter who your parents were

* other than that educated parents are more likely to provide the positive and engaging environment, maybe? Not in the least due to the correlation between education and $, which certainky affects both nutrition and the environment (e.g. toys, lessons, travel, etc.)

Late disclaimer: I have no idea if this is what the scientific areas that study human intelligence believe

View on HN

There've been a number of studies on this, and they basically find otherwise. About 50% of the variability in intelligence is explained by genetics (nature); 10% is parental investment (nurture), and 40% is peers (which includes education, but also local communities, friend groups, etc.). Genetic heritability actually grows as IQ is measured later in life, reaching up to 80% by late adulthood. This effect could be explained because raw intelligence is usually correlated with several environmental factors that then factor into the "nurture" and "peers" components, eg. more intelligent parents are more likely to be highly educated themselves, better able to provide help with homework, higher income, live in a zip code with other intelligent people, can afford college, can afford tutoring to get the kids into an elite college, etc.

The literature is too extensive to provide individual citations, but Google for [genetics of intelligence] or [heritability of intelligence] to get a sampling.

You're right but who cares if the route isn't genetic? If parents or society at large have essentially the same negative characteristics highlighted in the film and a higher birth rate it is functionally the same outcome.

By the way, I'm not arguing for artificially controlling the birth rate or eugenics or whatever else. We need a properly-funded education system that teaches critical thinking. There is both a nature and nurture component to intelligence and related traits but we can get plenty of mileage by focusing on the nurture part.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com