101–110 of 347 posts
There's supposedly some correlation between high IQ and mood/social disorders. One example article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bad-news-for-the-... Perhaps that accounts for some of this.
Everything calmed down after.
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” ― Calvin Coolidge
Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent, but also, there are plenty of persistent people around who are unsuccessful.
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” ― Calvin Coolidge
With the danger of sounding conceited: I have lived this. Me and my sister are polar opposites in everything, I’m lazy. She’s motivated. I tended to be above average when tested. She tended to be below average when tested. She wanted nothing more than being outside in nature and I wanted nothing more than being inside and messing with my computer. Hell. Even down to the fact she has a boys name and I have a girls nam…
As an example: I once had a tax dispute where I was represented by a lawyer who I felt was not very sharp. We were losing / going to lose the case.
Realising the mistake I had made retaining him, I swapped to a senior lawyer of a named tax law firm. He was extremely sharp and experienced, and would think 10 steps ahead. He was also a bit lazy though (which is fine, so am I at times). But he's hands down the best professional I have ever worked with -- the only person I would ever trust without having to double check his work.
I prefer the smart lawyer, as opposed to any person with a law degree. The fact that the first guy in my example persevered and got a law degree says absolutely nothing about his ability.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't need to "define" it in some philosophical sense to use it. Compare "mass". What is mass? Can you really define it? You can say what it does, but what "is" it? Well, nobody can define it, except in terms of the things that it does . Because those are all we see of it. We can measure it, we see those measurements let us predict other outcomes. So we can use our knowledge of mass in practical, predictive ways…
I never claimed that intelligence is nothing. I said that the IQ measurement is itself not worth much except as a general guide in fairly broad ranges. Intelligence is certainly something. It is relevant. But it is not precise, and is useful, as I said, only in the broadest strokes. And like all psychometrics, the manner in which it is measured is itself not stable. But comparing intelligence to mass or any other phy…
IQ predicts about 30% of a whole host of life outcomes (mostly related to job performance, educational attainment, earnings, etc.). That might not seem like a whole lot, but it's the best single predictor of life outcomes that exists, aside from looking at a person's parents and siblings.
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” ― Calvin Coolidge
If unrewarded genius proves that genius is not the thing, then unrewarded persistent person should prove persistence is not the thing either. And there are plenty of unrewarded persistent people. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent, but also, there are plenty of persistent people around who are unsuccessful.
That’s arguable. I would hazard a guess that unsuccessful men without talent may be a larger group.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
MENSA?
I'm not at the level required for MENSA (140 in the UK) but all I heard when I looked into it is it's a bunch of pretty dysfunctional people trying to one-up each other. I already have Reddit and HN for that :-D
You don't need Mensa to meet some smart people, but it's an easy place to find them, for better or for worse (both of which can be interesting experiences, BTW).
I wonder how many IQ test misclassify intelligence? Feynman had a score of 125 and many people here have a high score than that. I bet no one here with a higher score of 125 are actually smarter than Feynman though. I think this is just one of many possible such examples where IQ test miss the purported people they were suppose to capture. Feynman’s score wouldn’t even qualify him for MENSA. I wonder how many IQ exam…
Furthermore, most IQ tests are not meant to measure intelligence past a certain point. A person with an IQ of 160 is not inherently smarter than someone who has an IQ of 150 in the same way someone with an IQ of 100 is inherently smarter than someone with an IQ of 90.
Can someone do a test for willpower/hardwork? I think that would be a useful indicator. I was a B student, but I've accomplished more than A students now that I'm approaching my 30s.
Willpower has a standard test, at least in kids: put a sweet in front of them, tell them to not eat it, leave them alone with it, and see how long it takes them to eat it anyway. For adults, I propose giving them a mobile phone and a Twitter account, and seeing how long it takes for them to “just check it one more time”.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jun/01/famed-impu...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe he attained the skills necessary to invent GANs in one evening through years of persistent learning?
Right but if you postulate that "perseverance" is prerequisite for "education" then why would Coolidge list it separately, as an argument that "it's not enough"? Also, there are other examples of success without perseverance. Obvious ones are inherited success: e.g. just being born as king makes one - well, a king. No perseverance necessary. FWIW, I do think it's a game of probabilities - all these traits (education,…
I feel our culture currently holds a strange definition of success, that of wealth mostly. So in that sense, ya, IQ might not matter that much.