I believe there is far too much emphasis placed on genetic and/or chemical/biological explanations of intelligence. Whether you agree with the sentiment of the linked essay or not, the only real and true control we can ever have over intelligence through genetics/biology is via eugenics.
Until such a practice is accepted (and here's hoping it never is) we need to focus on what we can control: Culture. The unfortunate thing is this is difficult to approach from a geuinely scientific/empirical approach. The fortunate thing is that some common sense can go a long way: Feed babies/children well, set the bar high from an early age, start teaching them a second language at an early age, expose them to new and many experiences, etc.
>the only real and true control we can ever have over intelligence through genetics/biology is via eugenics.
There are plenty of other ways: Drugs[1], surgery, somatic gene therapy, and transcranial direct-current stimulation. All of these technologies offer much greater potential for enhancement than cultural changes. Also, changing culture is hard. Really hard. Creating intelligence-enhancing technologies is probably easier.
> the only real and true control we can ever have over intelligence through genetics/biology is via eugenics.
For now. In future I do hope there are ways to allow for artificial increase of intelligence via drugs/nano-machines.
Eugenics is like the last resort for increasing intelligence (the dirtiest hack imaginable). Mainly because it only works on population and not individual level and it's not immediate. Not to mention breeding for intelligence has other problems as well.
Until such a practice is accepted (and here's hoping it never is) we need to focus on what we can control: Culture. The unfortunate thing is this is difficult to approach from a geuinely scientific/empirical approach. The fortunate thing is that some common sense can go a long way: Feed babies/children well, set the bar high from an early age, start teaching them a second language at an early age, expose them to new and many experiences, etc.