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Amusing, but it's kind of a truism. Changing your browser requires cognitive capacity. Those who change it the fastest have the highest cognitive capacity. Even

by neilk 15y ago

Amusing, but it's kind of a truism. Changing your browser requires cognitive capacity. Those who change it the fastest have the highest cognitive capacity. Even without other explanations, that explains variations of version within a single browser, and to some extent Chrome and Firefox. The really surprising thing for me was Opera. You can't explain that with mere willingness to update or try something new.

locci 15y ago
Popular browsers are "dragged down to 100" by the mass of people who install the browser because of techie friends, or fashion. In the second graph you can notice there are many more high IQs individuals using firefox and chrome rather than opera.
- w1ntermute 15y ago
  > In the second graph you can notice there are many more high IQs individuals using firefox and chrome rather than opera. You can also notice that as IQ increases, the numbers of Firefox, Chrome, and Safari users eventually peak, but the number of Opera users never does.
sliverstorm 15y ago
The really surprising thing for me was Opera Agreed. If what being smart gets me is Opera, I'd rather be dumb! I kid, I kid!
thricedotted 15y ago
Here's the trend I see: all the browsers after IE pretty much go in order of market share. Safari isn't that special because it's the default on Macs, so even though its market share is only slightly above Opera's, the score there is dampened because there's still greater diversity in the people using it. But way fewer people are using Opera rather than Chrome or Firefox...I bet if you went back to the times Chrome/Firefox had a similarly sized market share, you'd see the same spike. So it's not sampling bias, per se, but...I guess it's something along those lines?
- neilk 15y ago
  Ah, now I see. It makes perfect sense. Think of it this way. 1. People who pioneer the use of alternative browsers always have high intelligence. 2. However, some browsers lack the ability to appeal to anyone beyond that initial market. So know the graph is just saying things we already knew. Opera has a tiny fanclub, but the browser doesn't appeal to many people, or Opera fans are just bad at evangelizing to their friends. Meanwhile Chrome and Firefox have a much greater mainstream presence, and hence an attenuated average IQ. So Opera's concentration among intelligent users isn't an indication of quality, but rather, some problem in their marketing approach.
rjd 15y ago
TBH the I love the new Opera, its my browser of choice on Windows now. I still do most of my dev work in Firefox as its a swiss army knife, but opera otherwise. On OSX, despite its memory leaks and crashing, the OS integrations of Safari can't be beat, the multi touch zooming, and the new lion features... I can put up with a crash or two a day. And besides I like the feel of a high horse being at the to of that chart :P

by neilk 15y ago

locci 15y ago

Popular browsers are "dragged down to 100" by the mass of people who install the browser because of techie friends, or fashion. In the second graph you can notice there are many more high IQs individuals using firefox and chrome rather than opera.

w1ntermute 15y ago
> In the second graph you can notice there are many more high IQs individuals using firefox and chrome rather than opera. You can also notice that as IQ increases, the numbers of Firefox, Chrome, and Safari users eventually peak, but the number of Opera users never does.

sliverstorm 15y ago

The really surprising thing for me was Opera Agreed. If what being smart gets me is Opera, I'd rather be dumb! I kid, I kid!

thricedotted 15y ago

Here's the trend I see: all the browsers after IE pretty much go in order of market share. Safari isn't that special because it's the default on Macs, so even though its market share is only slightly above Opera's, the score there is dampened because there's still greater diversity in the people using it. But way fewer people are using Opera rather than Chrome or Firefox...I bet if you went back to the times Chrome/Firefox had a similarly sized market share, you'd see the same spike. So it's not sampling bias, per se, but...I guess it's something along those lines?

neilk 15y ago
Ah, now I see. It makes perfect sense. Think of it this way. 1. People who pioneer the use of alternative browsers always have high intelligence. 2. However, some browsers lack the ability to appeal to anyone beyond that initial market. So know the graph is just saying things we already knew. Opera has a tiny fanclub, but the browser doesn't appeal to many people, or Opera fans are just bad at evangelizing to their friends. Meanwhile Chrome and Firefox have a much greater mainstream presence, and hence an attenuated average IQ. So Opera's concentration among intelligent users isn't an indication of quality, but rather, some problem in their marketing approach.

rjd 15y ago

TBH the I love the new Opera, its my browser of choice on Windows now. I still do most of my dev work in Firefox as its a swiss army knife, but opera otherwise. On OSX, despite its memory leaks and crashing, the OS integrations of Safari can't be beat, the multi touch zooming, and the new lion features... I can put up with a crash or two a day. And besides I like the feel of a high horse being at the to of that chart :P