A forum for discussion ideas
In 2011, a large group of researchers published the results of a genome-wide analysis of 549,692 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) involving 3511 unrelated adults. (An SNP represents a difference in a single DNA building block, called a nucleotide.) (See: Davies, G., A. Tenesa, A. Payton, J. Yang, S.E. Harris, D. Liewald, et al. 2011. “Genome-wide …
Can parents of average IQ have a child of IQ 160? Read More »
Many people who visit Quora ask how to distinguish highly intelligent people from the average. There are a lot of different perspectives on this, but one that I have found particularly reliable is to observe what people do in their spare time. Those who highly intelligent are usually actively engaged in acquiring information about things …
A few years ago, a school board discovered that there was a positive correlation between a student’s shoe size and a student’s intelligence. Those with larger shoe sizes had higher IQ scores than those of smaller shoe size. The school board administrators, having little knowledge of statistics, assumed that there was some kind of causal …
What are examples of variables that are positively correlated by not causally related? Read More »
It would be impossible for the proportions of intelligent and unintelligent people to be unequal, because IQ scores are normed so that half the people are above average intelligence and half are below. (For the same reason, the number of short people is the same as the number of tall people, provided height is normally …
Do Most people believe there are more unintelligent than intelligent people? Read More »
Identical twins (monozygotic twins) develop from a single fertilized egg that splits into two embryos. Therefore the twins share 100% of their alleles, meaning that they are genetically identical. Consequently, their fluid intelligence (brain structure and neural efficiency) will be similar. Any difference in their IQs will be a result of different environmental effects that …
The concept of IQ emerged at the beginning of the 20th century, but formal IQ tests such as WAIS (the Weschler test) did not emerge until the 1950’s. (You can visit this site for a brief history of their development: Why were IQ tests developed originally?) Consequently, we don’t have IQ measures for the greatest leaders …
The concept of IQ emerged at the beginning of the 20th century, but formal IQ tests such as WAIS (the Weschler test) did not emerge until the 1950’s. (You can visit this site for a brief history of their development: Why were IQ tests developed originally?) Consequently, Einstein’s IQ was never measured. However, based on his …
Was Einstein’s intelligence innate IQ or the Result of hard Work? Read More »
In his book, David and Goliath1, journalist Malcolm Gladwell discusses the downside of attending an elite university. Citing the case of Caroline Sacks, he asserts that she suffered from “little fish in a big pond syndrome.” Caroline had excellent grades in science and had to choose between enrolling in science at the University of Maryland …
What are the pros and cons of attending an elite university? Read More »
This is an important question that gets to the essence of the differences in intelligence among humans. For this reason, it requires more than a superficial answer, and I ask the reader to bear with me during a longer than usual post, while I share what we know from research. Let’s first look at what …
Daniel, it all depends upon how we define “smarter.” Certainly AI is more capable than humans in certain functions that we regard as cognitive. For example, the rate at which signals can be transmitted along myelinated axons connecting neurons in the brain can be about 100 m/s. However, the propagation velocity of electric current in …
Is AI more intelligent than the people who created it? Read More »
