3 ms·

Seems hilarious to assume they can be standardized within a culture too, whatever a culture may be.

glofish 7y ago
but that's what IQ test are, standardized tests. not sure where hilarity comes into play ... it has well defined statistical properties perhaps you mean that the results of IQ tests can be, and often are grossly misinterpreted, that is not related to standardization
cookiecaper 7y ago
Yeah, the reality is that you'll never be able to get reliable/unadulterated data on something that is both as personally impactful and as loosely defined as "intelligence". Everyone is going to bias toward interpreting the mode of thought that is most similar to their own as the definition of "intelligent". Very few adults are comfortable with the idea that any substantial group of people are objectively more intelligent than themselves, because admitting that comes uncomfortably close to relinquishing autonomy, at least in contemporary Western understanding that says the more intelligent should rule. European history throughout the 20th century shows the horrifying, depraved danger in capitulating to a ruling intelligentsia. We should earnestly hope that no group allows their self-interest, protected by native instinct, to be overridden by the despotic, unfeeling ideologies of "intelligent" rulership. That philosophy has shown itself over and over again to be a quick route to starvation, genocide, and widespread desolation. Nevertheless, IQ is the most general/objective measurement we have, and it seems to be a reasonably good approximation on aggregate.
- svara 7y ago
  > European history throughout the 20th century shows the horrifying, depraved danger in capitulating to a ruling intelligentsia. If you're referring to communism and national socialism here, those were rabidly anti-intellectual (the later particularly so).
8bitsrule 7y ago
Yep. And that helps many IQ tests to be biased (consciously or not) in favor of the interests (and assumptions) that create the tests. EG a written test will inaccurately 'measure' the abilities of people who (for whatever reasons) can't read well. Those who are well-fed and -slept, secure, unfraid, healthy, and enjoy lots of educational opportunities will arrive for the test with an advantage.

but that's what IQ test are, standardized tests. not sure where hilarity comes into play ... it has well defined statistical properties perhaps you mean that the results of IQ tests can be, and often are grossly misinterpreted, that is not related to standardization

cookiecaper 7y ago

Yeah, the reality is that you'll never be able to get reliable/unadulterated data on something that is both as personally impactful and as loosely defined as "intelligence". Everyone is going to bias toward interpreting the mode of thought that is most similar to their own as the definition of "intelligent". Very few adults are comfortable with the idea that any substantial group of people are objectively more intelligent than themselves, because admitting that comes uncomfortably close to relinquishing autonomy, at least in contemporary Western understanding that says the more intelligent should rule. European history throughout the 20th century shows the horrifying, depraved danger in capitulating to a ruling intelligentsia. We should earnestly hope that no group allows their self-interest, protected by native instinct, to be overridden by the despotic, unfeeling ideologies of "intelligent" rulership. That philosophy has shown itself over and over again to be a quick route to starvation, genocide, and widespread desolation. Nevertheless, IQ is the most general/objective measurement we have, and it seems to be a reasonably good approximation on aggregate.

svara 7y ago
> European history throughout the 20th century shows the horrifying, depraved danger in capitulating to a ruling intelligentsia. If you're referring to communism and national socialism here, those were rabidly anti-intellectual (the later particularly so).

8bitsrule 7y ago

Yep. And that helps many IQ tests to be biased (consciously or not) in favor of the interests (and assumptions) that create the tests. EG a written test will inaccurately 'measure' the abilities of people who (for whatever reasons) can't read well. Those who are well-fed and -slept, secure, unfraid, healthy, and enjoy lots of educational opportunities will arrive for the test with an advantage.