5 ms·

Raising the World’s I.Q. with Micronutrients

53 points by MikeCapone 18y ago

jrp 18y ago
This is a serious problem and it's good to see people working on nutrition in poor countries - we hear "poor nutrition" and think of too much sugar and fat, but it can get a lot worse. That said, IQ is normalized and there won't be any global raising: world_iq = 100*population
- bdr 18y ago
  Sure, but any given test is normalized to a particular population, not to the whole world.
- sethg 18y ago
  15 or 16 points, depending on what IQ test you are using, is one standard deviation of whatever the "raw" test score is.
- aaronblohowiak 18y ago
  Many people use IQ when in fact they just mean I(ntelligence.) (reminder) IQ = 100 * mental age / chronological age
petercooper 18y ago
When people are suffering physically from the effects of lack of iodine, isn't it rather Western to consider raised intelligence the most talkworthy improvement!? Iodized water should be used to make people's lives better and reduce their pain - not to increase their intelligence by some token amount. Increasing intelligence is a weird motivation to help people in dire straits - how about helping people because it's the decent, human thing to do? An educated guess is that iodine deficiency results in a needless loss of more than 1 billion I.Q. points around the world. The prevalence of TV and gossip magazines in our culture are responsible for a lot more than that. I don't see a big crusade to fix that. The point this article makes is as meaningless as Shirky's assertions that our "cognitive surplus" equates to a million Wikipedias we haven't written or whatever. If billions of people in the developing world gain some intelligence, great, but I doubt it'll be as much use as making their lives better and more pain free so they can use the plentiful intelligence they already have (I don't subscribe to the argument that the poor are any less intelligent - they just have fewer opportunities).
- _h4xr 18y ago
  isn't it rather Western to consider raised intelligence the most talkworthy improvement!? I assume you're using "Western" to mean something very racist and vile, like "analyzing the data rationally and coming to the most sensible conclusion." You are unfairly assuming that only Europeans can look at the correlation between IQ and income, or IQ and crime, or whatever. Obviously, the Japanese (IQ 105, crime 5% to 10% of that in the US) or South Koreans (IQ 106, crime rate about 15% of what it is in the US) can look at these data, too, and hope that the rest of the world catches up. The prevalence of TV and gossip magazines in our culture are responsible for a lot more than that. I don't see a big crusade to fix that. Probably because you haven't read about how hard it is to change IQ. Nutrition is one of the only things that can measurably affect IQ in the long run. The other one -- the big one, accounting for 40-80% of all IQ variation -- is genetics. On the other hand, stupid but happy people are probably easier to control.
  - petercooper 18y ago
    I assume you're using "Western" to mean something very racist and vile, like "analyzing the data rationally and coming to the most sensible conclusion." You are unfairly assuming that only Europeans can look at the correlation between IQ and income, or IQ and crime, or whatever. You assume wrong. I did not make the assertions or assumptions you assume. How is "Western" racist? People of all races (except for, perhaps, those of certain indigenous peoples) make up the West and hold Western opinions. And since when were all Western people "European"? It's disturbing that HN has gotten to the point where people are unfairly assumed to be making "racist and vile" statements with nothing to back it up. Shame on you.
    - _h4xr 18y ago
      I'm sorry my sarcasm was not more apparent. My point was that raising IQ would do a lot of good for those people -- more than reducing their pain, in the long term. High IQ groups tend to create stable states and nice places to live, and they're also responsible for a lot of technological advancement. My sub-point was that often the same people uncomfortable with this kind of talk are down on Western culture in particular.
RobertL 18y ago
Better idea might be to just fire all the koolaid drinking college professors.
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
rbanffy 18y ago
Well... I see making people smarter _is_ both a contraceptive _and_ reduces the number of religious nuts. That messes with a lot of interests...

53 points by MikeCapone 18y ago

jrp 18y ago

This is a serious problem and it's good to see people working on nutrition in poor countries - we hear "poor nutrition" and think of too much sugar and fat, but it can get a lot worse. That said, IQ is normalized and there won't be any global raising: world_iq = 100*population

bdr 18y ago
Sure, but any given test is normalized to a particular population, not to the whole world.
sethg 18y ago
15 or 16 points, depending on what IQ test you are using, is one standard deviation of whatever the "raw" test score is.
aaronblohowiak 18y ago
Many people use IQ when in fact they just mean I(ntelligence.) (reminder) IQ = 100 * mental age / chronological age

petercooper 18y ago

When people are suffering physically from the effects of lack of iodine, isn't it rather Western to consider raised intelligence the most talkworthy improvement!? Iodized water should be used to make people's lives better and reduce their pain - not to increase their intelligence by some token amount. Increasing intelligence is a weird motivation to help people in dire straits - how about helping people because it's the decent, human thing to do? An educated guess is that iodine deficiency results in a needless loss of more than 1 billion I.Q. points around the world. The prevalence of TV and gossip magazines in our culture are responsible for a lot more than that. I don't see a big crusade to fix that. The point this article makes is as meaningless as Shirky's assertions that our "cognitive surplus" equates to a million Wikipedias we haven't written or whatever. If billions of people in the developing world gain some intelligence, great, but I doubt it'll be as much use as making their lives better and more pain free so they can use the plentiful intelligence they already have (I don't subscribe to the argument that the poor are any less intelligent - they just have fewer opportunities).

_h4xr 18y ago
isn't it rather Western to consider raised intelligence the most talkworthy improvement!? I assume you're using "Western" to mean something very racist and vile, like "analyzing the data rationally and coming to the most sensible conclusion." You are unfairly assuming that only Europeans can look at the correlation between IQ and income, or IQ and crime, or whatever. Obviously, the Japanese (IQ 105, crime 5% to 10% of that in the US) or South Koreans (IQ 106, crime rate about 15% of what it is in the US) can look at these data, too, and hope that the rest of the world catches up. The prevalence of TV and gossip magazines in our culture are responsible for a lot more than that. I don't see a big crusade to fix that. Probably because you haven't read about how hard it is to change IQ. Nutrition is one of the only things that can measurably affect IQ in the long run. The other one -- the big one, accounting for 40-80% of all IQ variation -- is genetics. On the other hand, stupid but happy people are probably easier to control.
- petercooper 18y ago
  I assume you're using "Western" to mean something very racist and vile, like "analyzing the data rationally and coming to the most sensible conclusion." You are unfairly assuming that only Europeans can look at the correlation between IQ and income, or IQ and crime, or whatever. You assume wrong. I did not make the assertions or assumptions you assume. How is "Western" racist? People of all races (except for, perhaps, those of certain indigenous peoples) make up the West and hold Western opinions. And since when were all Western people "European"? It's disturbing that HN has gotten to the point where people are unfairly assumed to be making "racist and vile" statements with nothing to back it up. Shame on you.
  - _h4xr 18y ago
    I'm sorry my sarcasm was not more apparent. My point was that raising IQ would do a lot of good for those people -- more than reducing their pain, in the long term. High IQ groups tend to create stable states and nice places to live, and they're also responsible for a lot of technological advancement. My sub-point was that often the same people uncomfortable with this kind of talk are down on Western culture in particular.

RobertL 18y ago

Better idea might be to just fire all the koolaid drinking college professors.

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

rbanffy 18y ago

Well... I see making people smarter _is_ both a contraceptive _and_ reduces the number of religious nuts. That messes with a lot of interests...