Nicely put indeed! Do not expect that the comments will be as restrained, however! In the current climate this is not a subject which can be discussed in a civilized manner, it appears.

Charles, Charlottesville,

Ever seen an intellectual try and fix a blocked toilet? The idea that the result of an IQ test is all that matters is a busted flush.

Terry Hamblin, Bournemouth,

A big asteroid on a collision course with earth will settle this question once and for all - are human's intelligent enough to save themselves? Probably...not...

Mahatma Koat, London,

"The difficulty is that campaigners for racial equality have insisted on the rights of whole groups, not of individuals. They have sought to be argue that entitlements should be conferred on individuals not on their own merits but simply because they belong to that group..."

"All people deserve equal treatment. But that is not quite the same as saying they are all equal. The error comes in taking a group difference, which may or may not be real, and using it to judge the worth of individuals. That is racism. "

Bingo! I don't think I could have said it any better.

Robert, Los Angeles, CA

The really smart types (as opposed to the just merely most intelligent), and the ones who end up as the most successful, are the ones who act a bit dumb and get the clinically intelligent types to work on their problems for them. Then while the intelligent ones are still wading through the next interesting brain bender the smart types are passing off the work as their own. Or is that just what ends up being called good management when the really smart types get to the top of the heap? I'm not sure. Any unengaged intelligent people out there know the answer?

Cirep G Nol, London,

1) "Orientals are high in visual-spacial IQ":- Probably acquired by learning thousands of Chinese characters.
2) It is not enough to have a good mind, the main thing is to use it well. There is no relationship between IQ and doing good/evil. Slow people can advance further than fast if they keep at it. (Descartes)
3) To "tuk, townsend", see "Sanjay, San Francisco".

Quentin, Reading, UK

Whats the use of having a high IQ ? The Chinese behave like savages - millions killed in Mao's purges, excessive use of death penalty, female infanticide, organ harvesting, eating snakes, dogs, cats etc. The Germans who started WWII and the carried out Holocaust.

tuk, townsend,

Eugene, Chester, England says:
"Come on people, the books are out there, read them!"

Thanks for the advice Eugene.
Maybe you could tell us which books have informed you that "Europeans invented everything and not Orientals".

Laurence , Clifton, UK

The charge is serious indeed as the headline results in prejudice. The paragraph beginning "So if we accept that group differences..." is wrong.

The inherent bias is one of literacy. Even a question as basic as "red is to red as blue is to a) yellow b) green c) blue d) purple" will discriminate between one who can read and one who cannot. Or is the comparison based on tests conducted orally in the subject's maiden language?

Pierre Bernardi, Paris, France

Different racial groups have physical genetic differences. It should be expected therefore that there would be differences in the brain as well?
As other have said though genetic variety within groups is far greater than any differences between them and IQ tests are not the whole story.

ted, glasgow,

Roger, darling, it is a newspaper, and the writer a journalist not an expert on cognition.

Neil, Manchester, UK

None of the responses apart from Jack and the editor define how we define IQ .Was Mozart any more intelligent than Bob
Marley or where the slaves in the 18th Century more intelligent
than the Jews or the human beings that percecuted them. If that is the sum of our intelligence I would rather be a tortoise.

Julie Davis, Surrey, England

The fact that fewer women score in the very top bracket for IQ is widely used as part of the case for denying them real equality. Of course that is totally different from this unacceptable race-based idea.

(And no, the average IQ does not differ with gender, because there are also more men at the bottom.)

FH, Norwich,

If it is true that the whole human race hails from a few families on the east coast of Africa, what the hell difference can it make? We have other, more acute problems now, all of us.

