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Some of this reminds me of The Ph.D. Grind by Philip Guo [0] and my own experience when I was getting my PhD: "For those few months, I morphed into an antisoci
by sndean 9y ago
Some of this reminds me of The Ph.D. Grind by Philip Guo [0] and my own experience when I was getting my PhD:
"For those few months, I morphed into an antisocial grump who shunned all distraction and became deeply immersed in my craft. All I thought about was computer code; I could barely speak in coherent English sentences except during my weekly progress meetings with Margo. Even though I appeared and acted subhuman (i.e., an unshaven disheveled mess), my emotional state was blissful. I was programming and debugging for over ten hours per day, but my mind was quite relaxed since my technical skills were well-calibrated for the challenges I faced."
> my emotional state was blissful
There was a huge disconnect between how happy I was and how I behaved and appeared. I gained 50+ pounds, lost normal hygiene, essentially only ate peanut butter, became nocturnal, and more or less didn't leave my apartment. My advisor was pretty explicit in their concern about my mental health, but, looking back, I was really happy.
I wonder how much of this mental illness : high IQ association is simply being obsessed with what you're working on?
[0] http://pgbovine.net/PhD-memoir/pguo-PhD-grind_2012-07-16.pdf http://pgbovine.net/PhD-memoir/pguo-PhD-grind_2012-07-16.pdf
- DoreenMichele 9y agoAchieving excellence has a personal cost. Imagine that. The other thing is that the first test that gave rise to the concept of IQ tests was not intended to measure intelligence. It was intended to measure school readiness for rural French children who often did not have birth certificates, so age could not be used as an indicator of school readiness. The problem was complicated by the fact that rural kids and city kids had different experiences that left the rural children less equipped to cope with the school environment. City kids were more likely to have already participated in preschool, among other things. So, there was a cultural divide. The idea that some people are simply innately smarter is something that is very much debatable. IQ tests are highly influenced by deep cultural knowledge that is typically available to cultural "insiders." In the US, this is typically upper class and upper middle whites. If an American takes a British or Canadian IQ test, they will tend to perform more poorly and show as having a lower IQ than on American tests, even though these are all English speaking countries. The effect gets worse if you are taking it in a second language. But it still exists even if it is merely a different culture, not a different language.
- corporateguy5 9y agoYour opinion is mindless drivel, and is a bad mentality for culture in the west. People are objectively better, spreading this clean slate illusion is only harming us in the long run. Sure some people do better do to familiarity with the problems, but iq tests are incredibly effective intrapopultion. IQ is the largest predictor is successful life outcomes, even more than parental socioeconomic status and wealth.
- lucio 9y ago>>British or Canadian IQ test Google Raven Progressive Matrices, there are accurate IQ tests are not associated with any culture
- DoreenMichele 9y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15888888 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15888888