Are we really all the same in spirit (mentally)?
 

The different races of the world faced different environmental challenges and encountered different levels of evolutionary novelty throughout their long histories. This is undeniable. Did this diversity in environmental challenge, which obviously created a diversity in phenotype, also create a diversity in intelligence? This sort of reasoning often gets dismissed as racist pseudoscience, but isn't it legitimate science? Is there more than a superficial cultural basis to the disparity in IQ scores from different populations/races? It would make sense, wouldn't it?

It's legitimate science that there are IQ differences between ethnic/racial groups, yes. What exactly causes those IQ differences is up for debate in my opinion. While it's true that different environments required different adaptations, there is nothing that I can find to substantiate the idea that cold weather forced people to be smarter. It certainly forced people to wear more clothing, but I think that's about it.

Regardless of any possible genetic differences, I believe that memes have a stronger affect on IQ and culture than genes.

Look into the Flynn effect. Also think about reading Ethnic America and Conquests and Cultures by Thomas Sowell.

http://econ161.berkeley.edu/movable_...es/000792.html

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/12...he-bell-curve/

http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/philo/f...itability.html