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Great xkcd addressing this issue http://xkcd.com/1588/ http://xkcd.com/1588/

• nicklaf 11y ago
  That xkcd is spot on. Alan Kay has said that "point of view is worth 80 IQ points". I don't see how observing internal brain structure is going to reflect the benefit from points of view held, even in the slightest. There could very well be an inverse correlation, in which people having above-average natural ability tend to brute-force their way through problems that could have been avoided entirely with better choices. Just as Gordon Bell said: "The cheapest, fastest, and most reliable components are those that aren't there". You just don't hear about people getting through life, but failing to understand the notion of, say, "not stepping out onto the crosswalk when the street is still busy". Your environment is extrinsic to your internal brain structure, and you encode information about your environment against your own internal system of thought, regardless of its architecture. It's not like people who happen to be "naturally better spatial thinkers" can somehow do a better job at recalling their own beliefs.