Scientific Creativity

By J. W. Jamieson, Institute for the Study of Man, Washington D.C. Vol. 33, Mankind Quarterly, 06-01-1993,pp

All life forms have acquired their present characteristics by descent from individuals who survived previous environmental hazards and successfully produced offspring. But if fitness to survive in a prevailing ecological niche leads, as it so often does, to extreme adaptation to a specific set of conditions this may itself lead to the extinction of the species in the event that the environment changes drastically and too rapidly to permit the further evolutionary adaptation necessitated by the new environment. Thus, while passive evolutionary adaptation to a myriad of environmental niches has created a rich biological kaleidoscope of diverse fauna and flora, evolution has also taken a second direction among the more advanced life forms, with mankind as the prime example of this latter class. This second class does not rely entirely upon passive adaptation to prevailing environmental circumstances; its members have developed complex nervous systems which enhance their survival chances by facilitating suitably varied responses to unexpected changes in the environment.

Among unicellular life forms, for example, phototropism is an elementary form of survival-oriented response to changes in the environment. Among higher life forms, and particularly birds and mammals, this variability to respond to environmental challenges has led to the development of what we call "intelligence." Psychologists have proposed various narrow definitions of intelligence narrow because they are trying to define what it is that "intelligence tests" actually test. Generally, psychologists agree that intelligence involves the speed with which a living organism is able to effectively analyze data provided to it by its sensory organs. But to examine the concept of intelligence in a broader, evolutionary-related sense (while not contradicting the cautious definitions of psychologists) we may depict the evolutionary explanation for the appearance of intelligence in terms of the role that intelligence plays in facilitating survival among the more complex life forms that grace the world today.

Intelligence in an evolutionary context is the ability to analyze data about the surrounding environment, relate this to the past experience of the organism (and perhaps even of the species), and to promote reactive behavior which will promote the survival chances of the organism or its progeny, possibly also other members of its group. Intelligence is of particular utility in the case of mobile animals whose environment is likely to offer frequent and often sudden threats to survival. Most such animals have also evolved "built-in" reactions, such as alertness to unexpected noises or movements, but intelligence can lead them to react in far more sophisticated ways, including devising tools to assist in securing nourishment or protecting themselves and their offspring.[1]

Modern man in contemporary technologically-advanced societies, alone among all the forms of life currently known to exist in the universe, has become particularly dependent upon intelligence for survival. Proto-humans early specialized at the primate level in the use of intelligence to achieve survival above all other qualities (other than the need to develop resistance to disease common to all complex life forms). As a species, hominids have moved away from prime dependence upon physical adaptations such as powerful jaws and fangs, arboreal nimbleness, athletic ability, muscular and skeletal strength, etc. , to ensure survival, even though we still prize physical abilities such as these in certain occupations and in our recreations, e.g. boxing, athletics and ball games. Physical prowess still gives us joy and pleasure, but what we depend upon increasingly for survival is our ability to problem-solve. Over a million or more years our ancestors evolved a more powerful brain, as evidenced by the palaeontological research. Probably with especial speed during the past fifty or so millennia, human intelligence advanced to reach its present varied levels. The peak may actually have been attained by some human populations as much as 35,000 years ago (e.g. the Cro-Magnons of Western Eurasia), certainly by four or five thousand years ago (as, for example, in ancient Sumeria or ancient Greece), but the distribution of intelligence is still not uniform around the world today, either between races, or even within races. But it is important to remember that evolution is not a one-way street. Evolutionary advancement is not inevitable. Devolution can occur within populations, and when it does, this is likely to lead to their ultimate extinction. No sub-species or species is guaranteed survival in the evolutionary sweepstake. Although our modern technology-based civilization depends on high intelligence and high creativity, there is no guarantee that our breeding trends and now culturally-influenced selective forces will ensure the survival of a sufficient number of highly intelligent and creative individuals into future populations to preserve, let alone advance, our present culture.

