Speaking for myself, my position is “I don’t know”.
Ignoring the specific question, there are many situations in my life where (a) I am curious about something, (b) I don’t trust the existing research, and (c) it is not high enough priority for me to try doing the research myself. In such case, thinking “I don’t know” seems like a reasonable reaction. What else should I think?
In absence of solid research, people often return to armchair reasoning, inventing clever arguments why in absence of evidence we should stick with “default” opinion X, and put the whole burden of proof on people who say Y. Problem is, in the next room, people use similar armchair reasoning to argue that we should stick with the “default” opinion Y, and put the whole burden of proof on people who say X. I could easily provide “a priori” arguments for either position here, which is why I consider neither of them convincing.
Here are your options:
decide that you feel better about believing that the different ethnic groups have the same average IQs;
decide that you feel better about believing that the different ethnic groups have different average IQs;
do the research, which can take you a few years and probably more money than you have; or
accept that you do not know the answer, and learn to live with that feeling.
More importantly, the question is what purpose do you actually need the answer for.
Are you trying to find intelligent people? Then try to measure or estimate their IQs as individuals.
Are you deciding which country to live in? There are probably many other factors to consider, so use those.
Are you trying to win an internet debate? Consider better ways to spend your time.
Are you researching a transhumanist technology for creating superhumans? You will have to research the specific alleles and their interactions; knowing about averages of large populations is not going to help much.
EDIT:
I think there may be one situation where knowing the answer actually would be practical: If you want to start a project in a foreign country, and the success of the project depends on the country having enough high-IQ people. For example, you might be a philanthropist billionaire trying to build a university (or, more meaningfully, the whole educational structure, starting perhaps from pre-school education, and ending with a university) in the middle of a country that according to some sources is full of people stupid for genetical reasons (i.e. not just bad nutrition, etc.), so your project of achieving university-level education for local people may be doomed to fail.
I guess you’d just have to take the risk, and possibly find the answer to the question as a side effect.
Speaking for myself, my position is “I don’t know”.
Ignoring the specific question, there are many situations in my life where (a) I am curious about something, (b) I don’t trust the existing research, and (c) it is not high enough priority for me to try doing the research myself. In such case, thinking “I don’t know” seems like a reasonable reaction. What else should I think?
In absence of solid research, people often return to armchair reasoning, inventing clever arguments why in absence of evidence we should stick with “default” opinion X, and put the whole burden of proof on people who say Y. Problem is, in the next room, people use similar armchair reasoning to argue that we should stick with the “default” opinion Y, and put the whole burden of proof on people who say X. I could easily provide “a priori” arguments for either position here, which is why I consider neither of them convincing.
Here are your options:
decide that you feel better about believing that the different ethnic groups have the same average IQs;
decide that you feel better about believing that the different ethnic groups have different average IQs;
do the research, which can take you a few years and probably more money than you have; or
accept that you do not know the answer, and learn to live with that feeling.
More importantly, the question is what purpose do you actually need the answer for.
Are you trying to find intelligent people? Then try to measure or estimate their IQs as individuals.
Are you deciding which country to live in? There are probably many other factors to consider, so use those.
Are you trying to win an internet debate? Consider better ways to spend your time.
Are you researching a transhumanist technology for creating superhumans? You will have to research the specific alleles and their interactions; knowing about averages of large populations is not going to help much.
EDIT:
I think there may be one situation where knowing the answer actually would be practical: If you want to start a project in a foreign country, and the success of the project depends on the country having enough high-IQ people. For example, you might be a philanthropist billionaire trying to build a university (or, more meaningfully, the whole educational structure, starting perhaps from pre-school education, and ending with a university) in the middle of a country that according to some sources is full of people stupid for genetical reasons (i.e. not just bad nutrition, etc.), so your project of achieving university-level education for local people may be doomed to fail.
I guess you’d just have to take the risk, and possibly find the answer to the question as a side effect.