A hint of the theme of my first book:

The study of genetic brain function must be conducted along with environmental factors.

Specific environmental accommodations are required for specific genetic brain function. When a suitable environment is not provided it should not be a surprise when dysfunction and often immoral coping/reactive behaviors result!

How is resistance, depression, anxiety, rage and violence not to be expected if a person is forced to live in a way that is psychologically abusive to them? It is much like placing a wild animal in a small cage and punishing it for instinctive behavior by further limiting it's access to a natural way of life? What is to be expected from intelligent humans who are treated as idiots by peers or artists who are not allowed to be creative, or active children who are forced to sit all day... especially when their natural behaviors are scorned, punished and a cause for telling them they are immoral? Why should we be surprised if anyone such individuals grow up hostile?

When we study genetic intelligence we should both take into consideration the environmental affects on DNA as well as hold in our hearts the intrinsic value of every individual regardless of genetics. Only then can mankind resist the past tendency to use science to build more cages for people and further abuse those who are not 'as good' as the rest.

I believe genetic research needs to be done on how we think, but if we are to be moral agents, we must use this knowledge to help those who are wired differently than the norm by not just declaring them unfit for the normal environment but rather, attempting to create environments which suit them best...

Every individual has an inalienable right to freedom and to flourish.

Questioning genetic intelligence is not racism

By JAMES WATSON

*SNIP*

One in three people looking for a job in temporary employment bureaus in Los Angeles is a psychopath or a sociopath. Is this a consequence of their environment or their genetic components? DNA sequencing should give us the answer. The thought that some people are innately wicked disturbs me. But science is not here to make us feel good. It is to answer questions in the

service of knowledge and greater understanding.

In finding out the extent to which genes influence moral behavior, we shall also be able to understand how genes influence intellectual capacities.

Right now, at my institute in the U.S. we are working on gene-caused failures in brain development that frequently lead to autism and schizophrenia. We may also find that differences in these respective brain development genes also lead to differences in our abilities to carry out different mental tasks.

In some cases, how these genes function may help us to understand variations in IQ, or why some people excel at poetry but are terrible at mathematics.

All too often people with high mathematical abilities have autistic traits. The same gene that gives some people such great mathematical abilities may also lead to autistic behavior. This is why, in studying autism and schizophrenia, we believe we shall come very close to a better understanding of intelligence and, therefore, of the differences in intelligence.

We do not yet adequately understand the way in which the different environments in the world have selected over time the genes that determine our capacity to do different things. The overwhelming desire of society today is to assume that equal powers of reason are a universal heritage of humanity. It may well be. But simply wanting this to be the case is not enough. This is not science.

*snip*