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"Feynman reported 126, James Watson, co-discoverer of DNA, 124 — which is exactly the same range as legions of mediocre scientists." Can we stop the Feynman ha
by thrwaway22 8y ago
"Feynman reported 126, James Watson, co-discoverer of DNA, 124 — which is exactly the same range as legions of mediocre scientists."
Can we stop the Feynman had an IQ of 126 narrative? Many people doubt his IQ was in the 120 range. IQ scores, despite what people thing, are not always accurate. Feynman is an example of such a case. Plus, you'd typically report a range on IQ exams. Given a 5+/- point range that could place him in the 131 category, which still feels too low for someone as brilliant as he was.
>"Feynman received the highest score in the country by a large margin on the notoriously difficult Putnam mathematics competition exam, although he joined the MIT team on short notice and did not prepare for the test." [0]
Someone that does that, most likely does not have a 126 IQ. Given his accomplishments in Physics, it is likely he is more intelligent than any IQ test gave him credit for.
[0] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-the-next-einstein/201112/polymath-physicist-richard-feynmans-low-iq-and-finding-another https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-the-next-ein...
- mar77i 8y agoWe keep trying to teach machines this intelligence thing, while we're still measuring the real thing using IQ tests? We're not even close to having a halfway decent metric for this catchall intelligence term - and these engineers keep failing to model it in a computer program. I see kind of a pattern here.
- leesec 8y agoCan we stop caring what people's IQ is? I've never encountered a scenario where it mattered.
- axus 8y agoIQ is just a number determined by a test, by definition. I don't think it's possible for a person's IQ number to be independent from the IQ test. Certainly he had more intelligent contributions to physics than expected from 126 IQ.
- aetherson 8y agoIQ is valuable insofar as it is a proxy for g. I think that your parent poster was suggesting that while IQ is in general correlated with g, there are cases where it is not.
- fernly 8y ago...or, the usual IQ tests of the 1950s did not adequately measure whatever Feynman was particularly good at.