Eugenics

Eugenics is a modern ideal, developed only a hundred years or so ago, which has become a reality in modern medicine as medical science traces so many diseases, and the ability to resist diseases, to genetic factors. The predominantly genetic basis of intelligence is now widely accepted,[2] despite opposition from some who are dedicated to egalitarian values and who profess their belief in the absurd notion of the biological equality of individuals and races. Only identical twins can be biologically equal in their propensities.

To the extent that some societies have benefited from a high proportion of intelligent and creative individuals among their ancestors, advanced cultures have risen in different parts of the world at different times, and those of today have become totally dependent on high intelligence and technological sophistication. Thus, some of the inhabitants of our modern Western cities, whose forebears were quite capable of hunting animals, hoeing fields, picking crops and other simple levels of agrarian activity, now have difficulty in achieving subsistence because their intelligence level is inadequate for the demands of the technologically advanced economy on which our society depends.

In consequence, many conscientious scholars have come to favor the introduction of some form of eugenic measure to ensure that future generations will be endowed with adequate intelligence and creativity to maintain, or possibly even advance, our present level of technologically- based subsistence. Some have argued that we need to devise ways and means of discouraging high rates of reproduction-among those of unduly low intelligence. We have no argument with those who hold this position, provided only that it be achieved by painless and not degrading inducements and is not forcibly imposed. The renowned Professor William Shockley, Nobel prizewinner and co-inventor of the transistor, suggested as a thinking exercise that financial inducements might be offered to those of very low IQ, who were unable or barely able to look after themselves, to voluntarily choose to be sterilized so that they could indulge their desire for sex without burdening the rest of the population with the need to care for their offspring -- who with statistical certainty would most likely be of similarly low intelligence.[3]

Then there are others, like Dr. William Andrews, a frequent contributor to this journal, who argue that we should seek humane ways of raising the average intelligence level of the entire population - including that of all the diverse ethnic groups within our multiethnic society, so that the disparities between the intelligence of the diverse ethnic groups should not be accentuated beyond the already embarrassing levels of inequality. This he sees as a necessity for the basic maintenance of civilization as it presently stands. We would not choose to argue with him either.

By contrast, however, we firmly believe that Mankind faces an even more serious need. As science and technology continue to advance, the level of intelligence needed to become a competent scientist and to maintain a technologically-sophisticated society is steadily rising. So also is the need for creative people- people of high intelligence who also have the ability to innovate. We must therefore be prepared to develop inducements to ensure that future generations will continue to produce a high enough ratio of truly intelligent and truly creative individuals if posterity is to be able to continue the further march of science. And Mankind will surely need further scientific research to solve the problems of environmental deterioration that it has created, and to meet the other problems, including health threats, which are rapidly becoming more acute as a result of the ongoing population explosion originating in the Third World.

In short, we believe that greater consideration must be given not merely to the need to dissuade those of abnormally low intelligence from reproducing, and not merely to efforts to protect the overall level of human intelligence among the diverse ethnic groups and populations that make up Mankind, but to the need to ensure an adequate rate of reproduction among those who are especially gifted.

Creativity

True creativity is not evenly equated to intelligence. As Berkeley Professor Arthur R. Jensen has pointed out:

. . . one should never equate IQ with genius. Very few high-IQ persons ever become geniuses in the genuine sense of making contributions recognized by the intellectual, scientific, and artistic world as extraordinarily outstanding. Yet most of the world's geniuses come from the upper part of the IQ distribution, virtually without exception.

Superior intelligence is a necessary but far from sufficient condition for extraordinary intellectual achievement. The concept of "genius" has no authentic meaning except in terms of achievement. Shakespeare' s genius is in his plays. Beethoven's genius is in his symphonies.

One often hears unfounded claims about "low" IQs of persons with extraordinary [intellectual, scientific or cultural] accomplishments . . . But the claims are sheer nonsense. Whenever such persons have been tested, they are never found to have low IQs; they almost never score average IQs; by far the most of them score above the top 1 or 2 percent of the general population.[4]

True creativity - bringing into being something which has not previously existed - is the attribute of Mankind in which we most resemble the Creator himself. If we do not fully understand this very special faculty, at least we can recognize it when it manifests itself. It will be useful to cite some examples of true scientific creativity and the ways in which it has greatly lengthened and enriched our lives.

