An alternative history of IE languages and the AIT.

[Srinivas Sunder]

>> Do any of the INDOLOGY members who are professional university-level
>> teachers of Sanskrit, Old Persian, Greek, Tamil, archaeology, or other
>> relevant topics, have time to put together a short, careful response to
>> such claims, pointing out the principle evidence for the received
>> opinion concerning Indian pre-history?  
>
>I'd like to see this too. The ideas must be discussed (and
>refuted if wrong) irrespective of the motives of their
>proponents. This is what was done with Creationism and, more
>recently, with "The Bell Curve."
>

To those on this list who know nothing of it (most likely, those not in 
the US), "The Bell Curve" is a recently-published book by sociologists
Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, which, among other things, argues
that IQ is largely an inherited trait. This, coupled with their finding 
(based on data) that IQs of various ethnic groups followed a Bell Curve 
distribution, with the mean IQs being highest for Asians, followed by whites, 
and then blacks (some 15 points lower than whites), set off a furious 
fire-storm of controversy. Numerous refutations have been published, usually 
as a part of a hostile review of the book.

Absolutely unrelated to Indology, but since it was mentioned, I thought
it would be worth illuminating so people on this list who are unfamiliar
with it aren't left scratching their heads.

Srinivas Sunder
Austin, TX