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James Watson: Scientist loses titles after claims over race
Nobel Prize-winning American scientist James Watson has been stripped of his honorary titles after repeating comments about race and intelligence.
In a TV programme, the pioneer in DNA studies made a reference to a view that genes cause a difference on average between blacks and whites on IQ tests. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory said the 90-year-old scientist's remarks were "unsubstantiated and reckless". Dr Watson had made similar claims in 2007 and subsequently apologised.
He shared the Nobel in 1962 with Maurice Wilkins and Francis Crick for their 1953 discovery of the DNA's double helix structure.
Dr Watson sold his gold medal in 2014, saying he had been ostracised by the scientific community after his remarks about race. He is currently in a nursing home recovering from a car accident and is said to have "very minimal" awareness of his surroundings.
Previously: Disgraced Scientist is Selling his Nobel Prize
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Monday January 14 2019, @05:58AM (3 children)
If the various colors of human are the same species because we interbreed then the various "species" of Orca that can interbreed should be the same species. Also giraffes. Also cheetahs.
I for one just want some consistency. Would also be nice to consider giraffes the same species again so we can keep them from going extinct.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Arik on Wednesday January 16 2019, @01:12AM (1 child)
I'm not a specialists on Orca, but yes the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_problem may come into play to some degree. Because if we're going to say that 'race' is a myth we need to be able to define what race is, and arguably the best definition of race amounts to a biological separation sub species level. But species itself is and has been used inconsistently, which is a cause of confusion.
For the most part I follow Mayr on this, but further. A species is a reproductive population at its maximum potential. If their DNA combine to create fertile offspring they're the same species.
And a subspecies, or race, is a real biological division that is less than species. That is, if the DNA is actually compatible, but for some reason it doesn't actually stand a significant chance of getting mixed without outside intervention, that would be a subspecies or race.
Do these Orca *actually* interbreed? Do say Pacific and Atlantic populations (I'm guessing that's the split) actually ever meet?
If they *could* breed but never meet outside of human captivity, you could arguably call them subspecies rather than species.
On the other hand if they do meet, yet never or virtually never mate in the wild, but their DNA is compatible in the lab, that would be a much better case for calling them subspecies, in my mind. That would indicate some sort of sexual incompatibility, not simply separate ranges, and I'd urge you to consider that since ranges can have and do change for all kinds of reasons, a momentary separation caused by distance is NOT a biological separation.
But at any rate, a real sexual incompatibility is. I don't have any idea how different populations of Orca interact, but I do have some knowledge of the sexual interactions of canines, and on that basis I can give you an example of a REAL racial or subspecies distinction. Wolves vs domesticated dogs. The DNA does work. The ranges certainly overlap. The biologically programmed behavior, however, is not compatible. Cross breeding is virtually impossible without human intervention.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Wednesday January 16 2019, @02:42AM
Thanks for the response, i think these are good distinctions.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday January 16 2019, @01:15AM
As to canines there are more real racial splits because of size.
It is simply not possible for a great dane and a chihuahua to mate naturally, for example.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?