I have had debates on here about various issues. One of the debates was about why Africa is always in disarray.
So I talked to a guy from Nigeria and asked him why?
He looked at me and said.
It's simple of why Africa is in bad shape. He said....
Too many difference of opinions of how things should be. He said for example.
In Nigeria. There are over 500 different tribes. With various languages and cultures.
I told him my doctor was from Nigeria to. He said... What is his name.
I told him.
He goes.
Ah... an EBO man with a smile.
I said what's the smile about.
He said.. No offense to your doctor. But we DON'T TRUST EBO guys.
I said why..
He said they are shady and are money hustlers.
I said wow.
He said there are tons of African tribes that HATE EACH other.
Basically he said it's no different than DIE HARD LIBERALS fighting against DIE HARD CONVERSATIVES.
He said.. just imagine if there were 500+ political parties all with various thought processes. He said how much in fighting would there be.
He said. it has nothing to do with intelligence or anything like that.
He said it's all about ego. Such as "Our tribe" is better then your "tribe".
I thought this was interesting.
IQ is a stupid FINITE number that doesn't make logical sense to use.
Here is why.
IF I took the IQ test and it said I am an idiot.
IF I got the answers to the test and someone explained to me why I got the problems wrong.
I can CORRECT my wrong answers and learn the material.
That's the problem with testing.
People brain's are very similar to AI technology.
AI is designed to fail over and over again. And make corrections based off of mistakes.
For Example: The Auto Driving Vechiles that Google made. Did make some mistakes and causes crashes.
This is how they improved the AI. By making those mistakes and correcting them.
I am a software engineer.
First versions of an app is always BAD and has bugs.
Over time the app gets better as we correct the mistakes.
You cannot use a test to figure out people. Because people are not STATIC entities. We are DYNAMIC entities that change and grow via experiences.
A finite IQ number is nothing more than a HIGHER ED Academic's way of saying they can figure people out.
I am 42 years old.
I was a lazy C student in high school.
My intelligence has increased 100 fold since college.
WHY???
Because I care now. I didn't care before.
What I would like to see with the IQ test.
I would like to make it like real life. Give someone the test. Tutor them on what they miss. See can they improve.
If the I.Q. test said that you were an idiot (I.Q. <= 70), you would not be able to UNDERSTAND why your answers were incorrect.
When I was growing up, the severely mentally deficient were placed in "special education" classrooms in primary school. They were segregated for good reason. Even though they were mostly placid, they were about as conscious as a cat or a dog. It is a hideous impairment, and we should not blithely imagine it to be correctable.
Someone from the standpoint of I.Q. = 140 sees it similarly: The vast majority near I.Q. = 100 will never be able to "learn" how to be more intelligent. It's like height in a basketball game. Most of us think we are smarter than we are, just as the posting said. Maybe because as we happen to be smarter, we have a hard time understanding how it is possible to be not so smart. And so we use words to disparage people for being crippled---which is what it amounts to.
I learned this a long time ago: Whatever I.Q. I can claim above 100, there is someone out there that has a corresponding deficit. I have my brilliance at the cost of their dullness, because the distribution function is symmetrical. That's the way it works. And if it is a blessing, it is because the brilliant are able to produce more of more-lasting good, to benefit all. But it is of no use if the brilliant think of their brilliance as an advantage over others, to more successfully manipulate them. This is evil.
You don't win any arguments over I.Q. It doesn't change anything, except possibly your own heart. We have the ability to aid our fellow men with patience and explanation and encouragement. (It even works with animals.) Given why this site is even in existence, we have little cause to look down our nose at any other people who have strife in their lives.
I disagree.
Please learn in various ways. You cannot use a static number to tell the story of people.
Wow, great story! You are 100% right.
IQ tests are overrated
Lady pede here, I dropped out of school at 16. Was homeless for several years. Lived under a pier for a while.
Didn't go to college (until my 40s).
At 19 I got my stuff together and learned a skill.
Now I have a successful business life I would never have dreamed possible and I DID IT ALL MYSELF.
It is about seeing what you want to do in life and NEVER letting anything get in your way.
IMO, an IQ test is nothing more than an evaluation of a person's abstract thinking aptitude. I think that's why they do it at a fairly young age.
Some people think in more concrete terms but have little abstract thinking aptitude. Those people can do well in life, but lacking an ability for abstract thinking is a hinderance, and for a society as a whole is a very bad thing.
Leftists tend to be these types of people, from what I see.
I understand it's purpose.
I just think using a static number is a bad idea. I am learning how to draw right now.
It's a lot to it. Especially understanding how to draw 3D objects in a 2D piece of paper.
What my instructions are telling us to do. Is to fail fast and fail often.
It's the only way you are going to get better at this.
IQ seems to be a "Trophy" number for the most part. It's for people who like to FEEL superior then others.
Whenever it is mention. That's the context I see it in. Which tells me. It doesn't have much value in the real world.
Surely, you are not claiming that different people don't have different abilities in abstract thinking, are you? That would be absurd. We all have different abilities in everything -- throwing a football, art, speaking skills, whatever.
We also have different abilities for abstract thinking. Abstract thinking is what turns ideas into concrete things in the real world. It is the basis of all laws. It is the basis of all scientific understanding by way of the Scientific Method. It is the way roads are built, and the way farmers decide which crops to plant or which animals to raise.
It is an ability that goes into all aspects of life. It is likely the main reason why corporate CEO's become corporate CEO's rather than stay experts in a limited skill set, such as flipping burgers or writing computer code.
Since people have different abilities in this skill, it is only natural that we would attempt to quantify it in some way, just as we do for everything else (such as the grades you got in school to quantify your comprehension of material, and nothing more).
If we are going to quantify it, then a number to represent that ability makes a lot of sense. Maybe there is a better way, but I see no reason why anything else would be a better way to evaluate the skill.
Hey, I don't like the fact that Tom Brady can throw a football better than I can. But ...
So what?