Re: [xmca] Watson redux

From: David Preiss <davidpreiss who-is-at uc.cl>
Date: Mon Dec 10 2007 - 17:56:43 PST

I loved that book, did not know there was a movie about it...

On Dec 10, 2007, at 9:05 PM, Mike Cole wrote:

> The book is by Philip Roth, for those inclined to encounter the
> issue in
> that medium
> mike
>
> On Dec 10, 2007 3:20 PM, Mark deBoer <mark@ias-group.com> wrote:
>
>> There is an interesting movie along the lines of this thread. In this
>> movie though, Anthony Hopkins knows his genetic makeup and spends 50
>> years trying to hide it after losing the love of his life because
>> of it.
>>
>> The Human Stain
>> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308383/
>>
>> I wish there were more movies like these...
>>
>> Mark
>>
>> On Dec 11, 2007, at 7:56 AM, David Preiss wrote:
>>
>>> Interesting how ironic science can be. (That reminds me of Nazi
>>> scientists that had a jewish background. Uh! If these analysis can
>>> be applied to them, how enjoyable!) On the other hand, I can't help
>>> but think that these findings will be part of the anecdotic stories
>>> thousands of college professors and textbook writers will include
>>> within their narrative in the following years when talking about
>>> genetics and human behavior. I am so glad they will be. I just hope
>>> students learn the right thing beyond the irony behind the situation
>>> and that's the difference between racism and science.
>>> David
>>>
>>> On Dec 9, 2007, at 3:54 PM, Mike Cole wrote:
>>>
>>>> The following was forwarded to me by a colleague. Thought people
>>>> might find
>>>> it interesting.
>>>> mike
>>>> --------
>>>>> From The Sunday TimesDecember 9, 2007
>>>>
>>>> DNA pioneer James Watson is blacker than he thought
>>>>
>>>> Jonathan Leake, Science Editor
>>>>
>>>> JAMES WATSON, the DNA pioneer who claimed Africans are less
>>>> intelligent than whites, has been found to have 16 times more genes
>>>> of
>>>> black origin than the average white European.
>>>>
>>>> An analysis of his genome shows that 16% of his genes are likely to
>>>> have come from a black ancestor of African descent. By contrast,
>>>> most
>>>> people of European descent would have no more than 1%.
>>>>
>>>> The study was made possible when he allowed his genome - the map of
>>>> all his genes - to be published on the internet in the interests of
>>>> science.
>>>>
>>>> "This level is what you would expect in someone who had a great-
>>>> grandparent who was African," said Kari Stefansson of deCODE
>>>> Genetics,
>>>> whose company carried out the analysis. "It was very surprising to
>>>> get
>>>> this result for Jim."
>>>>
>>>> Watson won the Nobel prize, with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins,
>>>> after working out the structure of DNA in 1953. However, he
>>>> provoked
>>>> an outcry earlier this year when he suggested black people were
>>>> genetically less intelligent than whites.
>>>>
>>>> This weekend his critics savoured the wry twist of fate. Sir John
>>>> Sulston, the Nobel laureate who helped lead the consortium that
>>>> decoded the human genome, said the discovery was ironic in view of
>>>> Watson's opinions on race. "I never did agree with Watson's
>>>> remarks,"
>>>> he said. "We do not understand enough about intelligence to
>>>> generalise
>>>> about race."
>>>>
>>>> The backlash against Watson forced him to step down as
>>>> chancellor of
>>>> Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York state, after 39 years at
>>>> the
>>>> helm. He had said he was "inherently gloomy about the prospects for
>>>> Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that
>>>> their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing
>>>> says
>>>> not really".
>>>>
>>>> The analysis by deCODE Genetics, an Icelandic company, also shows a
>>>> further 9% of Watson's genes are likely to have come from an
>>>> ancestor
>>>> of Asian descent. Watson was not available for comment.
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>> David Preiss, Ph.D.
>>> Subdirector de Extensión y Comunicaciones
>>> Escuela de Psicología
>>> Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
>>> Av Vicuña Mackenna 4860
>>> Macul, Santiago
>>> Chile
>>>
>>> Fono: 3544605
>>> Fax: 3544844
>>> e-mail: davidpreiss@uc.cl
>>> web personal: http://web.mac.com/ddpreiss/
>>> web institucional: http://www.epuc.cl/profesores/dpreiss
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
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David Preiss, Ph.D.
Subdirector de Extensión y Comunicaciones
Escuela de Psicología
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Av Vicuña Mackenna 4860
Macul, Santiago
Chile

Fono: 3544605
Fax: 3544844
e-mail: davidpreiss@uc.cl
web personal: http://web.mac.com/ddpreiss/
web institucional: http://www.epuc.cl/profesores/dpreiss

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Received on Mon Dec 10 17:59 PST 2007

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