Posted by Cockney Robin | Not many scientists seem prepared to concede this point, but being a scientist, and even a genius, doesn't necessarily mean you're good at logic, and specifically at spotting the flaws in your own thinking processes. Dr James Watson, the 79 year old Nobel laureate helped unravel the double helix, and earned his place in the history of science and for that we are, and must continue to be, profoundly grateful,
But knowing all there is to know within his specialty doesn't mean he can't be as wrong-headed as the next person when he holds forth on matters outside it----though, like many scientists, he appears not to understand where his area of expertise leaves off. So now, prompted by Christ knows what conviction that he had a useful "truth" to impart, he has expressed an opinion which---though merely an elderly man's personal opinion---will or might or could easily be taken and exploited by certain ill-intentioned people as a legitimate conclusion of Capital-S Science....
According to The Independent, Watson became "embroiled in an extraordinary row last night after he claimed that black people were less intelligent than white
people and the idea that 'equal powers of reason' were shared across
racial groups was a delusion."(Independent) Or, more specifically,...