21st Century: Query 159 (James Watson)
“We’re not all equal, it’s simply not true. That isn’t science. ” ~ James Watson , an American molecular biologist , geneticist and zoologist . In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule . He courted controversy when he insisted early on that, genetically speaking, Whites, on average, have higher I.Q.s than Blacks. In a 1 January 2019 New York Times article , Watson doubled down on his assertion of genetic inequality: “If the difference exists, we have to ask ourselves, how can we try and make it better?” He added, “And there’s a difference on the average between blacks and whites on I.Q. tests. I would say the difference is, it’s genetic.” While some anecdotal studies show that Blacks perform less well in school and in other situations than Whites, what causes other than genetics might be true? While his comments, in 2020, are definitely controversial, in what context is Watson defining the term...