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To: koan who wrote (118039)4/12/2016 2:16:12 AM
From: Maurice Winn  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 220172
 
<When billions of people start moving around the planet and interbreeding with each other there is a regression to the mean. And that is what is happening worldwide. Anybody that thinks there's some natural selection taking place to make us smarter or dumber does not understand either evolution or statistics, or the brain.>

Close but not right. When billions of people interbreed, they don't revert to the mean. They go to just above the previous mean because the bottom 10% or 20% miss out on contributing to the gene pool of the next generation.

Do you really think that natural selection and sexual selection don't apply to humans? If you do, how do you think the human species got from being like chimps to being as we are? There are two things that happen, mutations [nearly all of which are duds and they are gradually eliminated] and selection of the right stuff. The right stuff has been a progression from chimp-like brains to human style brains.

The process has been selection of smarter, not dumber. That's why we are humans, not chimps. As you know, being smarter is a fantastic evolutionary advantage.

You are right that becoming expert takes a lot of practise. But some brains are faster and better at becoming expert than others. That's what intelligence is. You can't make a world champion chess player or mathematics ace out of any brain that gets born. They are not all the same. A supersonic brain that has had no practice will not be better at something that an average brain has practiced a lot. But if you start off with both being novice and have a race to see which gets better faster and ends up better, the smart brains win every time. It seems trivial to point that out but apparently that's not what you think.

Mqurice



To: koan who wrote (118039)4/12/2016 9:17:14 AM
From: Pogeu Mahone  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 220172
 
In Global Innovation Race, Taiwan Is Tops in Patents, Israel Leads in R&D

By Wei Lu and Marcus Chan 2014-01-23T11:00:16Z
- Comments

Photographer: Getty Images
South Korea's total innovation score was the highest, but the Asian nation actually... Read More

South Korea may have bragging rights as the all-around most innovative country in the world, but when you look at the individual factors that were weighed, other nations came out on top.

In determining who was the most innovative, Bloomberg Rankingsevaluated more than 200 countries and sovereign regions based on seven factors, such as R&D expenditure, the percentage of public high-tech companies and patent activity. While South Korea's total score was the highest, the Asian nation actually wasn't the leader in any of these categories.

Here are the winners in each of the innovation factors:

R&D Intensity: IsraelWhile the country ranked 30th overall, it was first in this factor, which analyzed research and development expenditure as a percentage of the nation's GDP. In second place? Finland.

Productivity: LuxembourgThe nation ranked as the 21st most innovative country, but nabbed the top spot in productivity, which measured the GDP per employed person age 15 and over. Norway came next.

High-Tech Density: United States No surprise here. The U.S., which placed 3rd overall, was the leader in the number of high-tech public companies as a percentage of all publicly listed companies. Taiwan came in at No. 2.

Researcher Concentration: IcelandThe nation's overall rank was 33rd, but Iceland took first place in the number of professionals, including Ph.D. students, engaged in R&D per 1 million people. Finland took second place in this factor, too.

Manufacturing Capability: ChinaWell, of course. The Asian giant ranked 25th in terms of overall innovation, but was the leader in this category, which looked at manufacturing value added as a percentage of GDP and as a share of the world total of manufacturing value added. No. 2 was South Korea.

Tertiary Efficiency: CanadaCanadians placed 11th overall and first in this factor, which measured the number of secondary graduates enrolled in post-secondary institutions as a percentage of the cohort; the percentage of the labor force with tertiary degrees; and the annual science and engineering graduates as a percentage of the labor force and as a percentage of all tertiary graduates. Taiwan came next.

Patent Activity: TaiwanYou can see why the island was among the top 10 most innovative -- in addition to coming in second place in two of the seven factors, it was first in patent activity. This category looked at resident patent filings per 1 million residents and per $1 million of R&D spent, as well as patents granted as a percentage of the world total.

You can download the full rankings here.