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May 02, 2012ocleirigh rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Diamond's hypotheses (that New Guineans, his friend Yali are smarter than Europeans, and determined by environement only) is what Carl Sagan calls pseudoscience. Diamond rejects any use of IQ tests, or genetic biological research into individuals of differenet races. His hypothesis is invulnerable to any experiment that offers a prospect of disproof, so even in principle it cannot be invalidated. Jared is defensive and wary and skepticism is opposed. In true science hypotheses are framed so they are capable of being disproved. A succession of alternative hypotheses is confronted by experiment and observation. Proprietary feelings are of course offended when a scientifc hypothesis is disproved, but such disproofs are recognized as central to the scientific enterprise.