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Who cares? IQ isn't a good predictor of much, other than performance on other IQ tests. It's true that there are broad correlations between IQ and paths in life

by jey 19y ago

Who cares? IQ isn't a good predictor of much, other than performance on other IQ tests. It's true that there are broad correlations between IQ and paths in life[1], but it's not like our greatest contributors to society have been the ones with the highest IQ. I'm just going to laugh at someone someone comes to me and says "You should hire me because I scored at +3 sigma on multiple 'intelligence' tests!". 1. See the graph at http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/?p=321 http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/?p=321

amichail 19y ago
The greatest contributors to math and science have had high IQs.
- aswanson 19y ago
  And the greatest athletes have had faster forty yard dashes and reaction times than the average person. If you are better than an average pro athlete in these metrics, is that enough to make you Michael Jordan or Tom Brady? I think not. To wit: The highest IQ holder now is great at word puzzles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_vos_Savant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_vos_Savant The greatest of all time, what did he do?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_sidis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_sidis But Steve Hawking doesn't like the idea much: http://www.extremeintellect.com/ei2007/geniuses/hawking/hawking.html http://www.extremeintellect.com/ei2007/geniuses/hawking/hawk... Just saying, it is a factor, but I don't think it's the end all and be all.
  - amichail 19y ago
    High IQ is necessary but not sufficient in certain areas such as math and science. Of course you need to put in the effort to succeed.
    - aswanson 19y ago
      Agreed, I just think the the effort portion is deemphasized far too often.
- pius 19y ago
  Citation?
JeffL 19y ago
The Bell Curve cites studies that say that raw IQ is the single best predictor of future job performance, higher than experience, interview, and everything else. Too bad it's illegal to give IQ tests as part of the interview process. I think that's partially why the brain teasers have become so popular. Though I do agree with you that you'd be right to laugh at someone who claims you should hire him simply because of an IQ test. They should also be motivated and interested in that line of work, otherwise I would imagine the intelligence would be wasted.
- mynameishere 19y ago
  Too bad it's illegal to give IQ tests as part of the interview process. Taking a follow-the-money approach to these questions, it's worth reflecting that a 15 minute IQ test can give a rough idea of a candidate's quality. Compare that to the 4 year, 6-figure process of getting an Ivy League degree--Harvard, et al, is against any shade of genetic determinism not so much from liberalism as self-interest. Why obsolete themselves? From the article: [After listing obviously false rebuttals of Watson...] I wish these assurances were true. I wonder why. If you showed proof of genetic proclivities toward certain kinds of muscle and nerve structures associated with athleticism, and then showed that blacks have some preponderance of the same...how many of them would throw themselves at the feet of Thomas Jefferson's tea-tax-related rhetoric and weep that "It just can't be so...all men are equal!" Zero. Not everyone was taught to abase themselves.
- pius 19y ago
  Wasn't the Bell Curve discredited years ago?

by jey 19y ago

amichail 19y ago

The greatest contributors to math and science have had high IQs.

aswanson 19y ago
And the greatest athletes have had faster forty yard dashes and reaction times than the average person. If you are better than an average pro athlete in these metrics, is that enough to make you Michael Jordan or Tom Brady? I think not. To wit: The highest IQ holder now is great at word puzzles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_vos_Savant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_vos_Savant The greatest of all time, what did he do?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_sidis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_sidis But Steve Hawking doesn't like the idea much: http://www.extremeintellect.com/ei2007/geniuses/hawking/hawking.html http://www.extremeintellect.com/ei2007/geniuses/hawking/hawk... Just saying, it is a factor, but I don't think it's the end all and be all.
- amichail 19y ago
  High IQ is necessary but not sufficient in certain areas such as math and science. Of course you need to put in the effort to succeed.
  - aswanson 19y ago
    Agreed, I just think the the effort portion is deemphasized far too often.
pius 19y ago
Citation?

JeffL 19y ago

The Bell Curve cites studies that say that raw IQ is the single best predictor of future job performance, higher than experience, interview, and everything else. Too bad it's illegal to give IQ tests as part of the interview process. I think that's partially why the brain teasers have become so popular. Though I do agree with you that you'd be right to laugh at someone who claims you should hire him simply because of an IQ test. They should also be motivated and interested in that line of work, otherwise I would imagine the intelligence would be wasted.

mynameishere 19y ago
Too bad it's illegal to give IQ tests as part of the interview process. Taking a follow-the-money approach to these questions, it's worth reflecting that a 15 minute IQ test can give a rough idea of a candidate's quality. Compare that to the 4 year, 6-figure process of getting an Ivy League degree--Harvard, et al, is against any shade of genetic determinism not so much from liberalism as self-interest. Why obsolete themselves? From the article: [After listing obviously false rebuttals of Watson...] I wish these assurances were true. I wonder why. If you showed proof of genetic proclivities toward certain kinds of muscle and nerve structures associated with athleticism, and then showed that blacks have some preponderance of the same...how many of them would throw themselves at the feet of Thomas Jefferson's tea-tax-related rhetoric and weep that "It just can't be so...all men are equal!" Zero. Not everyone was taught to abase themselves.
pius 19y ago
Wasn't the Bell Curve discredited years ago?