Emergent Properties of Human Populations

Total is greater than the sum of the parts.

If one considers ethnic and racial differences at the population level, with respect to intelligence, behavior, and achievement, these differences often seem greater than what one would expect by comparing the averages, or the bell curve distributions, of these traits between the relevant populations.

This is somewhat analogous to comparing genetic structure between populations as opposed to a simple allele-by-allele measure of gene frequency distributions; the differences are much larger in the former than in the latter.

Thus, if one were to pick some psychometric trait and measure individuals of different populations, and plot the results, you would get bell curve distributions for each trait in which, as is likely, considerable overlap between the populations exist. And yet, looking at the populations as a whole, the result is typically a quite marked difference in the outcomes of national behavior and achievement.  This is likely due to:

1. These differences are amplified over the large numbers of people involved, and, more importantly, the interactions between people in a population creates a synergy between these peoples and their behaviors, so that the behavior of the population is an emergent property of the behavior of the individuals making up that population. One cannot then say that a population with an IQ five points higher than another population will exceed that other population only by the same degree that an individual with an IQ five points higher than another individual will outdo the performance of that other individual. At the population level, the outcome will be more marked, as many individuals of a different IQ distribution interact and create or inhibit opportunities for others in the same population.  These processes will be further amplified by mechanisms 2-5, below.

2. While there is much overlap in the bell curves, there can be significant differences at the left and right tails of the curves. So, while the averages may not differ so much, there may be larger differences among the extremes that will have an outsize influence on the outcomes of the society. One population may have many more geniuses, many more adventurers, many more inventors, many more non-conformists, many more mentally sound and stable individuals; while other populations may be "enriched" with more retards, mattoids, neurotics, insect-like conformists, etc. These extreme fractions, in synergy with the smaller mass average differences, can leverage the societal outcome to a degree much larger than would be expected from the mass average differences alone.

3. There is cross-talk feedback between the traits of a people and the culture created by these traits, so small original differences become amplified over time. Thus, we have "canalization" of peoples in certain directions, creating cultures and civilizations that are more unique than what we would expect simply looking at specific traits in isolation.

4. We must remember that the outcome is not due to any single trait, but all of the traits working together, over large numbers of people, influenced by all of the other factors mentioned. So, analogous to genetic structure, and how that structure is an emergent property of considering allele frequencies together as a group, when one considers all population traits together, the relatively small differences of each trait become more important as they interact with differences in many other traits, even if those other differences are, on their own, relatively small as well. Again, we should not consider traits in isolation.

5. Points 1-4 above affect how a people respond to various "accidents of history" - so the combination of inborn traits, culture, and historical processes make populations diverge to a much greater extent than what could be expected by the mass averages of the inborn traits themselves.

Hence, the total, the outcome, is greater than the sum of the parts, and the character of a nation is an emergent trait derived from what in theory are (in some cases) relatively small differences in mass average intelligence, ability, and behavior.