Watson retires; search for "foot in mouth" gene continues
After decades of letting absurdities fall out of his mouth that have embarrassed the genetics community, James D. Watson, Nobel Laureate and the legendary co-discoverer of DNA's double-helix shape, has finally called it quits. His resignation falls on the heels of his most recent racist remarks that there is scientific proof that Africans are genetically less intelligent. African's haven't been Watson's only target. Women scientists are more "difficult" then men (he still refuses to acknowledge the role of Rosalind Franklin in the discovery of the structure of DNA). In 2003, he said that molecular biologists have a duty to devise gene therapies or screening tests to cure stupidity, and it would also be great if we could genetically engineer girls to be pretty. Perhaps his "risk-taking" personality is part of what made him an exceptional scientist and leader of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, but I can hear a collective sigh of relief from the damage control PR folks.
-Andrea Kalfoglou
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Most of the reaction to Watson's comments are responses to the fact that they are obnoxious, because they fly in the face of our notions of equality. I haven't heard much response to whether he is right or not.
- by peter silverman on Oct 30, 2007 at 7:58 AM | link
Yeah, women scientists are clearly more difficult than men--if you are a misogynist. We're funny like that.
Otherwise, it really doesn't rate an empirical rebuttal... any more than his other rants. The onus is on the scientist making the claim to provide proof, not the rest of us to run around after him proving the negative.
- by emily on Oct 30, 2007 at 4:06 PM | link
Peter,
Watson himself is now claiming that he was misquoted and that there is no scientific evidence to support the notion that Africans are less intelligent. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2193899,00.html
I'm not sure how you would prove empirically that women scientists are more difficult than male scientists.
- by Andrea Kalfoglou on Oct 30, 2007 at 8:50 PM | link
Here you go, Peter.
From this Times article:
He said he hoped that everyone was equal, but countered that “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true”.
Over the years I have worked with and/or supervised both black and white employees in the laboratory. I can unequivocally state that each person I have worked with is an individual with strengths and weaknesses and I can't draw a bright line between the black ones and white ones in intelligence or anything else. Further, the first person I had to fire was a white man who probably had a higher IQ than anyone else I've worked with, but who could not seem to get the job done. His position was filled by a black woman we promoted who worked rings around him. Watson is full of crap on this point.
Granted, anecdotes are not statistics. But he wasn't talking about statistics here, he was talking about "people who have to deal with black employees".
- by Laura(southernxyl) on Oct 31, 2007 at 10:32 PM | link
I,m called African black man (even if my skin is some how brown) and scientist. I have never worked or longer stayed with a supposed white man (because few true whites exist) to compare his intellectual competences with blacks. But I know other races like Indian. Then how Watson define intelligence? Is he linking the gene (s) conferring intelligence to those on the genesis of the skin colors? My stand is that African evolved in less harsh climate conditions and did not make any intellectual efforts to solve the problems that others (Europeans) were facing, like extreme cold and its consequences. So their unused intelligence capacity has been put dormant till now. But I,m sure, if an African is raised in western context, he will compete as well as other western. The fact that the melanin gene does not express as it in black does not mean that it is missing in Watson genome.
- by Joseph on Dec 11, 2007 at 10:15 AM | link