I think you are confused about what Flynn is saying. His whole premise rests on extrapolation that is fairly linear. He doesn’t know when the gap closure began, and in fact one of the problems with the whole Flynn hypothesis is that one has to create an arbitrary start and stop point lest we all be retarded at point X back in time, and all be geniuses in the future.
I get what he is trying to say about rising IQs, but I think he has spun and confused and conflated and extrapolated data to come up with nonsense. The rough parameters for what an absolute number for IQ correlates with in terms of practical cognitive function haven’t really changed. Generally 80-85 means you are a fairly dull person, mentally. To accept the Flynn hypothesis, you have to accept that, prior to 1972, black americans were below this level. Forget the numbers, and realize that the functional category would be considered to be borderline retarded–i.e. significantly mentally challenged–at 79. There simply isn’t evidence that large segments of the population–black and white–were basically stupid back then, and as I’ve pointed out, other scores such as academic exams which are widely administered and standardized do not support this rising IQ notion.
But…more importantly, I want to push the point that you as well as I believe that blacks are inferior for intelligence. I think it’s genes. You think it’s environment. You think everyone is getting smarter than they used to be, and you think blacks are 50 years of progress stupider than whites. I showed you ACT scores from the last 5 years. They are totally flat for blacks. I showed you ACT scores from the last 15 years. They are still totally flat. Where is this rising IQ being used, exactly?
You. like me, hold to a position that there is a substantial and real difference between these two SIRE groups. For some odd reason you find it more comfortable to blame environment that genes. And for some odd reason you find that explanation more tenable even though high SES blacks continue to underscore low SES whites on academic exams.