Why
is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so High?
Scientific
Factors that Influence Intelligence
~
Hank Pellissier
Smashwords Edition, Published by Wilcox Publishing
Copyright 2012, Hank Pellissier
Cover Design: Alan D. Wilcox
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Table Of Contents
1. Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so High?
2. Why are "Confucian" Nations so Wildly Successful?
3. Five Scourges that Cripple Sub-Saharan IQ
4. Prenatal and Natal IQ Factors
Foreword
It is possible to describe the existence of mankind in terms of parallel universes, anthropomorphic views of space-time, or the continuing evolution of intelligence. Each of these three points of view requires man to look at himself: as he exists now, as he was in the past, and where he is headed. Hank Pellissier has taken a bold and commendable step by cataloging what we already know about the development of human intelligence. His goal, to answer the question of why Ashkenazi Jews rank so high in selected IQ measurements, tells us more about the population of the world, than it does any selected group.
To be sure, as an Ashkenazi Jew myself, certifiable by the blood dysgrasia gene I carry, I was eager to tout the accomplishments of my people. Although Ashkenazi came from the Rhineland or Alsace, my forefathers were Ashkenazim from Central and Eastern Europe. The author has done his readers a service by explaining how the customs, mores, rituals, and group ethics have created a culture rich in scientific inquiry, mathematics, music, and language skills.
Hank Pellissier comments about the reader's own life style, and how to improve the reader's IQ scores, or that of his family. For me, I found the section involving futurism—new and proposed ways to manipulate and, hopefully, improve our species—fascinating and thought-provoking. Other readers, especially teachers, social workers, and doctors, will gain insight into the human mind and how they might improve their services. Still other readers of this book will gain the background to improve the way human beings live.
I like to think that Hank Pellissier's insights are more valid than most of what is written about climate change these days. Of the latter, there is much noise and wind, but very little we can do about them. Of Hank Pellissier's thoughts, however, we can incorporate them into our lives right away.
David C. Heyman, M.D.
Author; Anesthesiologist, Retired
Williamsport, Pennsylvania
Preface
Every writer wants his or her words to be "well-timed" and I've been exceptionally lucky that a trio of events in the last twenty-seven days has established the value and urgency of this book.
October 19, 2011 - The IQ of the "Teen Brain" is highly flexible, claims a University College London study1 published in Nature on this date. About “a third of the teenagers had meaningful changes in IQ, and a handful showed dizzying climbs or plunges”2, by as much 21 points in four years. The IQ movement was validated by MRI brain scans that showed density of teen gray matter increasing or decreasing in specific brain regions. This potential IQ leap—is it important? Extremely. Twenty-one points can elevate a boy or girl from "average intelligence" to "gifted," or from mentally retarded to near average.
This dramatic evidence of brain "plasticity" is the only the most recent of multiple studies that have lately redefined the brain's potential. Alfred Binet (co-creator of the first IQ test in 1905) believed our thinking organ fully matures at 16 years of age, and dwindles after that. His opinion was the unanimous viewpoint for generations, with humanity stoically regarding intelligence as set-in-stone and destined to start decaying, neuron by neuron, in early adulthood. But today that rigid paradigm has been wholly upended. Neurogenesis can blossom at any age and hundreds of new studies are constantly examining factors that induce IQ to prosper or wither.
I first presented this illuminating info in my article "Let's Elevate Global IQ," on August 22, 2011, on the website of the Institute of Ethics and Emerging Technology, (ieet.org). Not surprisingly, my enthusiasm was scorned by several commentators who basically stated, "So What?! Humans don't need higher IQ for a happier future—we need better ethical behavior!"
October 4, 2011 - The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, by Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, was published on this date, gaining instant critical attention and acclaim.3 The Better Angels presents statistics and arguments that lucidly demonstrate the dwindling of human brutality in human history, especially since the Enlightenment. Why? One reason Pinker provides also answers the skeptical "So What?!" question I noted above. Pinker observes that the "Flynn effect"—the phenomenal international rise of IQ in the last century, by as much as 30 points in the USA—correlates with the subsequent drop in violence. One of his interpretations for this congruence is that, "… modern societies have been getting smarter, and all things being equal, a smarter world is a less violent one."4 Further explaining, he states that people with greater reasoning abilities commit fewer crimes…5 Pinker's assertion that analytical improvement registered in IQ gain leads to increasing peace justifies my book's central proposal: Let's examine the factors that elevate and diminish IQ so we can uplift ourselves to an improved future.
