Over at Genetic Future, Daniel is asking whether scientists should study race and IQ. The topic is taken on in the most recent issue of Naturehere and here and it's a conversation that resurfaces now and then among various colleagues in genetics: If there might be associations between gender or race and intelligence, should scientists look for them?
But before delving into ethics, I expect it would be extremely challenging to 1. define all of the above 2. extricate societal, financial, and environmental influences 3. account for even subconscious observer bias. So what are we really after here?
In a climate of limited budgets, I'd rather see funding for more immediate global concerns like improving agricultural yield, preparing for climate change, and mitigating the impacts of ocean acidification. And no, it's not comparing apples and oranges. It's dollars and a collective future. A glance at the number of digits in NOAA's budget and you'll understand what I'm getting at--something's wrong when such a vital agency is so overlooked that it's never even been authorized by Congress.
In other words, I'd like to see us prioritize the applications of what we're investigating.
