5 thoughts on “IQ”

1. The problem is that it is thought about all wrong. Saying one group’s median IQ is less than another’s does not mean that every individual of that group is less intelligent than any of the other’s. You still have to judge individual people as individuals.

   And, while it is probably true that the average liberal is smarter than the average conservative, that is just because the former are of middling intelligence generally. Really smart people and really dumb people share the trait that they realize how much they do not know, and how hazardous it is leap into the unknown. Middling intellects, like teenagers, assume they know everything, and are happy to take the leap if all their friends do, too.

   1. “And, while it is probably true that the average liberal is smarter than the average conservative, ”

      Not likely.

      1. Based on superficial measures like glibness of speech, comfort in social situations, and rote assimilation of knowledge, I think so. And, remember, we are talking averages here.

         By the Forrest Gump standard, of course, “stupid is as stupid does,” they’re all idiots.

2. I think many equate intelligence with successful and happy lives. My experience has shown me quite the opposite. The more/hyper intelligent I have worked with have invariably been less well adjusted to social situations, and do poorly financially without strict guidance. Some of the least intelligent, from a IQ stand point, I have met seem to live better and more prosperous lives.

3. Who’s heard of the Flynn effect? Who here knows that, on raw unscaled tests, the average black American of today easily outscores the average white American of the 1930’s?
   Over the decades our ability to do IQ tests has improved immensely.

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