In some instances, however, the decision to venture outward isn’t completely voluntary, something that has been traditionally characteristic of those in the gay community. For these individuals, the trek wasn’t so much out personal interest as it was self-preservation. And it is safe to assume, therefore, that a certain percentage would not have done so had their original social circumstances been more accommodating.

Warren Buffet/Bill Gates fall into a specific type of personality who are motivated differently than others. Let’s assume for a moment that you buy this personality supposition, then it would mean that it’s not only the “smarts” (i.e IQ score) involved but some other aspect as well, like a person’s “will or drive”. Generally speaking, that’s much more plausible. Besides, doesn’t it strike you as a bit simplistic (all PhD’s credentials aside) to presume that the answer would lie in any one factor like an IQ score, which itself is merely an indicator and not an precise representation?

India and China already have — using effort (and desire) more than anything else.

The real curve fit for the few people 4.5 S.D. from the mean may not be normal. That these people are not as super successful as their IQ implies they should be shouldn’t be taken as proof that IQ doesn’t matter a lot.

As we have seen with No Child Left Behind, if increased resources are spread evenly among the races, minorities performance improves, but so does the performance of non-minorities. The performance gap remains, and then we have to read innane New York Times articles about how NCLB isn’t decreasing that gap.