JoeB131
Diamond Member
No one wants to work on the idea that some portion of intelligence is genetic?
Gee, I wonder why?
Do you think some portion of intelligence is genetic? Or is it all environmental?
I think it's genetic, but I don't think it's racial. You do get multi-generational geniuses, but you get just as many where you have a smart kid from a smart parent, but a couple generations down you get idiots.
Okay, that cheap shot aside, let's take someone who was truly a genius. Wolfgang Mozart. His father Leopold was a composer of note, but not a genius. More of a huckster who pimped of his talented child. Of the two children Wolfgang sired who survived into adulthood, (four died as infants) only one tried to be a composer (Ironically, tutored by Mozart's supposed enemy, Antonio Salieri), but his music was considered mediocre at best.
Do you get an occassional combination of genes that produces a Mozart or an Einstein? Sure. But they usually have to be born into the right environment as well. Mozart had the good luck to be born at a time when royal patronage and interaction with other composers created just the right lab for genius.