Clever Jewish people

PDN

They did come up with the first version of Google ....

monkeyfudge

PDN wrote:

They did come up with the first version of Google ....

That's pretty awesome!

lostexpectation

look its historical they were band from many trades and guilds so they had to use their heads

2Scoops

Tim Robbins wrote:

I think it's genetic. The amount of very clever Jewish people is staggering. Leaving aside the Nobel prizes and consider some other famous Jews:
Noam Chomsky, Henry Kissinger, Woody Allen, Larry David, Loui Thouroux, Martin Gilbert (Historian), Alain De Botton, Karl Marx, Freud, Jonathan Miller.
Not saying you have to like or agree with them all but there's no doubting they are / were clever.

Not to mention Jerry Seinfeld, Rob Schneider (Deuce Bigalo), Goldberg the wrestler, Ali G and Billy Crystal. All geniuses. Depending on your definition of genius.

dan719

Son Goku wrote:

I can't speak for anything but physics. For physics it was mainly because they dominated the emerging European middle class during the time of the university of Gottingen's mathematical heyday (or mathematical paradise, I wish I could have been there) and hence were very absorbed into the new Ph.D. culture.

Others have also suggested their matriarchal structure was a factor.

A little off topic but me too. Also as a general ethnic group Jews have the highest average I.Q ~ 108.

MooseJam

If they are so clever why do they still practice the Jewish faith

dan719

MooseJam wrote:

If they are so clever why do they still practice the Jewish faith

I believe it has already been demonstrated that many of the people referenced in the thread were in fact atheists/agnostics. The discussion imho is based more on jewish ethnicity rather then actual practise of religion.

dan719

To respond to the point raise about the Fields Medal, since 1936 six British people have been awarded the 'nobel prize of mathematics'. To clarify the medal is awarded every four years to a maximum of four people. Note Andrew Wiles who proved the famous Fermat's Last Theorem recieved a Field's Medal Silver Plaque as he was over the age limit of forty.

Edit;Of course Grigory Perelman(famous for refusing the Field's medal) was a Russian Jew.

MooseJam

dan719 wrote:

I believe it has already been demonstrated that many of the people referenced in the thread were in fact atheists/agnostics. The discussion imho is based more on jewish ethnicity rather then actual practise of religion.

I know, but I'd hazard a guess, I may be very wrong, but I'd hazard a guess that the Jewish are among the most devout of all ethnic groups

dan719

Sorry I don't quite follow. Devout in what manner? As in 'loyal to the tribe'? Surely centuries of anti-semitism and the holocaust would explain such a thing.

MooseJam

dan719 wrote:

Sorry I don't quite follow. Devout in what manner? As in 'loyal to the tribe'? Surely centuries of anti-semitism and the holocaust would explain such a thing.

as in devoted to religion, I'm just saying if they are so clever why are they so devoted to religion

Dades

MooseJam wrote:

as in devoted to religion, I'm just saying if they are so clever why are they so devoted to religion

I can think of two obvious answers to that:

1. Jewish people are not so clever, or
2. We can't generalise that people who are religious can't be clever.

I'd go with 2, myself.

PDN

MooseJam wrote:

I know, but I'd hazard a guess, I may be very wrong, but I'd hazard a guess that the Jewish are among the most devout of all ethnic groups

45% of American Jews are secular. Over 50% of the population of Israel are secular Jews.

The OP that started this thread was comparing achievements of Jews (a race) with Christians (a religion). That is like saying black people are better at sport than Presbyterians.

MooseJam

PDN wrote:

45% of American Jews are secular. Over 50% of the population of Israel are secular Jews.

The OP that started this thread was comparing achievements of Jews (a race) with Christians (a religion). That is like saying black people are better at sport than Presbyterians.

lol, thats some funny sh1t, does anybody know what % of Irish are secular, I'd guess it's pretty high at the moment with mostly the elderly going to mass

lostexpectation

PDN wrote:

45% of American Jews are secular. Over 50% of the population of Israel are secular Jews.

The OP that started this thread was comparing achievements of Jews (a race) with Christians (a religion). That is like saying black people are better at sport than Presbyterians.

what exactly does the mean though "American Jews are secular"

PDN

lostexpectation wrote:

what exactly does the mean though "American Jews are secular"

It means they don't practice their religion. They don't observe Jewish rituals or go to synagogue etc. It does not mean that they are atheists. About 34% of American secular Jews (15% of American Jews in total) say they don't believe in God.

lostexpectation

PDN wrote:

It means they don't practice their religion. They don't observe Jewish rituals or go to synagogue etc. It does not mean that they are atheists. About 34% of American secular Jews (15% of American Jews in total) say they don't believe in God.

so they are more then lapsed jews...

that's an extraordinarily high %

Tzetze

Peter Kershaw, in "Economic Solutions" lists the ten major shareholders of the Federal Reserve Bank System as: Rothschild: London and Berlin; Lazard Bros: Paris; Israel Seiff: Italy; Kuhn- Loeb Company: Germany; Warburg: Hamburg and Amsterdam; Lehman Bros: New York; Goldman and Sachs: New York; Rockefeller: New York. (That most, if not all of these families just happen to be Jewish, you may judge the significance of yourself).

Baron M.A. Rothschild wrote, "Give me control over a nation's currency and I care not who makes its laws."

dan719

Einstein wrote an essay on this very topic. It can be read in his 'book' Ideas and Opinions. He first defined the 'being Jewish' not as membership of a religion but rather as membership of an ethnic group. He then went on to claim that 'Jews as a group placed a high value on education and intellectual achievement'.