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Over at Slate, Stephen Metcalf has written a frankly devastating rebuttal to William Saletan's series of race, genes, and IQ. The whole thing is fascinating, but this bit is particularly useful for folks interested in thinking clearly about the subject:
To understand what is really being fought over when we fight over the IQ gap between blacks and whites, its authors explain, you must think through an analogy. Imagine two wheat fields. Now imagine two genetically identical sets of seeds. (The analogy was first made famous by the Harvard evolutionary biologist and geneticist Richard Lewontin.) Now imagine each field is planted with these two identical seed stocks. Field No. 1 is given the best possible inputs: sunshine intensity, rain, soil nitrates, etc. Field No. 2 is given much less of all of the above. Within each field, inputs are kept uniform. Inevitably, the first field grows a healthier supply of grain than the second. But here is the rub: Within each field, the variation in outcomes is entirely hereditary. Between the two fields, the variation in outcomes in entirely environmental.Metcalf goes on to calmly detail the compromised the research Saletan relied on, the problems in the Minnesota Twin study that Saletan never mentioned, and the findings of the APA panel he referenced. Well worth a read.
