Roko comments on The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology is soliciting ideas - Less Wrong

9 Post author: Kevin 12 July 2010 11:41PM

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Comment deleted 13 July 2010 09:10:36PM [-]
Comment author: mattnewport 13 July 2010 09:29:15PM 2 points [-]

of what threshold heritability coefficient?

This is what I meant about quantifying the probability estimate before clarifying the exact question. As I said originally, I'm skeptical of a strong heritability for rationality independent of IQ. I'm not sure what the correct statistical terminology is for talking about this kind of question. I think there is a low probability that a targeted genetic modification could increase rationality independent of IQ in a significant and measurable way. That belief doesn't map in a straightforward way onto a claim about the heritability of rationality. I'm expecting What Intelligence Tests Miss to help clarify my thinking about what kind of test could even be used to reliably separate a 'rationality' cognitive trait from IQ which would be a necessary precondition to measuring the heritability of rationality.

Given that memory, verbal intelligence, spatial reasoning and general intelligence all have values of H of around 0.4, it seems that P{H>0.3) ~ 70%

These all correlate significantly with IQ however I believe (correct me if you think I'm wrong on this). It's at least plausible that targeted genetic modifications could improve say spatial or verbal reasoning significantly more than IQ (perhaps by lowering scores in other areas) since there is some evidence of sex differences in these traits. Rationality seems more like a way of reasoning and a higher level trait than these 'specialized' forms of intelligence however.

Comment deleted 13 July 2010 11:09:55PM [-]
Comment author: Hook 14 July 2010 02:00:30PM 0 points [-]

I realize that "brain module" != "distinct patch of cortex real estate", but have there been any cases of brain damage that have increased a person's rationality in some areas?
I am aware that depression and certain autism spectrum traits have this property, but I'm curious if physical trauma has done anything similar.

Comment deleted 14 July 2010 02:09:16PM [-]
Comment author: Hook 14 July 2010 02:57:12PM 1 point [-]

At this point I was mostly wondering if there were any motivating anecdotes such as Phineas Gage or gourmand syndrome, except with a noticeable personality change towards rationality. Someone changing his political orientation, becoming less superstitious, or gambling less as a result of an injury could be useful (and, as a caveat, all could be caused by damage that has nothing to do with rationality).

Comment deleted 14 July 2010 03:27:51PM [-]
Comment author: SilasBarta 14 July 2010 03:53:42PM 0 points [-]

...because of the following insights ____.