Creativity and Science: The Contribution of Caucasoids and Mongoloids

Consider how much Mankind owes to truly creative people, to geniuses. Creativity gave us lenses of power. These were probably first produced by Meissner. With the lenses in Galileo's telescope the science of astronomy was born. This replaced the old concept of Earth as the center of the universe.

In recent times Caucasoid Westerners have transformed the world. They have freed Man from slow transportation by horse and sail by producing first the railroad, then the powered ship, and then the automobile, the airplane, and more recently space craft. They have provided an understanding of evolution (Darwin) and an understanding of genetics (Mendel; Watson). Westerners have developed health science, lowered the death rate, doubled life expectancy and trebled the population of the world. They have produced one of the most creative periods in human history.

For microscopes we owe thanks to Janssen. Later, under Van Leuwenhoek, they revealed the existence of germs. This began the science of bacteriology, leading to subsequent control of infections, including cholera, typhus, bubonic plague and yellow fever. To this conquest Pasteur contributed significantly. Jenner freed us from smallpox and founded immunology. With Fleming and his penicillin we began antibiotic control of bacterial disease. With Salk we began the conquest of polio.

For almost 500 years our society has replaced the conjectures of the ancients with controlled experiments so as to determine reality. Francis Bacon inaugurated this scientific method.

We profit from Newton's understanding of gravity as a basic force in the universe. Einstein contributed significant refinement to this understanding, especially as applied to vast distances and enormous masses.

Gutenberg gave us movable type and the printing of books. Watt's steam engine began the industrial revolution. This development changed the face of our world more drastically than any other activity since the introduction of agriculture.

Benz gave us the automobile.

Marconi gave us radio. DeForest gave us triode tube electronics. Then Shockley's junction transistor powered the whole silicon valley development and its electronic marvels: computers, (v. Bush), television (Zworykin), radar (Watson-Watt).

Nuclear reaction -- elemental transmutation -- began with Rutherford and led to nuclear fission (Hahn) and to nuclear fusion (Cockcroft and Walton).

The Wright brothers originated heavier-than-air flight.

There were others: Faraday, inventor of the original electric generator; Henry, inventor of the electric motor; and Edison, inventor of the incandescent light.

Bell gave us the telephone; Lenoir gave us the internal combustion engine; Whittle the jet. Goddard and his rockets led to escape from earth's gravity and to interstellar flight. There are other examples by the hundreds: the bicycle, sewing machine, typewriter, portland cement and reinforced concrete, motion pictures, propellers, friction matches, the reaper, photography, vulcanized rubber, elevators, dynamite, X-rays. Each had its own identified creator.

One could continue in awe to list the multitude of technical accomplishments created by Western civilization. Indeed, science and its technology are the glory of our civilization.

No matter how incomplete this list or imperfect its attributions, as one studies this outpouring of scientific creativity a remarkable correlation appears: it is remarkable that every one of these creative individuals mentioned above is or was a Europoid Caucasoid. Although not exclusively linked to Europoids, throughout history, creativity has been primarily found among Caucasoids and, to a somewhat lesser extent, among those East Asians known broadly as Mongoloids. The capacity to create is a rare gift and unfortunately it is not universal.[5]

Because -- in part at least -- of outmigration and genetic admixture, creativity has not been exclusively linked to Europoids or Mongoloids. It is not solely a "Western" or East Asian phenomenon. But it has been almost exclusively linked to the Europoid and Mongoloid peoples or their migrant descendants. Some of the latter are itemized below. Though these comprise a respectable number, their total would appear to stand in striking contrast to the thousands of Europoid creators of Caucasoid civilization from the first appearance of the Upper Paleolithic culture of Europe -much of which was eventually transmitted across the Asian steppe-lands to be picked up and adapted by Mongoloids, with some reverse flow of East Eurasian invention to West Eurasia. [6] Even the culture of the intelligent Mongoloid Eskimos originated among the Cro-Magnons and their Europoid descendants in Western Eurasia during the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods.