Julia Iskandar, London, England

we can vilify or ignore watson but africa is a mess and the position of various afros in western countries is also a mess. Why? Whether it's genes, memes or culture something is amiss. NB The russian serfs were not freed till 1861, manchuria and korea suffered horibly under the japanese, a million armenians were slaughtered. Have we any idea of conditions in Ireland in the 19C? Jews have been persecuted for ever, the Indians were colonised. We don't get begging letters day in day out for these groups, we don't rearrange our schools or justice systems to help them out. Apologists want it both ways, they argue there are no differences while insisting on special treatment. I don't think we can or should do anything about africa. but we need to think creatively and realistically about our ghettoes.

john sharp, oxford, uk

It seems that people with the strongest opinions have not read any of the research. North East Orientals have a higher average IQ than whites, South East Orientals lower. White people don't have a problem with this. There is visual-spacial IQ and verbal sequential IQ. Orientals are high in visual-spacial. It enabled them to survive in the even harsher climates than the Europeans were faced with. They don't fill the professions which require high verbal IQ: law, journalism etc. They are very good at maths and sciences. Why Europeans invented everything and not Orientals is a moot point. It has been suggested that they are mentally too conforminst - not original thinkers.

Come on people, the books are out there, read them!

Eugene, Chester, England

In the context of what Watson said - what 'to do' about Africa - intelligence of the group certainly does matter. I hope he's wrong, but wishful thinking won't solve any problems.

Geoffrey Cohen, Witham, UK

"IQ differences are real, but do they matter?"

Yes.

Companies who need professional's that require 'deep thinkers' within their business, will not employ un-intelligent people.

Mohammed, London, UK

Steve, Clearwater, FL:

You have absolutely no understanding of the history of microelectronics if you think the Japanese and Chinese invented all of it. They are the world's best copiers, however you need to read a book on Intel, on Andy Grove. Regarding the transistor: read up on Schockley, Bardeen, Brattain. Read and understand the history of physics in the early twentieth century before handing credit to the Japanese for technological advances. Go learn where all the breakthroughs have occured, where all of the invention, the new ideas, the brilliant concepts took place. Then go learn who learned to manufacture more efficiently and you'll understand. And stop with the anecdotal "evidence." Asian parents simply have much higher academic expectations of their children than do most American parents.

Scott, Durham, NC, USA

On the contrary - a series of questions does not constitute any form of argument.

David Hardman, London, UK

Some of the characteristics of a particular race are product of the natural selection within a particular environment. A northern European would unlikely to have instincts of an inhabitant of a desert, jungle or savannah, same as an African or an Australian aborigine would not have instincts of an Eskimo. We are all different in our abilities, and we are partly product of our immediate environment as well as inherited abilities from our recent or more distant ancestors.

S. Radun, Rouen, France

The Japanese, Koreans and Chinese do have higher IQ, look at all the straight A's students in our schools , most of them are orientals, and a lot of them came here not even speaking english and still getting straight A's.
We should not complain about that, without them we would not have all the electronics we have now. But I must say Europe did a lot too, to improve the world, and the Jewish IQ is about as high as the Japanese, as proven statistically.

Steve, Clearwater, Fl.USA

Then why don't white raise up any issues on Japanese having higher IQ's?

I personally don't mind japanese having better IQ than whites. Why deny what is proven statistically?

Mike, Orlando, FL

Is it possible to measure the negative impact slavery, segregation and apartheid have had on a whole group? People wake up!!!! It was illegal for black people to learn how to read in the USA for hundreds of years. You don't think "generational literacy" makes a difference? I am sure that soldiers who are third or fourth generation military tend to do better than soldiers who do not come from a family tradition of joining the military. Environment has a direct impact on attitude. Attitude has a direct impact on intelligence.

guesswho, des moines, iowa, usa

most of the intelligence as we know is spent of justifying what people already believe.

Sanjay, San Francisco, CA

Relating IQ to success - did anyone measure the size of their feet? Maybe big feet mean you are likely to be more successful? What is success? Are people in sports, arts and crafts included as successful? or is it only people in pin-striped suits climbing up the greasy pole of corporate life, which is controlled by people who promote others like themselves. Having a strong desire to gain status can also lead to being more "successful"? desire to be rich, powerful, etc will all lead to those people being more successful. Dishonesty can lead to people being very successful. Is success a measure of human value? This whole argument is missing the point - Dr. Watson quoted as saying that people with experience of black employees regard them as unintelligent. This is BNP racist slandering. He was not talking about a few points difference in IQ tests between racial groups; this is not the issue. The article clearly showed him indicating subjective feeling towards African and black people.

Jack Sprat, Bristol, UK

At last - the argument put clearly, calmly, honestly and succinctly. My compliments.

Roger Darce, London, UK