• Shawn
    12.6k
    I would like to start out by saying that intelligent people say interesting things.

    Most, if not all, ancient philosophers have had a high enough intelligence to generalize upon observations towards the workings of the world or people's inner world. A teacher once told me that Aristotle was the last man to know everything in the world at his time. These giants of history were so important to civilization in introducing for example the foundations of modern mathematics or science such as Newton or Leibniz. Euclid or Gauss were and are, still read to this day in terms of their mathematical insights.

    Furthermore, intelligence is growing around the world. Since 1945 to today the average growth in intelligence has grown by almost standard deviation in certain countries like Japan and South Korea. Children are being introduced to more food for thought to direct them into lucrative STEM fields.

    With that said given that philosophy is about self-reflection and with it the norm of healthy egotism, then what function does intelligence serve in directing one's life? As some of you know mother's play Mozart to their babies to induce a dubious Mozart effect. Parents will be interested to send their children to the best schools in hope that they achieve better education with psychometric testing. The Bell curve is the most studied statistical distribution in the humanities and has been shown effectively that a higher IQ corresponds to a higher chance of attaining a higher income latter in life.

    With the above in mind, what is your opinion of the Flynn effect or the fact that the average IQ is rising around the world. Of course, other factors like personality or motivation are not irrelevant in regards to a high income. Intelligence alone is not enough to land oneself in Ivy league colleges.

    What is your opinion on intelligence or IQ? Does it play too much a factor in how we determine the success of the young, as it mostly is geared towards their evaluation of success in the future? Is IQ testing a good prognostic of future success?
  • Philosophim
    2.2k
    IQ and intelligence are not necessarily correlative. IQ is a test from a group of people who have an opinion of what counts as intelligence. The problem is IQ tests can be studied. You can learn how to think and get better scores in many instances. Does that test intelligence, or knowledge then? I think intelligence should measure your minds biological ability to come to conclusions. Not the conclusions someone else came up with, but to come to its own conclusions with the limited information it has.

    For a biological description of intelligence, the best description I've heard is "Neuron processing speed combined with accuracy." The faster and more accurately a person can make connections, the more intelligent they are. Of course, its more complicated than that.

    How much heat and energy does a person generate when they think? You might have a person that is fantastic in short bursts, but quickly tires out and needs rest. Other people may be able to think accurately at an above average level for long times, but will never solve things past an average speed. You can combine all of these factors together and see that "intelligence" is quite varied. Take it one step further when you realize that your brain is composed of different areas, and you might discover that certain areas of your brain are faster/more accurate than other areas of your brain.

    Being human, our floor and ceiling of "intelligence" are higher than any other animal (or so we think). And I think the reason this is, is because we realize our limitations, and use philosophies, tools, and societies to go past these limitations. While being an olympian in the intelligence department might help you in your life, you are still limited by the biological condition of being a human brain. No other animal does this to the extent we do.

    Thus, I think the value of our intelligence is in how we use it to overcome our own limitations. Using it to overcome the problems that hold us back. Working as a society where one brain cannot succeed. Using our unique strengths of intelligence to help where we can. We create tools so we don't have to have muscles, and we create tools so we don't have to use our brain. As such, no test but our own application to solve those problems can really determine how useful we are in solving those problems. As such, IQ is fairly useless.
  • Hello Human
    195
    What do you mean by intelligence ?
  • Down The Rabbit Hole
    516


    I always thought social skills would lead to higher incomes than general intelligence. It is a common thought that those with higher general intelligence and IQ, suffer in the social skills and EQ department.
  • hope
    216
    intelligent people say interesting things.Shawn

    Intelligence doesn't exist

    The mind is nothing but a map of the territory. A map of high capacity and accuracy is said to be more "intelligent". The map is used to avoid pain and attain pleasure.

    So the map is a conversion. A conversion of sense data into a usable model. The better and faster the conversion the more "intelligent" the mind.
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