The Mongoloid Chinese and Japanese civilizations are well known to have achieved high levels of technology and refinement. The Chinese invented gunpowder, printing, and a diverse variety of things including even the wheelbarrow. The Mongoloid Japanese are today showing us their technological ability to copy and then to innovate and improve. The Caucasoid West seems now be suffering from centuries of dysgenic behavior, in which the leadership elements have been destroyed in bloody revolutions, overseas adventures and internecine wars (e.g. the French revolution, the Russian revolution, and the selectively dysgenic impact of World Wars I and II, probably unparalleled in the history of man for their disastrous genetic impact on the participant nations. Indeed, dysgenics and the concomitant decline of creativity in the West has recently become so pronounced that, what with disparate labor costs, political and financial mismanagement, with commercial espionage, and ideological confusion weakening the still predominantly Caucasoid West, the more purely Mongoloid of the East Asian countries are today rapidly overtaking the weakened (and increasingly hybridized) Caucasoid stock in many areas of creativity.

But as we have already observed, because of the former triumphant outward migration by the descendants of the Cro-Magnons, from the Mesolithic onwards, Middle Easterners and a high proportion of South Asians are either exclusively or primarily Caucasoid in their ancestry. [7] Classical Greek and Roman Europoid civilizations were clearly Caucasoid, direct descendants of the fabulously creative Cro-Magnon Caucasoids. But the ancient Mesopotamians were also Caucasoids, as seemingly were also the creators of the related Indus Valley civilization in the Indian subcontinent. The ancient Egyptians were initially Caucasoid Hamites; Caucasoid Asian Semites have through history contributed much to science and the arts; Caucasoid Semites were largely responsible for our Western alphabet; and Caucasoid Arab Semites produced the present numbering system, superior to that of the Romans. They invented the ship's rudder, replacing the steering oar. Caucasoid Aryans brought the rich Vedic literary and philosophical tradition into India, which was subsequently renowned for its mathematics and other achievements, including even the spinning wheel.[8] Through history there has been considerable genetic expansion from the temperate zones into the more tropical areas, with resultant admixture of Homo sapiens genes with those of the older stocks inhabiting those areas. But the highest levels of achievement and creativity seem always to have been linked with those populations, Caucasoid and Mongoloid, which evolved during the past fifty or more thousand years under severe selective pressures in the harsher environment of northern Eurasia, and retained their racial integrity by remaining close to those areas.

Tomorrow's Need for Creative Individuals

The science of genetics, unknown two centuries ago, has made major strides during the past half century. In another generation or two, eugenics (already being applied in medicine) will be far more perfect than it is today. But we know enough to assert that the really creative are likely to be the children of parents of high intelligence and parents who have themselves proved to be at least modestly creative. It follows that it would be good to have more highly creative peoples such as these so that they and their society may continue to progress into the future.

Yet when we consider Western society today, what do we find?

Since 1914 it has selectively pruned out those who were of proven ability, by warfare between nations (the high death rate among air crew, for example), and, in revolutions, by warfare between classes.

Even more sinister, at a time when the Third World population is exploding, the Caucasoid peoples are voluntarily committing autogenocide. Their birth rate averages 1.8 children per couple, when 2.1 children per couple are necessary just for replacement. Contrast this with Africa, for example, where women in general average six live births. Also, contrast this with conditions in Benjamin Franklin's time. Writing about the American colonists, Franklin commented that: "Our people must be at least doubled every 20 years." Now, at a time of Third World population explosion, the West is not merely failing to replace itself, generation by generation, but its numbers have diminished to 15% of the total world population, and it is losing ground every year. What is more, its homelands, its racial breeding grounds, are being invaded in increasing numbers by the surplus population from the Third World, which is not only promoting hybridization but could in the course of time eventually swamp the declining population of indigenous Caucasoids.

