Gadianton wrote:-- I think Analytics and my wife (wtf shades) might see you as deflecting from evidence; I mean, I see what you're saying, but at the end of the day, if there is evidence there to make the case for the significance of genetics then there is, despite how politically sensitive it is to flaunt it around. So once we get past any circularity of restating facts about "biology" in terms of its constituents "nature and nurture," then there really might be evidence carefully accounted for that suggests "nature" makes the difference. --]
As a footnote to my comment upthread about the advantages of taking (let's call them cultural) differences into account when trying to transfer knowledge or technology, please consider the following.
Working together on the ground or in consultation with one another, two members of my immediate family and I have been responsible for intercultural technology transfer programs over the last 40 years in Japan and Israel (scientific instrumentation), Mainland China and Taiwan (energy and environment), UAE, Oman, KSA and Kuwait (scientific instrumentation, education, energy, defense, medical and environment), Central and South America (scientific instrumentation, medical and natural products), Africa and Southeast Asia (scientific instrumentation, medical and pharmaceutical), Turkey (education, energy and environment), Finland (energy and environment) and Ireland (energy and environment).
With the exception of Turkey, where one of the two projects was derailed by political events, all projects were either completed on time and on budget or are ongoing pretty much according to plan. What success we have had, in no small measure, is due to our best efforts to spend time in, and learn about, the target cultures in order to be able to account for cultural differences up front, and then by executing plans and policies to try to ameliorate these differences to the extent possible.
In most cases this process involved identifying, recruiting and developing local champions early on to help develop trust and eventually to step up into leadership positions once the initial transfer phase was complete.
The investor representative and my friend who saw
The Bell Curve as social pornography 20 years ago has, nonetheless, made a career of doing the same. Last I heard was still working in the UAE on military offsets programs.