October 5, 2011 - The Royal Swedish Academy of Science awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Daniel Shechtman, Professor of Materials Science at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, for his “discovery of quasicrystals.”6 His award is the sixth in 10 years presented to a citizen of Israel (7.8 million population), a total that matches the sum of prizes to France (66 million), but exceeds the five awards given to Germany (82 million) and Russia (143 million) and far surpasses the two prizes given to Canada (34.5 million) or the one received by India (1.21 billion).7 My point? Jews, internationally, are awarded an astounding amount of Nobel Prizes: in the 21st century they've received 32% of the total, even though they number only 0.25% of the global population. How do they do it? Consider this: in every survey in any nation it's revealed that Ashkenazi Jews are the top demographic in IQ.
*****
My book is simply organized, and designed to be of value to everyone, of any age, anywhere.
My opening two chapters explore Ashkenazi Jewish IQ and East Asian "Confucian Nations" IQ, with several proposed explanations of their success. My intention here is to locate and pass on whatever guidance can be gleaned from the Ashkenazi and East Asian cultures. Any ethnicity in the world would be proud to earn an equal number of Nobel Prizes as the Ashkenazi, for example, so I suggest that we carefully scrutinize these high IQ societies for tips, clues and secrets that propel them towards their accomplishments.
The third chapter details the challenges faced in the Sub-Saharan of Africa, the world's poorest region in economics, in human lifespan, and in average IQ. Here I list multiple factors, especially in Nigeria, that are detrimental to human brain potential. It is my fervent hope that mentally-destructive conditions in the area can be eliminated so Sub-Saharan citizens can enjoy equality—in IQ and every other category—with the world's highest-ranked nations.
Chapters 4-8 deliver the nuts ‘n’ bolts, meat ‘n’ potatoes, axons ‘n’ dendrites aspect of my research. Listed here is information I gleaned from combing through PubMed.gov studies for months. The data can help readers from a multiplicity of backgrounds; it can guide you if:
You are an expectant parent who wants to optimize prenatal and infancy cognitive conditions for your offspring.
You want to assist your school-age children in academic success.
You are an adult who wants to boost your intellectual strength.
You are 55+ years old and you don't want your brainpower to dwindle, via Alzheimer's, dementia, etc.
You belong to an educational or governmental organization that provides mental health to a community. My list can serve as an outline for policy.
*****
What's my goal in writing this book? I want to elevate the average IQ of humans everywhere on earth. Why? As Pinker asserts, this advance would benefit global peace. Plus, additional benefits—increased economic prosperity, secularism, liberalism, health, and technological advances—will all be ours if IQ is significantly enhanced.
The "Flynn effect" records a 30-point IQ rise in the last century; imagine if another 30-40 points were added in the next 30-40 years? What if, by 2045, the average IQ on earth became the equal of today's 130?
With a global 130-point IQ by 2045, the "average" person would be as discerning, knowledgeable, and inventive as today’s Ivy League graduates. Additionally, with the bell curve leaping up two standard deviations, the number of the world’s “geniuses” (IQ 145+) would skyrocket to 1.05 billion. Staggering inventions would tsunami daily out of patent offices into the marketplace. There’d be a Chronic Intelligence Explosion, an Organic Singularity. Many international dilemmas that seem brain-numbingly difficult today could be easily solved in a 130-IQ world.
Can we do this? Can we elevate our IQs by over 30%? Yes. Many experts assert that 50% of IQ is based on genetics, with "environment" determining the remaining half. I believe humanity already has the ability and responsibility to create mentally-enriching habitats that would substantially enlarge our IQs. Plus, our advancing strides in genetic engineering could further enable us to boost cognitive potential.