What Can be Done?

As a result of scientific advances, we are fast reaching a stage where society -- and civilization itself-- will depend for its future on the continued supply of an increasing number of highly intelligent and highly creative people. The Caucasoid West seems to be already facing a decline in the prevalence of such people among its present generation. American universities are drawing heavily from the brighter Mongoloids and the more talented of the Indian Caucasoids of South Asia. But what happens if the supply also begins to run low through a failure there among the more intelligent and more creative peoples to breed as rapidly as the less capable? How can the West, or any peoples, produce more intelligent and creative-type individuals? Herman J. Muller, the Nobel Prize-winning geneticist from Texas University, recognized this problem, just as he recognized the problem of the spread of deleterious genes throughout modern populations as a result of modern man's changed breeding habits.[9] Others have since then also given their attention to this problem.

A more favorable attitude toward having children could be restored to educated, intelligent people in general. Today the media and entertainment industry both emphasize to literates the cost and encumbrance which the birth of children represents to parents. They too seldom mention that children enrich the parents' lives beyond all else. The printed media could stop discouraging the birth of future readers.

Higher education should be accomplished without interfering with normal childbearing. Today, the best years for reproduction are often spent instead in higher education. As Mark Twain put it: "Education is not so sudden as a massacre, but is equally deadly in the long run." If a people would support its truly educable young couples well enough so that they could combine abundant childbearing with the simultaneous acquisition of higher learning, this would raise the genetic quality of the nation's posterity. No others could match it unless they were to do likewise.

But there is a project, which though minuscule today, serves as an example that needs to be emulated many times over. It has demonstrated what can be done. It is not just another proposal; it is a project that is working. It gives children the best possible start in life. If its principles were employed on a national, or even international, scale it could materially increase the number of potentially creative individuals for posterity.

This latter was the brainchild of the Nobel laureate Hermann J. Muller. Muller was no snob, but he valued quality. Once a Communist party member, he broke with Marxism when it condemned the science of genetics and, most particularly, eugenics. Seeing the danger to future generations of Man, if intelligence and especially creativity declined, Muller discerned a way voluntarily to increase the distribution of genes for high intelligence, creativity and other favorable qualities without impinging on the mores of our society.

There are many married couples of high intelligence and inherent ability, he perceived, where the wife is healthy and intelligent, but cannot give birth to offspring because of the infertility of her husband. If germinal repositories containing sperm from healthy, intelligent and creative males were available for their use, those couples who wished to have a child could ensure that the donated sperm would be of high quality. Such germinal repositories would make available to the parents all relevant facts about the health, physical qualities, achievements and intelligence of the donor male. They would be "repositories for germinal choice." Muller often rated his idea that such repositories should be established as being the most important that he had offered Mankind in the entire course of his life. He ranked it as more significant than the research on mutations for which he received his Nobel prize. Repositories can turn the current increase in male infertility into an opportunity for the betterment of posterity.

The Repository for Germinal Choice in Escondido

The first repository for the propagation of intelligence and creativity began to function in 1980. To date it has engendered 187 infants (and 19 more are on the way). All are remarkably bright, healthy and happy youngsters. Their vocabularies are large, in some instances more than twice the expected. All who have been examined are above average in development and some are at least gifted. It remains to be seen how many will be significantly creative adults, but biographical research has found that notably creative persons have typically shown a constellation of traits when they were children that now are appearing in a number of children who have resulted from the repository. The Repository serves as a pioneering example of what can be accomplished by constructive concern for the genetic component of offspring. It is best understood from the viewpoint of the recipients of the repository's services.

