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IQ Matters Less Than You Think

nautil.us

21–30 of 347 posts

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#21
I agree that it matters less. One thing is to have a high IQ, the other is to apply that IQ to your every day life. However, it is not sufficient to base your success on IQ alone, effort matters too and those who have a high IQ tend to put less effort into things

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#22
post #20
post #7

“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 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. People who persevere but fail are also very common, so this does not prove its claim.

Perhaps it is necessary but not sufficient?

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#24
post #8

I want to believe that my perhaps above average IQ won't matter and I could be in a league of PhDs. But practically it seems very difficult and there is a glass ceiling which seems too difficult to break. A feeling that there is something which my mind cannot probably grasp.

PhD is almost never about high IQ, its about perseverance.

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#25

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.

Even though it's controversial, I think this comes close: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experimen...

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#26
post #7

“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

Depends in what field. Being persistent will never give you the facial features to become a male model.

"But why male models"

But at this day and age of modern cosmetic surgery, yes it does. (At least you need persistence to get the money to afford it)

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#27
post #8

I want to believe that my perhaps above average IQ won't matter and I could be in a league of PhDs. But practically it seems very difficult and there is a glass ceiling which seems too difficult to break. A feeling that there is something which my mind cannot probably grasp.

If you're smart enough to get a bachelors or masters in a subject, you're smart enough to get a PhD in the subject. What will make or break you is your tenacity and willpower and not giving up when it becomes a dull hard slog.

And realistically the difference in quality/difficulty level of work people do to get their PhD is massive. Some people revolutionize their field for decades to come and some do a slightly more drawn out bachelors level thesis. Yet they both end up with the same degree.

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#28
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 exams misclassify the intelligence of smart people with disabilities of some sort or high functioning autism. Not saying any of this applies to Feynman, he is just an example of where the test didn’t accurately capture his intellect.

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#29
post #17
post #13

IQ measures intellectual ability. Intelligence is a necessary, not a sufficient condition for success.

Absolutely. It's not that complicated. Usain Bolt obviously has incredible sprinting talent. But if he sat around at home playing video games and eating potato chips all day, nobody would expect him to be an amazing sprinter. Everyone knows this. Yet for some reason there's this weird idea that intelligence without effort can yield results, where the same obviously doesn't apply to any other kind of natural talent. I…

I always like to point out that a problem here is that people don't always recognise it when intellectual effort happens. Most people talk about someone being intelligent because they can get good grades without studying or similar. But not studying doesn't mean there's not an intellectual effort. In fact, most intelligent people are intelligent or stay that way because they are constantly listening, analyzing, learning and thinking in their day to day. Then maybe they don't need to separately study a subject that much. They are used to learn and they already got it. (you get the point)

So, I don't think it's strange, it's usually very different to the "physical training" example, because people don't see it directly.

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#30

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…

I think it´s fairly well accepted that Feynman deliberately blew off his IQ test.
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