PubMed is the website of the USA’s National Institutes of Health and National Library of Medicine; it lists hundreds of research studies that analyze what makes us stupid or smart. I've enclosed a copious amount of that data in this book, and I propose that we utilize it, in our homes, in our schools, on the Internet, and in the marketplace, with governmental support and sanctions. Together, let’s lift up our minds; let's grow beautiful, highly-sensible brains inside every skull!
Enjoy my book, and use it to discover multiple ways to biggie-up your brain, your friends’ and families’ noggins, and especially, the next generations.
Sincerely,
Hank Pellissier
San Francisco, CA
November 1, 2011
References
1. University College London study on the teen brain - http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7371/full/nature10514.html
2. hanges in Teen IQ - http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/335343/title/Teen_brains_growing_pains
3. Better Angels of Our Nature - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/books/review/the-better-angels-of-our-nature-by-steven-pinker-book-review.html?pagewanted=all
4. Steven Pinker quote - http://stevenpinker.com/files/taming_the_devil_within_us_-_nature.pdf
5. Steven Pinker quote - http://stevenpinker.com/files/taming_the_devil_within_us_-_nature.pdf
6. Nobel Prize in Chemistry - http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2011/press.html
7. Nobel Prizes to various nations - http://www.american.com/archive/2011/october/the-2011-nobel-prize-and-the-debate-over-jewish-iq
IQ in Societies
1. Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so High?
Ashkenazi Jews are smart. Shockingly brilliant, in general. Impressively greater in brain-power than the bulk of the human population. How did they get that way?
Ashkenazi Jews, aka Ashkenazim, are the descendants of Jews from medieval Alsace and the Rhine Valley, and later, from throughout Eastern Europe. Originally, of course, they were from Israel. Genetic research from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine suggests that the Ashkenazi bloodline branched away from other Jewish groups there 2,500 years ago, and that 40% of them are descended from only four Jewish mothers.1 Approximately 80% of the Jews in the world today are Ashkenazim2, with the remainder primarily Sephardic.3
Their median IQ is calculated at 117 in From Chance to Choice: Genetics and Justice 4 (2000), written by four bioethicists: Allen Buchanan, Dan W. Brock, Norman Daniels, and Daniel Wikler, and published by Cambridge University Press. This is 10 points higher than the generally accepted IQ of their closest rivals—Northeast Asians—and approximately 45% higher than the global average IQ of 79.1 calculated by Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen in IQ and Global Inequity.5
Other, more-recent researchers who estimate the Ashkenazim IQ assert a number a bit lower than 117. Henry Harpending, Jason Hardy, and Gregory Cochran, University of Utah authors of the 2005 research report, “Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence,” state that their subjects, “score 0.75 to 1.0 standard deviations above the general European average, corresponding to an IQ of 112-115.”6 Charles Murray, in his 2007 essay “Jewish Genius,” says “their mean is somewhere in the range of 107-115, with 110 being a plausible compromise.”7 Steven Pinker – who lectured on “Jews, Genes, and Intelligence” in 2007 - says “their average IQ has been measured at 108-115.”8 Richard Lynn, author of “The Intelligence of American Jews” in 2004, says it is only a half-standard deviation higher: 107.5.9 But unanimously, everyone agrees that the children of Abraham are the highest demographic on the IQ chart.
Plus, contemplate this astounding tidbit: Ashkenazi “visual-spatial” IQ scores are only mediocre; in one study their median in this category was a below-average 98.10 They surmount this liability by logging astronomic figures in “verbal IQ”, which includes verbal reasoning, comprehension, working memory and mathematical skill; a 1958 survey of yeshiva students discovered a median verbal IQ of 125.6.11
What does it mean that Ashkenazim have a high IQ, in terms of producing “geniuses”? With their population so small—a mere 0.25 percent of the world total—does it make any serious difference? The answer is YES. A “bell curve”12 is used to illustrate IQ percentile in a specific group. In a “general population” where IQ average is 100, the curve assumes these proportions:
Below 70 IQ - 2.5%
70-85 IQ - 12.5%
86-100 IQ - 35%
101-115 IQ - 35%
116-130 IQ - 12.5%
Above 130 IQ - 2.5%
Applying the same bell curve for Ashkenazim, but with a 17-point upward lift in median IQ (using the From Chance To Choice digit) produces the IQ upgrade below:
Below 87 IQ - 2.5%
88-102 IQ - 12.5%
103-117 IQ - 35%
118-132 IQ - 35%
133-148 IQ - 12.5%
Above 148 IQ - 2.5%
This shifting upward of the bell curve by more than a standard deviation (15 points) means that more than five times as many Ashkenazim are eligible for Mensa (minimum 130 IQ) and more than five times as many have the average IQ of an Ivy League graduate.
