Mr Rayon

Well, it's not really my area of expertise you see. I'd rather just stay quiet and read everybody's posts while you guys debate it through. I ask many questions here because they're all silly questions that I can't really ask in real life however nonetheless am still curious about them. Also, science is quite related to pretty much everything in life, so it's easy to post new threads on SFN without looking as though you're trolling (which you would in any other internet forum) but I suppose initially I was trolling to begin with but I have grown to become interested in what people are saying. I am also currently not a committed SFN user, that is why I don't post as many replies. I probably only go here 10-15 mins daily whenever I am bored or have nothing better to do. What can I do with power of the internet? All this responsibility sounds like a burden to me... I'm not committed enough yet, give me some time.

Here I am. What is it? I am reading the posts.

I'm not sure whether many people are aware of this on SFN but most Muslim countries are poor and generally just doesn't compete that well in the global economy, apart from a few exceptions. Why are so many Muslim countries poor countries? What is the likely root-cause of this? What does everybody think?

Hi there gasbag! Welcom to the SFN, I hope you enjoy your stay here with us. I'm from downunder too. Where are you located?

This is pretty much general knowledge. But doing a quick google search, here are a few sites suggesting what I have said: http://www.sabahan.com/2007/01/18/worlds-average-iq-distribution-map/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations#National_IQ_estimates (check out the table rankings below)

Why do countries like China have so many people with high IQs relative to Western countries? I mean I know that China is the most populated country in the world but as a they also have a higher percentage of people with higher IQs. What are the psychological explanations for this? Is it because Chinese people are brought up in a more strict academic environment? Or has it got something to do with their genes?