3 ms·

Ask HN: What are the differences between people with high and very high I.Q

3 points by smithmayowa 8y ago

What in your opinion are the differences in the level of thoughts and imagination(to computer science and programming in particular) between people with intelligence quotients in range (125 - 134) and people with intelligence quotients in range (135-144), i understand that above those quotients lies the genius range(145-200), and i can at least imagine what it means but i have never been able to imagine the differences in level of thinking between those ranges stated above.

ggm 8y ago
I don't believe in IQ as a measure of anything so anything I say has to be read in that context. I am probably in the lower set. I struggle with abstraction, I struggle with retention of key mathematical concepts like the application of Compositions of functions, or lazy evaluation or partial function application or lambda calculus. All of these I judge people probably in the higher-est set, to show signs of fluency and understanding in a deep sense. Tl;Dr you can't actually take it til you make it, in maths,and if you believe compsci is maths..
CyberFonic 8y ago
IQ tests only measure a very portion of what constitutes intelligence in our society. In other words you could score high on an IQ test and yet be an "idiot savant" or score low on IQ and be the go to person for solving tricky mechanical problems. Since you ask about thoughts and imagination in a CS context, I can only guess that you are asking about abstractions. In that case, there is a massive difference between being able to understand an abstraction that has been codified or to create a new one. For example, it takes most of us quite a bit of effort to get our heads around the abstraction used by, say Haskell. But to create a new abstraction that renders computations in a new area feasible, e.g. neuromorphic inference, requires a totally different way of thinking and I doubt that IQ tests can differentiate between the two. In my experience, many genius programmers have very good recall of masses of detailed information. Which is similar to the skills of top litigation lawyers. Yet, when faced with a practical problem, like diagnosing and fixing a corrupted notebook computer, they both call in somebody with better analysis and deduction skills and most likely unable to recite masses of memorized material.
danieltillett 8y ago
It is near impossible to understand how anyone thinks more than two standard deviations above or below you, and most of the time even a one standard deviation difference is difficult.

3 points by smithmayowa 8y ago

ggm 8y ago

I don't believe in IQ as a measure of anything so anything I say has to be read in that context. I am probably in the lower set. I struggle with abstraction, I struggle with retention of key mathematical concepts like the application of Compositions of functions, or lazy evaluation or partial function application or lambda calculus. All of these I judge people probably in the higher-est set, to show signs of fluency and understanding in a deep sense. Tl;Dr you can't actually take it til you make it, in maths,and if you believe compsci is maths..

CyberFonic 8y ago

IQ tests only measure a very portion of what constitutes intelligence in our society. In other words you could score high on an IQ test and yet be an "idiot savant" or score low on IQ and be the go to person for solving tricky mechanical problems. Since you ask about thoughts and imagination in a CS context, I can only guess that you are asking about abstractions. In that case, there is a massive difference between being able to understand an abstraction that has been codified or to create a new one. For example, it takes most of us quite a bit of effort to get our heads around the abstraction used by, say Haskell. But to create a new abstraction that renders computations in a new area feasible, e.g. neuromorphic inference, requires a totally different way of thinking and I doubt that IQ tests can differentiate between the two. In my experience, many genius programmers have very good recall of masses of detailed information. Which is similar to the skills of top litigation lawyers. Yet, when faced with a practical problem, like diagnosing and fixing a corrupted notebook computer, they both call in somebody with better analysis and deduction skills and most likely unable to recite masses of memorized material.

danieltillett 8y ago

It is near impossible to understand how anyone thinks more than two standard deviations above or below you, and most of the time even a one standard deviation difference is difficult.