Watson Loses Cold Spring Harbor Post
James Watson, the co-discoverer of DNA, has made many controversial remarks over the years. But telling a British newspaper that, in effect, blacks are intellectually inferior to whites seems to have landed him in unprecedented trouble. Last evening, as public criticism of those remarks swelled to a crescendo, the Board of Trustees of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in Long Island, New York, stripped Watson of his title as chancellor of the 117-year-old institution.
This is, in my opinion, stupid. This is what he’s attributed to have said:
Watson explained that he is “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours—whereas all the testing says not really.”
Well, that’s a pretty stupid thing to say without having any actual tests to base it on. Now, of course, I also think it’s a bad inference—I think that, even if we could show that Africans in general are less intelligent (as defined by IQ or some other metric), it would be so small a variation that it wouldn’t have any effect on the politics.
Other than that, it’s not that much different from saying asians are more intelligent or some such. Both of which may be untrue, but it’s certainly not the same as calling them inferior or superior.
The stupid part comes with this:
In a statement issued yesterday, CSHL President Bruce Stillman said Watson’s comments in “no way reflect the mission, goals, or principles of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Board, administration or faculty. … Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory does not engage in any research that could even form the basis of the statements attributed to Dr. Watson.”
As far as I know, Dr. Watson never said anything to the effect of “this is endorsed by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Board, administration or faculty.” Doesn’t he have the right to say what he pleases, no matter where he works for, however stupid?
Further, there are, for instance, many Christian scientists. You don’t hear anyone throw them out for saying Yahweh exists, on the grounds that “This in no way reflects the goals or mission of our institution. This institution does not engage in any research that could even form the basis of the statements attributed to Mr. Christian Scientist.”
So, yeah, he’s a scientist and he said something that’s probably largely untrue and biased by underlying racism. But that doesn’t mean he should be thrown out for simply speaking his (stupid) opinion.
