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A Next Einstein Forum (NEF) conference was held at the Kigali Convention Centre in Rwanda in late March:
[A malaria-diagnosing scanner] prototype was among the research projects highlighted at the Next Einstein Forum conference last month in Rwanda to encourage the development of young scientists across Africa. Organizers called it the largest-ever gathering of scientists on the continent. "We can go from a dark continent to a bright continent," said Nigerian chemistry professor Peter Ngene, who described how he plans to use nanotechnology to store solar energy efficiently in hydrogen batteries.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the current chair of the African Union, opened the gathering by linking scientific progress to Africa's development at large. "Knowledge economies are prosperous economies," he said. "Today, more than ever before, adequate math and science proficiency is a prerequisite for a nation to attain high-income status and the gains in health and well-being that go along with it." The president added: "For too long, Africa has allowed itself to be left behind." As the continent catches up it cannot afford to leave out women and girls, Kagame said, urging Africans not to accept the global gender gap in science as inevitable.
"The movie 'Black Panther' gives positive role models of African women in science," said Eliane Ubalijoro, a professor at McGill University in Montreal, who pointed out the large number of women at the conference. "We are creating Wakanda right here!"
At the beginning of the conference, NEF, the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, and Elsevier announced the launch of Scientific African, "a pan-African, peer reviewed, open access publishing journal, dedicated to boosting the global reach and impact of research by Africans."
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday April 09 2018, @03:45AM (14 children)
Probably few to none. Malaria is primarily found in areas where the average IQ is around 80. It's still worth getting rid of, just not because we're losing amazing scientific minds to it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday April 09 2018, @04:49AM (13 children)
And *why* is the average IQ around 80? Think very carefully about this one...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 09 2018, @05:30AM
Because it wasn't very beneficial to have high IQ? If it did, the population would have been selected for it.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday April 09 2018, @05:54AM (10 children)
Quite a lot of things go into IQ last I checked. Genetics is a pretty major one though. I'm currently considering the lack of much if any Neanderthal in their DNA. There's a pretty damned strong correlation between the amount of Neanderthal DNA in a region and its average IQ.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday April 09 2018, @02:44PM (9 children)
So you don't think things like crushing poverty, disease (including malaria), lack of much in the way of formal schooling facilities, etc has anything to do with it? Come on, genetics isn't everything. I didn't get this ~145 IQ solely by luck of the genetic draw, as my siblings are "only" around 110-120 and we have the same parents. A good chunk of it was the decision to pursue not only new knowledge but new ways of learning. And another good part of it was being lucky enough not to have died of disease or starvation or exposure (though there was a short while in late 2010 I was wondering about that...).
I know, what you really wanna say is "nignogs gonna nig," but you haven't got Eth's (liquid?) courage or VLM's complete lack of social-skills acting talent.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday April 09 2018, @04:17PM (7 children)
See above re: many things going into it.
I said what I really want to say. Genetics plays a major role in IQ. This is a cold, hard fact. Denying it or attacking anyone that brings it up is not going to change that.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday April 09 2018, @07:40PM (3 children)
And nowhere did I deny that. I did say, though, that it's not the whole story, and gave evidence (granted, n=3 evidence...) that this is the case. And you're hiding behind that so you can say, without saying, "hurr hurr dumb niggers." You don't fool anyone.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday April 09 2018, @09:40PM (2 children)
Darlin, 80 or 100 is irrelevant to me except in a mildly interesting academic sense. Both are more than twice as far from me as they are from each other.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday April 10 2018, @03:19AM (1 child)
Okay, so you are at minimum as well-endowed in IQ as I am...but, so what? What does IQ alone get us? Nothing. And why, for all your brainpower, have you remained so antisocial? There is a reason INT, WIS, and CHA are separate dice rolls...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 10 2018, @03:58AM
Intellectual isolation, boredom, and the chance to get told what to do at your job by someone as intellectually far beneath you as they are above retarded folks. On the up side we can do our own taxes if we feel like it.
Antisocial? Moi? I almost gave up fishing after I got my boat because there was nobody to swap lies with while I waited on a bite like there was on the fishing docks. I know it may look that way to you because I'm unwilling to capitulate to things I know to be wrong just to get along but antisocial is the very last thing I could rightly be accused of being.
As for WIS, you gotta be willing to listen to other points of view and be open to the possibility that you're dead wrong to acquire any of that off a character sheet. I know I am, that's the main reason I like arguing; stress testing my own point of view if you will.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Bobs on Monday April 09 2018, @08:38PM (2 children)
And lack of access to a good, consistent educational system plays an even bigger role in pushing down the average score on IQ tests across a region.
The way IQ tests work, they assume a certain base of knowledge/understanding to test against. If the majority of kids haven't been to good schools, had consistent access to books and teachers then they won't score we'll on the standardized tests.
On a related note, when you take people from those areas and run them thru good, Westernized schools from an early age they do just fine on the IQ tests. So, an environmental factor rather than a genetic one.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday April 09 2018, @09:44PM (1 child)
Oh? And you know this, how? Nobody has had the balls to do a proper study on your claim because the results might conflict with RightThink and get them ostracized from society. Even admitting that geographic differences in IQ exist is verboten in today's society, as you can plainly see by the responses here.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Bobs on Wednesday April 11 2018, @03:30PM
I posted a link and details about a study on this topic here on Soylent a few months back.
Don't have time to dredge it up now, but there actually is data.
Might have time to find and share the link again this weekend.
Cheers!
(Score: 2) by wisnoskij on Tuesday April 10 2018, @02:02AM
That should have the reverse effect. Typically the harsher a place is to live in, the more intellect it demands.
Think of it this way.
Take two rooms filled with babies.
Room A has a food dispenser that gives food at the press of the button.
Room B has a food dispenser that requires a the user to answer a math problem to get food.
18 years latter, which group will be better at math. The food rich Room A, or the poverty stricken room B? Diseases, bacteria, kill off the dumb and raise IQ.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 09 2018, @09:43PM
Duh, because malaria occurs mainly where there are a lot of negroes.