Why Armenia Is More Likely to Engineer Super-Children Than China

[Yervant1]

Why Armenia Is More Likely to Engineer Super-Children Than China

January 6, 2015
By Brian Merchant

MOTHERBOARD - Seems like everybody's talking Chinese genomics and the
art of engineering genius babies these days. But the nation that's
more likely to breed a generation of super-smart, problem-solving kids
isn't the global economic giant currently engaging in a complex,
sinister-sounding genetics program--it's Armenia, a tiny landlocked
nation, pop. 3,000,000, that's still mired in the shadow of a
devastating genocide. And it's going to do it with chess.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130322-chinas-designs-for-genius-babies

First, let's look at China's alleged plan. Vice recently ran an
uber-popular interview with evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller,
who believes that the Beijing Genomics Institute is essentially
looking for a way for China to breed more intelligent children. Super
babies, if you will. And it's the largest such effort in the
world. More specifically, BGI Shenzen has "collected DNA samples from
2,000 of the world's smartest people and are sequencing their entire
genomes in an attempt to identify the alleles which determine human
intelligence."
http://www.vice.com/read/chinas-taking-over-the-world-with-a-massive-genetic-engineering-program

If they're successful in finding them, Miller believes it could pave
the way for embryo screenings that would eventually help boost the IQ
of children by 5-15 points per generation, in aggregate. But after the
article went viral, there was some significant pushback from the
scientific community. Many scientists say IQ is too complex, too
reliant on the interplay of genes and environmental factors, to
"engineer" for, given our current capabilities. Slate's Will Oremus
collected quotes from a number of skeptics who shared this view,
including Hank Greely, director of Stanford's Center for Law and the
Biosciences.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/superman/2013/03/is_china_engineering_genius_babies_not_exactly.single.html

"I think it's pretty clear that intelligence--if it even exists as an
entity, which remains controversial among psychologists--involves a
boatload of genes and genetic combinations, all of them substantially
mediated through the environment," Greely told Slate. "The chances
that genetic selection is going to lead to really substantial
increases in human intelligence in your lifetime are low."
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/superman/2013/03/is_china_engineering_genius_babies_not_exactly.single.html

Santiago Munné, who runs Reprogenetics, a private lab that does
preimplantation genetic diagnosis--a process where an embryo is screened for
disease-causing mutations, and sometimes, for physical characteristics like
sex and hair color--doesn't think China can pull it off, either.

"IQ is controlled by probably more than 1,000 genes, so there is no point
even trying to control for that," he told Oremus. Miller nonetheless feels
that if you do enough screenings and weed out enough genes related to
intelligence, you'll increase the net intelligence slowly but surely.

But there's probably a better, less terrifying and Gattaca-reminiscent way
to make an entire generation of kids smarter with already extant technology
and no hint of scary eugenics: Make playing chess mandatory in school.

Armenia is the only nation in the world where chess is a compulsory part of
school curriculum, thanks to a $3 million initiative passed in 2011.
Beginning two years ago, chess has been a mandatory in the third and fourth
grades--students play chess two hours a week every week for two years. Part
of the program's aim is to improve children's logic and reasoning skills.
But, as with China's more sci-fi approach, part of the aim is to engineer a
generation of smarter, savvier children.

Armenia's education minister Armen Ashotyan recently told Al Jazeera
that "Chess develops various skills - leadership capacities,
decision-making, strategic planning, logical thinking and
responsibility. We are building these traits in our youngsters. The
future of the world depends on such creative leaders who have the
capacity to make the right decisions, as well as the character to take
responsibility for wrong decisions."
http://www.gov.am/en/gov-members/407/
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/201331792224757326.html

And, of course, there is a decent body of scientific evidence that
suggests that learning and playing chess can actually raise a child's
IQ--no test tubes required. University of Sydney professor (and chess
grandmaster) Dr. Peter Dauvergne has long argued that chess has
significant educational benefits, and that a raised IQ is chief among
them.
http://scholar.google.co.il/scholar?q=chess+intelligence&btnG;=&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5

He synthesizes the research supporting his claim in a 2000 article, "The
Case for Chess as a Tool to Develop Our Children's Minds." Elsewhere, the
Kasparov Foundation has compiled compelling arguments that chess improves
cognition, boosts intelligence, and enhances problem-solving capabilities
in "the Benefits of Chess in Education."
http://www.auschess.org.au/articles/chessmind.htm
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:g4XNFmDtpZIJ:www.kcfe.eu/sites/default/files/research_KCFE.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid-GEESjIvFrMZVpDfLu3fsdM4xNofeujkR8q2_XfXKvu8eELvA0ZRpx5zUWV3FjuLDZoB1wwWHO-EitvUnQ0j5fRL_56az4g37w87lg1xhqeaou4asqfeVqkr13cU_6nPtfFBHLtSBmn&sig=AHIEtbR1vZxuBxYxeKAJRl7R4gnAFwccgg

The Armenian psychologist keeping a close eye on the chess program
agrees. "Ruben Aghuzumstyan has been researching the impact of chess
on young minds since last year," Al Jazeera reports, and he says that
"preliminary results show that children who play chess score better in
certain personality traits such as individuality, creative thinking,
reflexes and comparative analysis."
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/201331792224757326.html

That is encouraging news, because there's still little consensus around
whether chess is actually unique in its educational benefits--whether it's
any more effective than more traditional math or logic problems. But
there's no doubt that it's an intellectual boon for children. And it's
definitely more fun.

Susie Hunanyan, the elementary school student profiled in the piece, looks
forward to her routine chess lessons, and even aspires to be a grandmaster.
"I like chess lessons a lot," she said. "My grandpa taught me how to play
chess. But now that I learn chess in school, I am better at it than he is."

The question is, will she be better than him at everything else, too? It
stands to reason. The concerted push to engage the nation's youths may yet
beget a generational rise in IQ--which is really fascinating to consider,
especially alongside China's sci-fi futuretech. While China may be paving
the way for genetically-optimal brainiacs in giant genomics labs, Armenia
is modifying its youth's intelligence the old fashioned way--with smart
policy and good education. As such, Armenia's actually more likely to boost
its youth's IQ than China--using gaming technology that's been around for over
a thousand years <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess#Predecessors>.


http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/57137
http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/armenia-is-more-likely-to-engineer-super-children-than-china