Comment 75997

By Undustrial (registered) - website | Posted April 17, 2012 at 13:23:16

Thanks for this article. We all need to be more mindful of the words we drop casually.

What's most infuriating about topics that regard "intelligence" is how ill-defined it is. A standard "IQ test" (Full Wexler) has a ~20% margin for error, and they're always being called out for measuring factors which relate more to status than skill. There are many different kinds of "intelligence" (linguistic, mathematic, creative etc) and being very skilled at one doesn't always lead to any particular proficiency in others. I read an interesting article yesterday which suggested a "high IQ" for whatever it's worth can often be akin to a disability in itself. Statistically speaking, it tends to result in being less happy, having higher crime rates and a host of other problems.

It's hard to tell whether twisted metrics of who's a "better human" than others lead to or spring from unbelievably ugly authoritarian ideologies (like the fascists and forced sterilisations which Michelle brings up), but either way, I want no part of them.

"Today, the notion of progress in a single line without goal or limit seems perhaps the most parochial notion of a very parochial century." — Lewis Mumford

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