Comments on: Israel’s Technology Boom

By: froylein

froylein — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:02:24 +0000

Indeed, Tom, CTC’s pretty daft. Just watched the stocks news and saw that stock markets worldwide are fearing an economic crash in all of the UAE as Dubai’s in deep debt with its neighbours, who see no prospect of getting their money back anytime soon. If those states also start withdrawing the shares they hold in global players, we’re in for another serious round of an economic crisis.

By: Tom Morrissey

Tom Morrissey — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:36:10 +0000

Sorry this has been so painful for you, CTC.

By: name not needed, you know me

name not needed, you know me — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:12:21 +0000

i hate to be the resident “bad guy” but someone had to tell the truth

By: froylein

froylein — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:46:09 +0000

Sorry, Middle…

Feel free to erase all of the comments.

By: themiddle

themiddle — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:57:08 +0000

That may be, I haven’t seen statistics although I’ve read that Ashkenazi Jews have a high IQ relative to other measured groups. Regarding your claims about averages, you also have to consider that if you have a few people with 150 scores and then many with 100, you would still skew high. In other words, high averages don’t necessarily mean that the group is smarter, just that a sufficient number from the group are very smart.

By: Joanne

Joanne — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:01:50 +0000

“It’s always hard to say that it’s Jewish intellect that is driving this extraordinary success because let’s face it, we all know some fairly stupid Jewish people, not to mention average ones.”

That’s really not the point. What that view holds–based on IQ tests and on the preponderance of Jews in science, economics, chess, etc–is that the AVERAGE intelligence of Jews is high.

That doesn’t mean that every single Jew is highly intelligent. You’re still going to the lower portion of the curve; and you’re still going to have average-intelligence people. The difference is that there will be more above-average people than other groups.

So saying that, well, it couldn’t be true because you know some dumb or average Jews is saying nothing. Just image a bell curve shifted a bit to the right compared to the usual bell curve (with 100 being at center). The lower half of the curve will still have average and below-average instances of intelligence.

By: froylein

froylein — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:52:03 +0000

I think all factors you mention contribute to the outcome. Additionally, Jews were not permitted to guilds for a long time, so they excelled in professions they could go into and didn’t frown upon those professions. (Consider that even my classmates that grew up in the 1980s were not supported by their parents in going for higher education as their parents made a living withought going all studious and brainy, so they didn’t see the chances in further learning.)

By: Ben-David

Ben-David — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:41:08 +0000

One aspect of Israeli military culture that is highlighted as a key to innovation is the culture of independent thinking – challenging one’s superiors and their commands.

For example – the IDF concluded that its failures in Lebanon grew out of a culture in which mid-level officers did not question their superiors. The IDF invested great effort in changing to a questioning culture, featuring brutally honest debriefings.

Which puts discussion of conscientious objectors and “let’s not expel any more Jews” signs in context.