Genes, Brains, and Human Potential The Science and Ideology of Intelligence

14 PINNING DOWN POTENTIAL

disseminated to the unwary. “We can’t ignore the evidence,” says Jill
Boucher, in Prospect Magazine (November  13, 2013), that “genes aff ect
social mobility.” And evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry warns us to ex-
pect “a ge ne tic upper class and a dim- witted underclass to emerge” (as re-
ported on the BBC website, April 11, 2014). Linda Gottfredson says that,
“given what we know about g’s nature and practical importance, Black–
White ge ne tic diff erences in g render the goal of full parity in either IQ or
achievement unrealistic,” even though we know nothing about “Black-
White ge ne tic diff erences in g” (what ever that is).^14 Similar misunder-
standings of heritability and IQ are found in Nicholas Wade’s 2014 book,
A Troublesome Inheritance.
However, the fatalistic logic had already been put succinctly by
Arthur W. Toga and Paul M. Th ompson in Annual Review of Neuroscience
(2005).^15 “Nature is not demo cratic,” they said. “Enriched environments
will help every one achieve their potential, but not to equality. Our poten-
tial seems largely pre- determined.”
Apparently, then, we have to conclude from this hard science that
democracy among humans is an unnatu ral state. More broadly, of
course, none of these remarks is socially benign. Individuals, and whole
groups, so blighted by “scientifi c” doubts about their own abilities, are
deterred from social and po liti cal participation, decision making, and ac-
tions they may other wise have taken. Th at aff ects personal development
and impairs democracy, as I explain in chapters 10 and 11.
Th ese conclusions about genes and brains and potential have been
based almost entirely on “old” methods, like twin studies and mea sures
of cranial volumes. Over the past two de cades, however, new weapons
have been unleashed in the pursuit of the “fi nal” proof. Th ey have daz-
zled the media, the public, and policy makers more than ever. Th is new
wave of fi ndings and claims takes up most of the rest of this chapter.

DNA SEQUENCING FOR POTENTIAL

Over most of the past century, these claims about genes determining
diff erences in potential were made without anyone actually “seeing” and
describing them. Conclusions about genes have been inferred almost

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