About this episode

The episode discusses the genetic components of schizophrenia and their implications for educational attainment and IQ.

Michael Halassa: Did John Nash Really Have Schizophrenia? is a good article on the genetics of psychosis. Previous research found that schizophrenia genes decreased IQ but increased educational attainment. Usually IQ and education are correlated, so this was surprising. The new research finds two components to schizophrenia genetic risk. The first component, shared with bipolar, increases educational attainment. The second component, not shared with bipolar, decreases IQ. They average out to the observed full-spectrum genetic signal of constant-to-increased educational attainment paired with constant-to-decreased IQ. In 2021, I discussed tradeoff vs. failure models of psychiatric conditions , and said that most conditions were probably a mix of both. The new research seems to confirm this: the first genetic component of schizophrenia is a tradeoff: bad insofar as it gives you higher schizophrenia risk, good insofar as it gives you higher educational attainment. Most likely this has something to do with creativity or motivation. The second component is a failure: bad in every way, with no compensating advantage. Most likely this is detrimental mutations in genes for neurogenesis…

People in this episode

Host: Jeremiah

Guest: Michael Halassa

Topics covered

• schizophrenia
• genetics
• educational attainment
• IQ
• psychiatric conditions
• tradeoffs
• failures

Keywords

• schizophrenia
• genetics
• educational attainment
• IQ
• tradeoff
• failure
• bipolar
• psychosis

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Did John Nash Really Have Schizophrenia?

More episodes of Astral Codex Ten Podcast

• Against The Concept Of Telescopic Altruism · April 21, 2026 · 11 min
• A Buddhist Sun Miracle? · April 21, 2026 · 11 min
• Every Debate On Pausing AI · April 21, 2026 · 8 min
• Being John Rawls · April 21, 2026 · 32 min
• Support Your Local Collaborator · April 17, 2026 · 9 min
• Shameless Guesses, Not Hallucinations · April 17, 2026 · 7 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Astral Codex Ten Podcast podcast page.