The plateauing of cognitive ability among top earners
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The plateauing of cognitive ability among top earners
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Re: The plateauing of cognitive ability among top earners
#2oddly this doesn't take into account my extremely low IQ friends who mined a bunch of bitcoin early on
Re: The plateauing of cognitive ability among top earners
#3This study looks only at Swedish men who served in the military, which as the authors observe may well introduce a bias.
They also note that a possibility is that higher cognitive ability individuals may more frequently opt for worse paying but prestigious roles, such as academia.
I buy it, but I think there’s another factor today, which is that many higher cognitive ability individuals simply are not in the job market, as they are either entrepreneurs or have deployed their abilities to not have to work, which is easier now than ever before. Given that they look only at wage and self-employed income, this would explain a bias - for instance, my income in these categories is £0, and I’m no slouch.
Re: The plateauing of cognitive ability among top earners
#4It's not a surprise that cognitive ability (the paper seems to define it as relatively close to classical IQ) is not highly correlated with earning ability or even value production for society.
I would argue that a much better correlant of both production value and capture value is conscientiousness, or vaguely synonymously, hardworking, diligent, etc.
A brilliant world observer who tweets their witty one-liners all day produces probably less value than a hard working, average cognitive ability, house painter.
Re: The plateauing of cognitive ability among top earners
#5The idea that salary is a measure of self-worth is an unfortunate lie that our modern society perpetuates.
Re: The plateauing of cognitive ability among top earners
#6This study looks only at Swedish men who served in the military, which as the authors observe may well introduce a bias. They also note that a possibility is that higher cognitive ability individuals may more frequently opt for worse paying but prestigious roles, such as academia. I buy it, but I think there’s another factor today, which is that many higher cognitive ability individuals simply are not in the job mark…
How does chasing prestige or avoiding work indicate "higher cognitive ability"?
Re: The plateauing of cognitive ability among top earners
#7It's not a surprise that cognitive ability (the paper seems to define it as relatively close to classical IQ) is not highly correlated with earning ability or even value production for society. I would argue that a much better correlant of both production value and capture value is conscientiousness, or vaguely synonymously, hardworking, diligent, etc. A brilliant world observer who tweets their witty one-liners all…
I’d add that there’s also somewhat of a random evolutionary walk in the way an individual’s intrinsic qualities end up aligning (or not) with the skills, values, temperaments and opportunities of their environment. Even how they match the needs and values of their historical time and culture can matter.
This is beyond just plane nature-nurture, but stressing the importance of random “right place right time” dynamics across the whole “production value” process.
If you’re intrinsically capable but never quite work out what you “want to do” or what works for you, for example, no matter how conscientious or committed, you will easily find yourself not as “productive” as those who’ve taken clearer paths.
Re: The plateauing of cognitive ability among top earners
#8This study looks only at Swedish men who served in the military, which as the authors observe may well introduce a bias. They also note that a possibility is that higher cognitive ability individuals may more frequently opt for worse paying but prestigious roles, such as academia. I buy it, but I think there’s another factor today, which is that many higher cognitive ability individuals simply are not in the job mark…
How does chasing prestige or avoiding work indicate "higher cognitive ability"?
Or, how does one define "prestige"?
Re: The plateauing of cognitive ability among top earners
#9It's not a surprise that cognitive ability (the paper seems to define it as relatively close to classical IQ) is not highly correlated with earning ability or even value production for society. I would argue that a much better correlant of both production value and capture value is conscientiousness, or vaguely synonymously, hardworking, diligent, etc. A brilliant world observer who tweets their witty one-liners all…
Value production is tricky when you start influencing large numbers of people. A witty one liner a day may only be worth say 10c/month to you but * 1 million people that’s 1.2 million dollars a year.
Actually extracting that value is a different story.
Re: The plateauing of cognitive ability among top earners
#10Seems aligned with what Maslow pyramid of needs predicts. I.e. above a certain safety net, the individual places more value on internal fulfilment rather than external perception of worth.