In reality, Ashkenazim are enrolled in the Ivies by a proportion ten times greater than their numbers; for example they represent 30% of Yale students, 27% of Harvard, 23% of Brown, 32% of Columbia, and 31% of Pennsylvania.13
This suggests that either the “bell’s curve” is lifted, or skewed, for the Ashkenazi so that it is a bit longer at the high end or there are additional factors that enhance their ability to succeed. Regarding the first possibility, Charles Murray notes that “the proportion of Jews with IQs of 140 or higher is somewhere around six times the proportion of everyone else.”14 Harpending, Hardy, and Cochran sport roughly the same equation: “4 out of every 1,000 Northern Europeans are 140+ IQ, but 23 out of every 1,000 Jews is 140+.”15 Murray also relays a report from sky-high up in the genius range, when he notes that a 1954 survey of New York public school children with 170+ IQs revealed that 24 of the 28 were Jewish.16
Now that I’ve established that Ashkenazi have superlative IQ scores, let’s observe what they’ve accomplished with their highly-functional brains.
In the 19th century, Mark Twain noted that:
“[The Jews] are peculiarly and conspicuously the world’s intellectual aristocracy … [Jewish] contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world … and has done it with his hands tied behind him.”17
Twain’s observation is not dated. Ashkenazi Jews have continued to mentally out-compete other demographics since his statement, often suffering horrendous consequences for their toil. Here is a brief list of Ashkenazi accomplishments in the last 90 years:
Nobel Prizes: Since 1950, 29% of the awards have gone to Ashkenazim, even though they represent only a small fraction of humanity.18 Ashkenazi achievement in this arena is 117 times greater than their population. This pace isn’t slowing down; it is accelerating. In the 21st century, they’ve received 32% of the total, and in 2011, five of the thirteen Nobel Prize winners were Jewish—38.5%.19
Hungary in the 1930s: Ashkenazim were 6% of the population, but they comprised 55.7% of physicians, 49.2% of attorneys, 30.4% of engineers, and 59.4% of bank officers; plus, they owned 49.4% of the metallurgy industry, 41.6% of machine manufacturing, 72.8% of clothing manufacturing, and, as housing owners, they received 45.1% of Budapest rental income.20 Jews were similarly successful in nearby nations, like Poland and Germany.
“Significant Figures”: In “Jewish Genius” by Charles Murray, the author tallies up important contributing individuals in a variety of vocations, noting how immensely over-represented Jews are compared to what could be expected due to their small population. His conclusion in various categories is: Biology – “significant” Jews appear 5-times greater than their population, Chemistry 6X, Physics 9X, Literature 4X, Music 5X, Visual Arts 5X, Math 12X, Philosophy 14X.21
USA (today): Ashkenazi Jews comprise 1.7 to 2.2% of the USA population (estimates vary), but they represent 30% of faculty at elite colleges, 21% of Ivy League students, and 25% of the Turing Award winners. Plus, “Jews have made up 50% of the top two-hundred intellectuals, 40% of partners in the leading law firms in New York and Washington, 59% of the directors, writers, and producers of the fifty top-grossing motion pictures” 22
Israel: In 1922 this swamp-and-desert land had an impoverished population of 752,000 inhabitants. Today there are 7,746,000 residents, with a large Ashkenazi population (3 million, and 60% of the workforce) that has elevated it into a high-tech entrepreneurial nation with the highest per-capita income in the region. Israel rates 1st in the world in graduate degrees, 1st in museums, 1st in home computers, and 1st in publishing scientific papers.23
Personally, I find the Nobel Prize statistic the most amazing. Consider this: if everybody on the planet were an Ashkenazi Jew, would the result be 117 times more Nobel Prize-winning caliber individuals, with 117 times as many spectacular achievements, per annum? INSTANT SINGULARITY! Without any help from AI.
