The Nonlinear Library LW - Update on Chinese IQ-related gene panels by Lao Mein
Dec 14, 2023
02:32
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Update on Chinese IQ-related gene panels, published by Lao Mein on December 14, 2023 on LessWrong.
It turns out that Chinese 23-and-me-esque gene panel already include intelligence markers! For example, 23mofang uses Interleukin 3 as a proxy for brain volume, citing this paper. It's... only significant in women. Not a good sign. But the cited study notes a Danish gene-correlation study that included brain scans, from which they obtained brain volume. Apparently, the correlation is true across races.
In any case, I've been reaching out to past coworkers, and they agree with my assessment that a polygenic database for the purpose of embryo selection would be easy and mostly cheap to do. Being Chinese, we of course have no issues with including factors like eye color, height, intelligence, ect. However, I have several questions before I proceed further.
What is the overall demand? How many customers would be interested? What specific traits are parents most interested in? Funding is the single biggest obstacle I face, and I will be applying for AstralCodexTen funding. If enough interest is displayed or if I get charitable funding, my gut feeling is that I can offer analysis for <$100 per genome, maybe even <$10.
Would Westerners accept Chinese IQ/educational attainment metrics? The easiest metric to use would be GaoKao scores, but would that be legible to Westerners? Would ratings of attended college be acceptable? What about the applicability of the results across different races?
Publications/computer code. Would I need to publish a paper to be considered legitimate?
Reputational concerns. What Western institutions should I be expected to be blacklisted from because of this?
I have previously published genome-wide association studies regarding cancer outcomes, so I can actually do the analysis and write-up myself. I just need the raw data, which I should be able to obtain by paying a sequencing company with a gene bank to call back their past clients and ask for GaoKao scores.
I would really appreciate it if anyone can direct me towards a source of European ancestry genomic data with labeled donor information (education, height, ect).
Update: For some reason, I didn't consider using previous research like the n=1.1 million educational attainment study. It seems... I can just do everything by myself? I'll sleep on it, but it is certainly interesting.
Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org
It turns out that Chinese 23-and-me-esque gene panel already include intelligence markers! For example, 23mofang uses Interleukin 3 as a proxy for brain volume, citing this paper. It's... only significant in women. Not a good sign. But the cited study notes a Danish gene-correlation study that included brain scans, from which they obtained brain volume. Apparently, the correlation is true across races.
In any case, I've been reaching out to past coworkers, and they agree with my assessment that a polygenic database for the purpose of embryo selection would be easy and mostly cheap to do. Being Chinese, we of course have no issues with including factors like eye color, height, intelligence, ect. However, I have several questions before I proceed further.
What is the overall demand? How many customers would be interested? What specific traits are parents most interested in? Funding is the single biggest obstacle I face, and I will be applying for AstralCodexTen funding. If enough interest is displayed or if I get charitable funding, my gut feeling is that I can offer analysis for <$100 per genome, maybe even <$10.
Would Westerners accept Chinese IQ/educational attainment metrics? The easiest metric to use would be GaoKao scores, but would that be legible to Westerners? Would ratings of attended college be acceptable? What about the applicability of the results across different races?
Publications/computer code. Would I need to publish a paper to be considered legitimate?
Reputational concerns. What Western institutions should I be expected to be blacklisted from because of this?
I have previously published genome-wide association studies regarding cancer outcomes, so I can actually do the analysis and write-up myself. I just need the raw data, which I should be able to obtain by paying a sequencing company with a gene bank to call back their past clients and ask for GaoKao scores.
I would really appreciate it if anyone can direct me towards a source of European ancestry genomic data with labeled donor information (education, height, ect).
Update: For some reason, I didn't consider using previous research like the n=1.1 million educational attainment study. It seems... I can just do everything by myself? I'll sleep on it, but it is certainly interesting.
Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org