As far as I can tell, Watson is obviously right.
That said, we have every reason to believe that the intelligence gap is solvable. The difference in performance between American blacks and those still in Africa suggests that more than half of the problem is environmental and can be tackled via relatively simple measures like micronutrient supplementation. And by the time we are done implementing that, it's likely that germline engineering and/or "smart pills" will be sophisticated enough to handle any genetic component of the problem that may remain. So there is no technical reason for doom and gloom. And the course of action described here shouldn't even be that expensive.
The problem is political will. The subject of racial differences in intelligence is too politically charged domestically for any US politician to be able to lead such an effort anytime soon. My guess is that China's leaders aren't similarly constrained, but they're just interested in securing natural resources from the continent and don't care for "uplift". So the best hope may be philanthropists like Bill Gates...
So the best hope may be philanthropists like Bill Gates...
No. I don't believe that private charity alone, however much wealth it might amass, can ever deal with such a vast task. IMO a more realistic best hope would be the benevolent, well-controlled development of and a fair distribution mechanism for all kinds of intelligence-enhancing technologies, from currently existing medicine up to genetic manipulation and more radical transhumanist stuff like cranial augs. Today there would be a heated political debate as to whether those would be best achieved...
The remarkable observation that medical spending has zero net marginal effect is shocking, but not completely unprecedented.
According to Spiegel in "Too Much of a Good Thing: Choking on Aid Money in Africa", the Washington Center for Global Development calculated that it would require $3,521 of marginal development aid invested, per person, in order to increase per capita yearly income by $3.65 (one penny per day).
The Kenyan economist James Shikwati is even more pessimistic in "For God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!": The net effect of Western aid to Africa is actively destructive (even when it isn't stolen to prop up corrupt regimes), a chaotic flux of money and goods that destroys local industry.
What does aid to Africa have in common with healthcare spending? Besides, of course, that it's heartbreaking to just say no -