Raymond Cattell's decades long studies
in the psychology of measurement and mathematical modes taught him
that IQ differences are not merely culturally connected but are
genetically connected. This led to his understanding that IQ differences, as well as
emotional control from ego strength, lead to such things as the incapacity to
concentrate, which is a poor fit indeed for our complex culture, and
this in turn leads to psychological and social problems. However,
Cattell recognized that even the criminal element may be with us for
the reason that certain traits of criminals, such as
self-sufficiency, dominance and fearlessness are also valuable in
trail-breaking scientists, inventors and creators. This is bold thinking,
backed by science.
Cattell recognized the great value of
competition and worried about the “entropy” of human beings in
the rush of modern liberalism to end all competition, which would be
the worst thing for ongoing evolution. Freedom from all wants and
concerns? That “surrenders the ego to the id.” Freedom from fear
? (eg. Roosevelt) That ends the use of the frontal lobes and
mankind's progress, since “foresight is substantially fearsight.”
This is courageous thinking in today's
world of entropic hedonism. What we need is cooperative competition,
ethically directed individualism, ethically directed societies, with
more impulse control, and not a state-sponsored forced end to
competition. This means we have to deal with nature and genetics, at
least as much as we do nurture or culture, and for this we very much
need the aid of sociobiological studies from more men like Cattell and E.O. Wilson.
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