2019年经济学人 詹姆斯·沃森:遗传性障碍 (2)（在线收听）

Dr Watson's views about race and intelligence seem to stem from his keen interest in "The Bell Curve",

沃森博士关于种族和智商的观点似乎源于他对《钟形曲线》的强烈兴趣，

a book published in 1994 by Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein, that, among other things,

该书由查理斯·墨瑞和理查德·赫恩斯坦创作并于1994年出版，此外，

argued African-Americans were less intelligent than white Americans and genetic differences between ethnicities played a role in the difference.

该书争论称非裔美国人智商不如美国白人，并且种族划分之间的基因差异在这种差别中起到重要作用。

Modern genetic research has largely discredited these ideas.

现代基因研究已经让这些想法站不住脚了。

Biologists know that there is a substantial genetic component to intelligence.

生物学家知道智力有着大量遗传组成部分。

Depending on the precise measure of intelligence being studied and the statistical model being used, it can range anywhere from 20-60%.

由于被研究智力的精准测量以及所使用统计模型的不同，其可以在20%到60%之间变动。

And observational research from the 1980s, cited by the authors of "The Bell Curve", showed that,

《钟形曲线》的作者所引用的20世纪80年代的观察研究表明

if you ask people to self-identify on the basis of ethnicity and then measure their mental performance in some way,

如果你让人们以种族为基础进行自我定义，然后用一些方法测量他们的心理作业，

for example IQ or the number of years in education, you will find differences in the mean attainment levels between different groups.

例如IQ或受教育年数，你将发现不同人群学业水平之间的差别。

Genetics, however, cannot be the main reason for any observed differences, says Ewan Birney,

但基因并不能成为任何观察差异的主要原因，伊万·伯尼

director of the European Bioinformatics Institute, in Cambridge, because self-identification of ethnicity does not easily map onto genetic ancestry.

剑桥欧洲生物信息研究所主任表示，因为对种族的自我认同不能轻易映射到遗传起源上。

"African-Americans have a substantial amount of European genetic ancestry—you should in fact call them 'African-European-Americans'," observes Dr Birney.

“非裔美国人拥有大量的欧洲基因血统—其实你应该称他们为‘非裔欧洲美国人’，”伯尼博士观察称。

Dr Watson has easy access to these scientific insights, which are emerging thick and fast in a field of research that he helped invent.

沃森博士能够轻易获得这些科学观点，这些观点在他帮助发明的这一片研究领域中频频出现。

But if he knows about these latest ideas, he has not acted on them.

但是如果他了解这些最新的想法，那么他不会这么做的。

"Jim Watson," says Dr Birney, "is one of these scientists who has used his gut to think a lot, often with remarkable success,

“詹姆斯·沃森，”伯尼博士说到，“是利用直觉思考的科学家之一，直觉经常让他们取得举世瞩目的成就，

but this is a case where his gut is plain, flat wrong. He has had many people tell him that he is wrong and he has decided not to listen to that.

但这一次，他的直觉是错的。有很多人告诉他，他是错的并且他已经决定不听从他们的建议。

And he has decided not to engage with people who know more than him in this area."

他决定不和那些对这个领域知知甚多的人接洽。”

Dr Watson himself was unable to respond to his critics this week.

沃森博士本身无法回应本周批评他的人。

According to family members who spoke with the New York Times, he has been in hospital following a car accident in October last year.

据家族成员告知《纽约时报》，自去年10月车祸以来，他一直在住院。

Like any other group of people, scientists can be complicated, controversial and do not have to be loved by all.

很任何其他人群一样，科学家们可以是很复杂的、饱受争议且不必被人人所爱的。

Even so, Dr Watson's lifelong desire to provoke might write a bitter epitaph to an otherwise-great scientific career.

即便如此，沃森博士想要挑衅的毕生愿望或许可以写成一篇原本伟大科学事业的苦涩碑文。