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He addresses that, the issue is that you aren't identifying "performance" but rather "performance in the sort of test taking environment that exists at school".

He addresses that, the issue is that you aren't identifying "performance" but rather "performance in the sort of test taking environment that exists at school". His entire point is that, while IQ may identify good, obedient candidates for BS jobs, it is not broadly applicable as anything like a general metric for life.

repolfx 8y ago
Does anyone use it like that though? Isn't he arguing with a straw man? Who is using IQ to allocate funding to pop singers? IQ scores aren't used that much and only ever for predicting success of jobs where success is easily measurable (which is what Taleb seems to mean by "obediency-based BS jobs").
- jeena 8y ago
  Yeah they do, I've seen https://www.worlddata.info/iq-by-country.php https://www.worlddata.info/iq-by-country.php linked in discussions about if Germany should welcome refuges from Africa for example. And the gist was that while getting Asian high achievers is a net win for the country, letting refuges from Africa is, because of the linked map, a loss for the country.
  - insertcredit 8y ago
    Given that not even Taleb disputes IQ effectiveness on the left-end of the spectrum, meaning the low end, letting waves of refugees in from sub-saharan Africa (average IQ below 70 [1][2]) would definitely be a net loss for a first-world country. His first sentence in linked article starts with: '“IQ” is a stale test meant to measure mental capacity but in fact mostly measures extreme unintelligence'. Why would any developed country want hordes of "extremely unintelligent" immigrants? Which is why there exist countries with extremely harsh immigration policies that are first-order eugenic. Singapore is one of them. [1] There are many studies that report similar values, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289609001275 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016028960... [2] Anecdotal but informative: https://undark.org/article/in-south-africa-decolonizing-mathematics/ https://undark.org/article/in-south-africa-decolonizing-math...

repolfx 8y ago

Does anyone use it like that though? Isn't he arguing with a straw man? Who is using IQ to allocate funding to pop singers? IQ scores aren't used that much and only ever for predicting success of jobs where success is easily measurable (which is what Taleb seems to mean by "obediency-based BS jobs").

jeena 8y ago
Yeah they do, I've seen https://www.worlddata.info/iq-by-country.php https://www.worlddata.info/iq-by-country.php linked in discussions about if Germany should welcome refuges from Africa for example. And the gist was that while getting Asian high achievers is a net win for the country, letting refuges from Africa is, because of the linked map, a loss for the country.
- insertcredit 8y ago
  Given that not even Taleb disputes IQ effectiveness on the left-end of the spectrum, meaning the low end, letting waves of refugees in from sub-saharan Africa (average IQ below 70 [1][2]) would definitely be a net loss for a first-world country. His first sentence in linked article starts with: '“IQ” is a stale test meant to measure mental capacity but in fact mostly measures extreme unintelligence'. Why would any developed country want hordes of "extremely unintelligent" immigrants? Which is why there exist countries with extremely harsh immigration policies that are first-order eugenic. Singapore is one of them. [1] There are many studies that report similar values, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289609001275 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016028960... [2] Anecdotal but informative: https://undark.org/article/in-south-africa-decolonizing-mathematics/ https://undark.org/article/in-south-africa-decolonizing-math...