Great piece in the NYT today on the state of research into general intelligence (I spotted it through AndrewSullivan.com). One gets the sense, however, that there are numerous “significant silences” in the article — for fear, perhaps, of lapsing into Bell Curve territory and I’m a bit surprised Sullivan didn’t note them. Also, the statement from one doctor that it might take 50 years to understand how intelligence works sounds like a punt saying, in effect, “Don’t politicize my research in my lifetime, because it won’t matter until 2053!”

I’m not saying the concept of intelligence isn’t complicated. It is. And, yes, it’s true: you can study for the SAT and environment matters a great deal and all of that. But the fact remains, intelligence exists, it can be measured — albeit, imperfectly — and you can inherit good brains just as you can inherit a good nose. To date, they haven’t designed a single test that stupid people do better on than smart people — and they never will.