4 ms·

I think in the medium term, probably genetics, because that's partly a trial-and-error approach. I feel like brain-computer interfaces, and other technology th

I think in the medium term, probably genetics, because that's partly a trial-and-error approach. I feel like brain-computer interfaces, and other technology that relies on actually _understanding_ details of how the brain works, are quite a ways off. But... in the short term, I think we could still make massive gains purely by improving education and child-rearing. If our schools and families actually raised and educated kids _properly_ (whatever 'properly' is), we'd see huge improvements in average IQ. Real improvements that may be culturally infeasible, and also could be very damaging if they are done wrong.

pjscott 4y ago
How? There's a long history of failure at raising people's IQs by environmental changes, and it doesn't seem to be for lack of trying.
- scotty79 4y ago
  You can however lower IQ with environmental changes very effectively. Getting rid of parasites improves educational outcomes of children. Possibly their IQ as well. Who knows how much smarter would we be if flus, colds and other duseases didn't ravage bodies of our children.
- 8note 4y ago
  My understanding is that removing lead from a variety of infrastructure has done wonders for people's intelligence, as has enabling better family planning. Which failures are you talking about?
  - pjscott 4y ago
    I consider those to be in the category of not lowering people's IQ. Making someone dumber is fairly easy: just drop them on their heads as a child, malnourish them, and expose them to lead and lots of parasites. And make sure they don't get enough iodine. But in rich countries we've already fixed those things, and there doesn't seem to be much else we can do.
whatever1 4y ago
IQ is something very narrow. The fact that you can do some symbolic inference on paper does not mean that you will be more successful in life From my school mates I have seen many of them who had on paper low IQ to have great careers as entrepreneurs, salesmen, athletes, craftsmen. I have also cases with top students who did not go anywhere. So I am not sure whether an average increase of IQ would help the society. Literacy for sure helps, but I am not convinced about IQ.
- jlawson 4y ago
  This is false: "The fact that you can do some symbolic inference on paper does not mean that you will be more successful in life" IQ, more than any other psychometric measure, predicts a wide variety of positive life outcomes including income, health, longevity, not being incarcerated, etc. Here [0] is a simplistic article about it, but there are endless studies and discussions about this, all with the same clear and uncontroversial result. [0] https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/11/does-iq-determine-success-a-psychologist-weighs-in.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/11/does-iq-determine-success-a-... Further reading: [1] https://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/2019/07/massive-danish-sibling-study-confirms-charles-murrays-findings/ https://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/2019/07/massive-danish-sibling-... [2] https://www.google.com/search?q=iq+predicts+success https://www.google.com/search?q=iq+predicts+success
  - 8note 4y ago
    IQ correlates quite heavily with practice time on multiple choice tests though. Who spends their time doing lots of tests? Rich kids. Being wealthy also predicts a wide variety of positive life out ones including income, health, longevity, and not being incarcerated
    - jlawson 4y ago
      No, this issue of test practice being a confounder has been studied exhaustively for decades. There are many ways studies have been designed to determine its impact. For example: Examining the predictive value of IQ tests between siblings in the same household (who generally have the same access to resources). Answer: IQ remains very powerfully predictive even within a household. A century of study and attempts at intervention have all pointed to an overwhelmingly clear result: It's not wealth that makes someone have high IQ. It's high IQ that makes people wealthy. Children do inherit high IQ from their parents who had high IQ, but the mechanism of this isn't through wealth, it's genetic. About 80% of the variance in IQ is by genetic parentage. Example study: Examining adoptees' IQ scores in relation to their genetic parents versus the parents who raised them. Answer: They inherit their measured IQ from their genetic parents; the adoptive parents have essentially no effect (the last 20% of variation is basically random).

pjscott 4y ago

How? There's a long history of failure at raising people's IQs by environmental changes, and it doesn't seem to be for lack of trying.

scotty79 4y ago
You can however lower IQ with environmental changes very effectively. Getting rid of parasites improves educational outcomes of children. Possibly their IQ as well. Who knows how much smarter would we be if flus, colds and other duseases didn't ravage bodies of our children.
8note 4y ago
My understanding is that removing lead from a variety of infrastructure has done wonders for people's intelligence, as has enabling better family planning. Which failures are you talking about?
- pjscott 4y ago
  I consider those to be in the category of not lowering people's IQ. Making someone dumber is fairly easy: just drop them on their heads as a child, malnourish them, and expose them to lead and lots of parasites. And make sure they don't get enough iodine. But in rich countries we've already fixed those things, and there doesn't seem to be much else we can do.

whatever1 4y ago

IQ is something very narrow. The fact that you can do some symbolic inference on paper does not mean that you will be more successful in life From my school mates I have seen many of them who had on paper low IQ to have great careers as entrepreneurs, salesmen, athletes, craftsmen. I have also cases with top students who did not go anywhere. So I am not sure whether an average increase of IQ would help the society. Literacy for sure helps, but I am not convinced about IQ.

jlawson 4y ago
This is false: "The fact that you can do some symbolic inference on paper does not mean that you will be more successful in life" IQ, more than any other psychometric measure, predicts a wide variety of positive life outcomes including income, health, longevity, not being incarcerated, etc. Here [0] is a simplistic article about it, but there are endless studies and discussions about this, all with the same clear and uncontroversial result. [0] https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/11/does-iq-determine-success-a-psychologist-weighs-in.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/11/does-iq-determine-success-a-... Further reading: [1] https://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/2019/07/massive-danish-sibling-study-confirms-charles-murrays-findings/ https://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/2019/07/massive-danish-sibling-... [2] https://www.google.com/search?q=iq+predicts+success https://www.google.com/search?q=iq+predicts+success
- 8note 4y ago
  IQ correlates quite heavily with practice time on multiple choice tests though. Who spends their time doing lots of tests? Rich kids. Being wealthy also predicts a wide variety of positive life out ones including income, health, longevity, and not being incarcerated
  - jlawson 4y ago
    No, this issue of test practice being a confounder has been studied exhaustively for decades. There are many ways studies have been designed to determine its impact. For example: Examining the predictive value of IQ tests between siblings in the same household (who generally have the same access to resources). Answer: IQ remains very powerfully predictive even within a household. A century of study and attempts at intervention have all pointed to an overwhelmingly clear result: It's not wealth that makes someone have high IQ. It's high IQ that makes people wealthy. Children do inherit high IQ from their parents who had high IQ, but the mechanism of this isn't through wealth, it's genetic. About 80% of the variance in IQ is by genetic parentage. Example study: Examining adoptees' IQ scores in relation to their genetic parents versus the parents who raised them. Answer: They inherit their measured IQ from their genetic parents; the adoptive parents have essentially no effect (the last 20% of variation is basically random).