Sweet Jesus. You're a moron. I'm done here. Someone else take over.

 

Khan is right, as much as his name and avatar make me want to rage and disregard his posts (I know it's irrational, but I hate all caps). [Ninja'd: He's not right in the moron bit, at least in my book. Unlike him, I've learned to stop taking differences in thought to mean someone else is retarded]

A trait that is multi-alleled (polygenic) is far too complicated to be described in any way close to 'two parents with this trait will have a child with said trait.'

For example, Parent one has alleles A and C. Parent 2 has alleles C and D. The potential alleles are A, B, C, D, and E.

Both of these parents are really smart, so we'd say that genetically A, C, and D are smart alleles, right?

Wrong. None of those alleles mean smart. The combination is what's important, along with a ton of other complications. A child of these two could have A and C, which would be like Parent one. Or the child could be C and D, which would be like Parent two. That child could be genetically apt for intelligence, barring other factors. But there are two other options: C and C / A and D.

We don't know how these alleles might interact in those cases. They might not make a 'smart' child at all.

I hope you get now what is meant by 'it's more complicated than that.' And, if you understood all along, I hope this help you see what we THINK you're getting wrong. You might just have an entirely different point. But it seems like you're arguing for something that simply isn't true genetically.

 

It's not her differences in thought that make me assume this girl is a moron, it's her denial of factual information.

PS... STAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR TRRRRRREKKKKKKKKKK!!!!

 

The Heir:

No, no, I totally get what you are saying. In fact, I believe I said somewhere above that if asked to go beyond a very basic model the argument would become as complicated as fuck. However, I do believe where we the clash is is that you are think along the lines of how genetics are today . I, however, am think of two things separated by time, like muggles and wizards. In other words, I am talking about not only genetics but the factor of evolution, a word I do believe I have mentioned a few times.

Read Darwin's Origin of Species, then tell what I'm saying is impossible.

Imagine a tribe of midgets and a tribe of giants... these tribes live for many years. Midgets only mate with midgets. Giants only mate with giants. You capiche?

 

All The Heir and I are saying is that every word of this statement and those like it is false. Nothing more, nothing less. We're not confuting your overall theory that genetic inheritance is somehow connected to magic (I'm not, at least).

 

Yeah, well I've never been known for being good at explaining things, which is why I will never become a teacher. I tend to forget to explain half the shit that I know about what I'm writing and others don't. In that statement, I was thinking about evolution already playing its roll, as in the intelligence of the two kids was already divided by many generations of super-smart people having children and many generations of very unintelligent people having children.

If I was writing an actual essay on the topic, it would all come out making sense with a decent argument. But, as is, shit gets said *shrugs*.

 

This is DLP, son. Posting anything half-arsed will only end badly.

Also, this thread has nothing to do with the population of Magical Britain anymore and I apologize for my part in that.

 

Ha ha, yeah, well, I'm used to things ending badly. I just pick myself back up and go on with my life. Criticism is the fuel of creativity and higher thinking, at least for me.

As for the original topic of this thread, I like Mordecai's numbers the best. I don't imagine the population would be any bigger than 15k to 20k, but definitely not as small as 3k.

 

By the end of page 4, this thread was off topic. This is what threads do. The only thread I've seen that keeps its original purpose perfectly is the 'Official Hotties Thread.'

The point we veered off from came after the population question turned into a magical theory question, which turned into a defining magic v technology question. Finally, we came to our silly genetics debate in some way that I forget, which we veered off from. It's par for the DLP course.

 

Haha, I thoroughly apologize for instigating the genetics discussion...