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James_Miller comments on Effects of Castration on the Life Expectancy of Contemporary Men - Less Wrong
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Since lots of eunuchs reached positions of power, and because of the strong correlation between intelligence and health, I wonder if castration increases intelligence.
Beware social confounders.
Eunuchs couldn't sire children to leave wealth and titles to and could not marry into wealthy and powerful families. This means that intact men who were in positions of power because they came from powerful families were more likely to give important offices to eunuchs since they did not have to fear that eunuchs would become a long-term threat to their own or their family status.
Yes, this was standard practice in the ERE.
Interesting idea! The idea of castration increasing intelligence didn't come up at all during my research, so I don't really know.
I expect that historical eunuchs would have been more intelligent than their contemporaries to the extent that castration protected against infectious diseases which caused mental impairment (such as ergotism, i.e. fungal food poisoning). At the same time, it might be that eunuchs mainly acquired positions of power due to cultural reasons.