Sephardic Jewish achievement is represented in many of the categories above, especially in Nobel Prize statistics. When this article was originally published, in a shorter version, on August 7, 2011 by the Institute for Ethics in Emerging Technology (ieet.org), Sephardic Jews expressed some perturbation that they were omitted from the essay. I’d like to acknowledge the immense contribution of Sephardic Jews with this all-too-brief list of notables from their lineage:
Elias Canetti (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1981), Tobias Michael Carel Asser (Nobel Peace Prize, 1911), Rene Cassin (Nobel Peace Prize, 1968), Franco Modigliani (Nobel Prize in Economics, 1985), Francois Jacob (Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology, 1965), Salvador Luria (Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology, 1969), Baruj Benacerraf (Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology, 1980), Rita Levi-Montalcini (Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology, 1986), Emilio Segre (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1959), Claude Cohen-Tannoudj (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1997), plus philosopher Jacques Derrida, economist/philanthropist Bernard Baruch, painter Amedeo Modigliani, and Benjamin Disraeli, the British Prime Minister.
In the medieval era, Sephardic achievements were also quite significant. In George Sarton’s Introduction to the History of Science, the author notes that 95 out of 626 scientists in the world from 1150-1300 were Sephardic Jews, their 15% far exceeding their population proportion.24
However, when Sephardic IQ is presently recorded, the sums are no higher than the northern European average, and definitively not as elevated as Ashkenazi.)
Let’s proceed. With the facts I’ve laid out, only the most obtuse reader can resist my pronouncement that Ashkenazi Jews are, on average, extraordinarily intelligent. I’m not asserting Ashkenazi cognitive specialness because I’m Philo-Semitic, or Zionist, or pro-Israeli. I’m pointing it out because it is irrefutably true. People who can’t comprehend the easily understood data might not be simply Anti-Semitic; they might also be crippled in the math/logic zone of their inferior parietal cortex, and burdened with subsequent IQ in the 85 range.
That said, the question that my essay seeks to unravel is—Why? Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so high? Is the reason due to their genetics, environment, culture, education, or a unique combination of multiple factors?
In my initial publication of this essay, I provided eight reasons for high Ashkenazi IQ. But then, I received a flurry of eMail suggestions (many from professors) providing me with additional information. Twenty theories are now listed in this expanded essay, and I’ve attempted to give my sources the credit they deserve, even though, in several instances, I don’t have their actual names, just their Internet chat monikers. Here’s my new list, many related to each other, presented in roughly chronological order:
Babylonian Eugenics – In 586 BCE, Jerusalem was totally destroyed by the Babylonians, led by their monarch Nebuchadnezzar, who “carried into exile… all the [Jewish] officers and fighting men, and all the craftsmen and artisans … only the poorest people of the land were left.” (2 Kings 24:10-14) The Indestructible Jews, by Max Dimont, characterizes the deported people as “the flower of Judah’s aristocracy and intellectuals.”25
The exiled Jews of this first Diaspora became highly successful in Babylon. Dimont claims, “In the libraries of Babylon, intellectual Jews found a new world of new ideas. Within five decades, exiled Jews bobbed to the surface of the top echelons in Babylonian society, in business enterprises, in the scholastic world, in court circles. They became leaders in commerce, men of learning, advisors to kings.”26
In 538 BCE., the Persian king Cyrus the Great granted Jews permission to return to their homeland. Wealthy Jews, who had established successful trade routes and businesses in Babylon, financed zealous returnees who wanted to re-settle Judah. Although initial attempts failed, eventually 1,760 settlers led by the prophet Ezra and the governor Nehemiah rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem and resurrected the nation. These “Babylonian” Jews returning to Israel discovered that their poorer brethren who were left behind a half-century earlier had slipped away via assimilation, vanishing into neighboring pagan creeds. Cyril Darlington, in his The Evolution of Man and Society, suggests that the temporary separation of the Jewish elite, and permanent removal of the uneducated and unskilled, provided a genetic intellectual boost to the creed.27