Considering all of the un-politically correct things that Watson has said lately, it might be time for him to take a step back and let others take over.

Watson has done some great things for the field of science and advancing society, but it might be time now.

James Watson is silly. We should not lose our time because of his stupid comment. Peoples like him give more courage to all the brothers and sisters. Stand up against racist peoples from everywhere

My primary concern is that to the public at large Watson IS DNA. So if he says Africans are genetically inferior, lots of folks may come to believe it. Public figures have to be more careful. People are always dissing athletes for getting in trouble when they are role models. Someone should give Watson the same advice (and pray he is more reasonable than Charles Barkley).

I’m waiting for the public coverage to mention how gleefully sexist he was in The Double Helix about Rosalind Franklin, and how he had to apologize years later.

It’s not a matter of liking or not liking Watson.
As a member of a PHD Jury, I would not even award a PHD degree to Watson because his pattern of thinking shows that he is not scientifically mature:

1- for Watson sex drive is DNA related,
2- for watson homosexuality is DNA related
3- for Watson, there is something called universal intelligence and he cannot tell you which device he uses to measure it
3- for Watson Africa is a country with a homogeneous ethnic group and the western world is a homogeneous ethnic group – guys, even a kid cannot think that way!

Africa is not a country, it’s a continent made up of more than 2000 ethnic groups and languages. The western world is NOT a homogeneous groups is made up of hundreds of ethnic groups and languages.
So, how can you scientifically compare the two worlds based on an undefined concept? Worst of all, he has not published any work that has been peer reviewed for his stupid concept of melanin relationship with “intelligence”.

For me the short answer would be to award him a new “Nobel of Racism” and let him retire in peace. Since what he stands for has nothing to do with science I can only assume that either he is an active member of the KKK or the figurehead of an underground Eugenics movement in which case he deserves the Nobel Prize of Racism.

[...] Lei Posted October 24, 2007 in DNA on Auction On the day Dr. James Watson proclaimed that Africans had lower intelligence, African-American sisters Karah, Safiya, and Diana Cesar had him sign a copy of his book, Avoid [...]

[...] Nobody Likes James Watson [...]

[...] racist comments have sparked outrage not just in the scientific community but throughout the world. Many of his colleagues, friends and [...]

Before we start lambasting Prof. Watson, shouldn’t the question first be “Is there any merit to his statement?”. The next question should be “If we establish that his statements prove to be correct, would we accept them or dismiss them due to the answer being politically unacceptable?”. If we are simply going to pillory anyone who comments on racial differences, then we are, ourselves, dreadful bigots and no better than the Catholic church (in the 15th century) which sent people to their deaths for dissenting on religious dogma. I recall Eysenck suffered similar censure for making statements which were politically incorrect. Are we going to be a society that can look at truth and simply accept it, without responding to facts with outrage and stupefied indignation? Maybe Prof. Watson is correct, maybe not. I don’t have any scientific evidence to prove or disprove his statements – and sadly, neither do 99.99% of the people who have dismissed Watson’s statements as the demented witterings of an old racist. Why don’t we commit to a fair and unbiased research project to find out what the truth is – or is it a case that we find some truths too hot to handle? What about freedom of speech and defending the rights of all our citizens to express their opinion? – This seems an impossibility nowadays. – An impossible task justified on the basis that anyone with a view on racial differences must tow the party line or risk professional and social suicide. Shouldn’t a modern society be more sophisticated than to wallow in an academic milieu that permits only one point of view?

[...] Malloy was quoted with respect to his defense of James Watson’s comments about blacks last month. He writes of the NY Times [...]

[...] number of African-origin gene than the average white European (see this post for background about Dr. James Watson’s comments about race and intelligence). John Hawks said it best [...]

Watson never said Black people were stupid. His claim is simply that it is conceivable and perhaps likely that AFRICANS are not ON AVERAGE as intelligent as whites. This does not make an African stupid anymore than I am stupid if I am not as intelligent as Leonardo da Vinci was. Of course, this is only an example to prove a point. The average part is also very important because it clearly allows for amazingly intelligent Africans (obviously far more intelligent than the average White). Moreover, his statement is not categorical and he only claims that the current data does not support equal intelligence. The data may very well be flawed and completely unreliable, but Watson is correct in saying that it doesn’t support the idea of equal intelligence. Finally, he did not claim that this was necessarily genetic and he may very well be of the opinion that it is mostly due to cultural and economic factors, such as poor diet and lack of money for education.

I don’t think Watson is right either way but what he claimed is not as radical as some make it out to be and it is full of loopholes. This isn’t racism, it’s just his ruminations on the serious problems going on in Africa. I don’t think he has anything against Black people and I’m sure he wants them to achieve as much as possible. The real crime is the consequence of his speculation and his constant misrepresentation. If he made an even more ridiculous statement such as that he saw a UFO I’m sure he wouldn’t have even 1/100 of the same negative publicity and consequences. It is clear that now, it is blasphemy to even consider the possibility that populations are not equally endowed in their cognitive ability (as is true of other areas). I think it is actually quite likely that some populations have, on average superior cognitive abilities in some areas and inferior abilities in others. Although, I think, overall, this give and take game balances out to make it unlikely that any group is overall more intelligent than another.

BTW: I’m sure he includes Asians as “ours” because if his basis is IQ testing, Asians rank as high as Whites or a couple of points HIGHER. But again, all this is average and cannot be honestly used to screen out people on the basis of race.

“Worst of all, he has not published any work that has been peer reviewed for his stupid concept of melanin relationship with “intelligence”.”

It’s obvious that it goes far deeper than the naive notion that it is only melanin. It’s true that the differences are mainly superficial like skin color and hair, but they also include resistance or susceptibility to certain diseases and much more. Still, your general point is correct in that the differences gives the human genome are incredibly small and one will find it difficult to, purely on genetics find a Black guy out of some Whites, Asians and Indians. Race is truly a loose and not that useful concept in itself, but it does go farther than skin color.

Watsons comments would create a reality in the minds of African readers.If poverty in Africa was his motivation to reseach,then his theory may be applicable if you are to look at intelligence as applied.If thats the case then Africans and some Asians are intellectually challenged.Whilst in Asia especially India their cause of poverty would be Religious beliefs in Africa the main cause would be lack of strategy to adapt to post colonial change.Poverty in Africa may also spell from inherent individual characteristics like selfishness,temperament and inability for leaders to spearhead a view of Unity for their generations.
In America black people have the slave syndrome and could explain some of their personality attributes.
Poverty in Africa will happen when they stop n re establish a new order.An order that encompass economic development,social justice,education,health and this miracle is on the way.When all Africans read Watsons view it will be a challenge n hope they can apply what they learn.

Dr. James Watson is the Galileo of our times. His destruction is proof positive that ‘man’ has not yet left ‘the cave’.
On a more practical note, his destruction also means that our fire insurance rates won’t be rising, soon at least.