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> I think most people are fundamentally capable of great intelligence. If the real world distribution of IQ closely approximates the Gaussian distribution IQ t
by yourapostasy 8y ago
> I think most people are fundamentally capable of great intelligence.
If the real world distribution of IQ closely approximates the Gaussian distribution IQ tests are meant to model, then in the US alone there are about 44 million people in the range from about 70-85. World wide, about 1 billion people in that cohort of 1-2 standard deviations. Even if actual real world results are half of what the models predict, we're still talking really large numbers of people.
Finding ways to bring them up to "just" average intelligence would be astounding for the species, and I'd aim for that first instead of setting ourselves up for failure by defining a goal of "great intelligence".
Right now, the best we can prescribe with even a semblance of consistent results is intensive educational intervention and family assistance from early childhood onward. Actually doing that in our current economic model would be on the order of ditching the MIC and somehow transferring the spending to those activities. That's a pipe dream with current established stakeholders.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoWe would likely do better to deal with biomedical issues, like inadequate nutrition and unidentified health issues.
- xyzzyz 8y agoMalnutrition only has effect on intelligence at extreme levels that basically never occur in the US. The American poor sometimes go hungry, but are never actually starving, and don’t lack micronutrients either. Don’t get me wrong, terrible food and atrocious eating habits, resulting in serious health problems, are one of the most serious problems in this country. However, this doesn’t impact intelligence.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoI have six years of college. I was in all the gifted programs and so forth in school. I was one of the top students of my graduating high school class. Then I ended up very ill and homeless. My comments in online forums during that time were filled with typos and tended to sound like an idiot wrote them. I've gradually gotten healthier. My typos and other issues have gone way down. There are a lot of Americans living with various sorts of chronic health issues. So, in short, I don't agree. But I'm probably not up for trying to "prove it" and just contemplating the possibility makes me feel tired and aggravated.
- toasterlovin 8y agoHonestly, at this point we should just focus on getting to genetically engineered solution. It’s really not that far away at this point. All the environment based solutions have extremely small effect sizes and are really expensive.