GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2008-01 > 1199228008


From: "Ron Scott" <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Neil Risch and torsion dystonia
Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2008 16:53:28 -0600


Jon,

Your post, nearly an exact quote from pp. 315-318 of your book, is interesting. It seems to underscore your leaning on the Cochran hypothesis. I've only read chapters 12 and 13 so far, and I wish to make a few comments:

Regarding the IQ-disease relationship, I asked a question regarding "the genetic correlation between intelligence and the higher incidence of certain diseases," and I commented that "... it seems that certain forms of intelligence come with a 'price,' while others may be relatively free from disease association," of which sparked the pre-Christmas uproar that resulted in one long-time member being suspended. You appear to agree with Sergio DellaPergola that these kinds of "Pandora's box" questions should be asked, as well as answered, and your promise to answer (re: Dec 25 email) is now due.

You mention in the book that for the Cochran hypothesis "to hold true, it must be universal," and you mention one other group with Ashkenazi-like diseases, the Parsis, also known for inbreeding. You said, quoting Gandhi, who once said of them, "'In numbers, Parsis are beneath contempt, but in contribution, beyond compare.' Sound familiar?" Now, I may be relying on a rather untenable comparison, but I gave an example of another population group (one that you overlooked in the book) who generally has "the genotype rs324650 (T;T), a SNP in gene CHRM2 in chr7, of which also predisposes to higher intelligence but to alcohol and drug dependence (and affective disorders) as well."

It should be clear that I don't challenge the IQ-disease relationship. The founder effect, the so-called "positive selection," genetic drift and other explanations have varied merit. Whether the persistance of the four LSDs, the BRCA1 mutations, etc., in the [Ashkenazi] Jewish gene pool should be interpreted as a good thing, in that the mutations likelihood of "promoting higher intelligence may override the lesser possibility" of effecting these diseases - well, this is where I question the nature of this kind of "positive selection." If other population groups (e.g., Asians) perform as well or nearly on IQ tests, who get their intelligence from some other chromosomal gene(s), and are relatively free from the scourge of Ashkenazi-like diseases, how should we determine who is smarter? The group who has "27% of all those guys who go to Stockholm every year" or those who manufacture most of the computer parts that enable our discussing this issue?

You write, "by some mysterious, evolution-driven psychic calibration, do Jews value brains over health?" I don't think either that a discussion of what "positive selection" really is, which population groups benefit more from this "mysterious calibration" theory, etc., is out of the question.

Best regards,
Ron Scott

This thread: