The plot of the popular 2011 movie Limitless captures the dream of unlimited intelligence–the age-old human quest for extreme wisdom or supernatural cognition. In this movie, actor Bradley Cooper stars as Eddie Morra, a struggling writer in New York City who’s just been abandoned by his girlfriend. Defeated and despondent, he samples a nootropic, drug …
In a town in which every man is clean-shaven each male either shaves himself or is shaved by the barber. The barber is a man who shaves everyone who does not shave himself (and only those who do not shave themselves). Does the barber shave himself? To ensure that you see the paradox, think about …
Our posts on this site are typically dedicated to sharing information about intelligence, the brain and cognitive behavior; advice is rarely offered. However, there have been in the past, extensive reports that family gatherings on American Thanksgiving have often ended in hostilities and severed relationships as people move from rational to emotional mode. So let’s …
Yes, there is an emerging body of research indicating that people in their formative years, i.e., before adulthood, can increase their IQ through educational experiences. In a longitudinal study, 33 teenagers of average age 14.1 years were administered an IQ test and a structural brain scan in 2004 and then again in 2007, when their …
We all make informal assessments of the intelligence, beauty, competence and reliability of the many people in our lives. These assessments are necessary in judging who we can trust, who we want to spend time with and particularly, who we would choose as a spouse. Sometimes these judgments are visceral, and we appeal to our …
There are several potential downsides to high intelligence. Gifted children are often perceived as socially different from their peers and are ostracized, ignored, bullied, or ridiculed. This was the case for people like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk (who had his nose broken when thrown down a flight of stairs). While average children …
What are the Downsides of high intelligence and how should one deal with these problems? Read More »
Many people assume that their IQ is determined at birth and is therefore constant throughout their lives. However, our brains, especially during our formative years, are in a continuous process of neural production and pruning. The physical and intellectual stimulation provided by the environment plays a strong role in determining which neural connections are reinforced …
As you might expect, there are several factors that contribute to exceptional intellectual talent. Three of the most prominent are an inherited neural efficiency, early intellectual stimulation and a capacity for intense focus. In a few paragraphs, I will provide a brief overview of these factors, but will not prolong this answer by providing all …
This post is a response to a question asked on my Quora site: Intelligence & IQ. The following explanation of Schrödinger’s cat is taken from my recent book, Intelligence: Where we Were, Where we Are and Where we’re Going. In the famous double-slit experiment, an elementary particle like an electron or photon is sent through a …
What is the Meaning of the “Schrödinger cat” Conundrum? Read More »
The IQs of the populations of America and China are distributed on a bell curve with median close to 100 and standard deviation 15. Hence, the percentage of Americans who are gifted could be expected to be about the same as the percentage of gifted people in the Chinese population. However, the Chinese population is …
Who have higher intelligence; the Chinese or the American scientists? Read More »