Recipients are married couples who want children but cannot have them because of the infertility of the husband. The Repository can supply under liquid nitrogen the germinal material which enables the wife to become a mother. The couple are provided with detailed information about a number of germinal donors and may choose from this the one they would prefer as the biological father of their child (hence the term: germinal choice). Since the offspring will spend a lifetime profoundly influenced by the genes of the donor (as well as those of the mother), the repository undertakes to supply genes from the most intellectually creative and productive donors to be found. It goes to Nobelists and younger healthy, creative men who, though unpaid, are willing to increase the distribution of genes which helped to make them outstanding. Some of these are men whose accomplishments are widely recognized. Some have resolved problems which were previously unresolved. The world can have more creative human assets such as these. The system enables the mothers to have the most intellectually promising children possible for them. With bright mothers and genius fathers the probability of bright, healthy and creative children is maximized. Even if none of these children turn out to be significantly creative, they still will enrich the human gene pool through a wider distribution of genes for high intelligence and creativity than would have taken place otherwise.

More than 100 of the repository children are the offspring of leading scientists. These are in addition to the scientists' own families. Without the Repository, these fortunate children would not have been born, and the outlook for the future prospects of Mankind would be even poorer than it is now.

Conclusion

If there were hundreds of repositories, at least one in each city of size, this could result in thousands more of bright, useful citizens, some of them potentially creative.

In this century, the new science of genetics has powerfully reinforced man's ability to transcend himself and thus to reach new heights of competence. For the first time a living species has both the understanding and the ability to improve itself. Man may increase his competence until he manages himself and his globe far more wisely than today. Amid the justified concern about diminishing natural resources, he can increase his ultimate and most inexhaustible resource: human intelligence. And high intelligence, when specially empowered by a deeply-felt need or a penetrating curiosity, sometimes results in that rare and wonderful flowering which we call human creativity.

1 Mankind must also rely on intelligence to avoid extinction in life- threatening ecological disasters, and even for the development of techniques to repair ecological damage already done.

2 See The IQ Controversy: The Media and Public Policy by Mark Snyderman and Stanley Roth, Transaction Books, 1988. Indeed, if intelligence were not primarily genetic, evolution could never have produced any form of intelligence.

3 See Shockley on Eugenics and Race, (Ed., Roger Pearson) 1992, Washington D.C.: Scott-Townsend Publishers.

4 Arthur R. Jensen, in Straight Talk About Menial Tests, 1981, New York: The Free Press. P.247.

5 In a number of areas, East Asian scientists have produced scientific innovations in technical areas initiated or enhanced by Caucasoids. For purely illustrative purposes, consider the following instances of Mongoloid creativity compared with concomitant Caucasoid contributors: Fermi - weak interaction theory, Yukawa - strong interaction theory; Kendall - cortisone, Li -ACTH, MSH and ribonuclease; Cronin and Fitch -CPT symmetry, Lee and Yang - refinement of parity; Hull - magnetrodes, Esaki - tunnel diodes; Wilson - cloud chamber, Fukui and Miyamoto -spark chamber.

6 For a summary of the theory of early migration by the descendants of Cro-Magnon (early Caucasoids) into other lands, and thought-provoking ideas relating to the history of high intelligence among Caucasoids and Mongoloids and amongst other populations containing some degree of genetic admixture of these more highly intelligent races, see " The Upper Paleolithic Revolution" by David de Laubenfels, pp 61-83, in Evolution, Creative Intelligence and Intergroup Competition (Ed. Alan McGregor) 1986, Mankind Quarterly Monograph No. 3.

7 Ibid.

8 Recently, Caucasoid Indian scholars have made substantial contributions in various scientific areas. As with the East Asian Mongoloids, we can see how their achievements match up against those of Europoids by the following sample list: Fermi - Dirac statistics, Bose -Einstein statistics; Heisenberg - matrix mechanics, Raman - spectra; Nirenberg - genetic code contributions, Khorana - the same area; Glashow - electroweak interaction, Salam - the same; Weinberg; Schwarzschild -black holes, Chandrasekhar - the same; Feynman - quantum electrodynamics, Ramanujan - number theory.

9 See Herman J. Muller, Out of the Night.' A Biologist's View of the Future, (London: Victor Gollancz, 1936).


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