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Yes, there is a positive correlation between life outcomes that a culture values and the score on IQ tests designed by that culture. This has been true for eve

Yes, there is a positive correlation between life outcomes that a culture values and the score on IQ tests designed by that culture. This has been true for every culture so far. But I think that's besides the point. If we want more from the scientific community we need to think about who is likely to produce scientific breakthroughs, and who gets funding in practice. High IQ is a wide net, but it supersets the people who are capable of making advancements in something like theoretical physics. And it's such a small pool that the non-productive geniuses are a drop in the bucket for a government payroll. The flip side is someone capable of making progress in this field can just do so, they don't need to play the academic funding game. That seems to be the problem Sabine ran into. Fortunately, she was able to avoid the waste work by lecturing about her interests to a general audience.

lupire 3y ago
I know a lot of extremely high IQ people who are far less productive than lower IQ people with other talents and ethic. Unless your idea is reducing to UBI, it's not well-targeted.
- latency-guy2 3y ago
  > I know a lot of extremely high IQ people who are far less productive than lower IQ people with other talents and ethic. Interesting, the dumbest people I know ended up being precisely where I thought they'd always be in life, and its not very high. I wonder who's experience matters more, yours, or mine.
  - nequo 3y ago
    You’re not contradicting parent. You’re just talking about the other tail of the distribution.
hilux 3y ago
Your first paragraph doesn't even begin to address my question. When I was an undergrad struggling with physics classes myself, I might have worshipped high IQs like you're doing. Now that I've been in the real world and known many "geniuses" - IQ is just one factor, and far from the most important, in determining who does anything worthwhile. In my experience, the only thing you can confidently say about super math/physics geniuses is that they have "different" social skills, and might be low in empathy.
DemocracyFTW2 3y ago
> This has been true for every culture so far. So we tested this with Ancient Egyptians, hunter-gatherers from iron age Siberia, 19th c Chicago factory workers and 1940s Basques, and found out that whatever IQ tests they came up with they were always useful metrics for life outcomes. Personally I especially love Ancient Egyptian IQ tests.
- hilux 3y ago
  You and the other genius here keep moving the goalpost. (I wonder why.) The question was whether GENIUSES can be expected to contribute so much that they shouldn't have to work, not whether "smarter is often good." Yes, IQ of 115 is probably more successful than 85, but neither is GENIUS, therefore not relevant to the question.
- selimthegrim 3y ago
  Oh man, maybe that’s what the reincarnation check from OMON-Ra was
kcplate 3y ago
> Yes, there is a positive correlation between life outcomes that a culture values and the score on IQ tests designed by that culture. There are also positive correlations between high focus and effort regardless of IQ. Not to mention luck which plays perhaps the biggest factor in life outcomes far beyond IQ, effort, and focus.

lupire 3y ago

I know a lot of extremely high IQ people who are far less productive than lower IQ people with other talents and ethic. Unless your idea is reducing to UBI, it's not well-targeted.

latency-guy2 3y ago
> I know a lot of extremely high IQ people who are far less productive than lower IQ people with other talents and ethic. Interesting, the dumbest people I know ended up being precisely where I thought they'd always be in life, and its not very high. I wonder who's experience matters more, yours, or mine.
- nequo 3y ago
  You’re not contradicting parent. You’re just talking about the other tail of the distribution.

hilux 3y ago

Your first paragraph doesn't even begin to address my question. When I was an undergrad struggling with physics classes myself, I might have worshipped high IQs like you're doing. Now that I've been in the real world and known many "geniuses" - IQ is just one factor, and far from the most important, in determining who does anything worthwhile. In my experience, the only thing you can confidently say about super math/physics geniuses is that they have "different" social skills, and might be low in empathy.

DemocracyFTW2 3y ago

> This has been true for every culture so far. So we tested this with Ancient Egyptians, hunter-gatherers from iron age Siberia, 19th c Chicago factory workers and 1940s Basques, and found out that whatever IQ tests they came up with they were always useful metrics for life outcomes. Personally I especially love Ancient Egyptian IQ tests.

hilux 3y ago
You and the other genius here keep moving the goalpost. (I wonder why.) The question was whether GENIUSES can be expected to contribute so much that they shouldn't have to work, not whether "smarter is often good." Yes, IQ of 115 is probably more successful than 85, but neither is GENIUS, therefore not relevant to the question.
selimthegrim 3y ago
Oh man, maybe that’s what the reincarnation check from OMON-Ra was

kcplate 3y ago

> Yes, there is a positive correlation between life outcomes that a culture values and the score on IQ tests designed by that culture. There are also positive correlations between high focus and effort regardless of IQ. Not to mention luck which plays perhaps the biggest factor in life outcomes far beyond IQ, effort, and focus.