From: Miriam English (miriam@werple.net.au)
Date: Wed Aug 15 2001 - 02:18:06 MDT
At 10:17 PM 14/08/2001 -0700, Spike Jones wrote:
<snip>
>And we know the difference
>between a smart person and a dumb one. IQ does measure
>*something*. SAT scores do indicate something.
Hmmm... I am not so sure about that.
Do we know the difference between a smart person and a stupid one? I can
point at someone I feel is intelligent and someone else who is metally
retarded, yes. But when it comes to explaining why I point at them things
get much harder. It becomes worse when you try to compare people of
different social backgrounds, or people who are "normal" (what the hell is
that?) and a savant who may have severe brain damage.
Yes, IQ tests measure something... but what? About the only answer that
anybody has been able to come up with that makes any sense to me is that IQ
tests measure how well someone does at IQ tests. I am not being sarcastic
here. I really worry that IQ tests are not really very useful.
Susan Hampshire (the actress) would do very badly on an IQ test -- she is
dislexic and can't read. However she has developed the remarkable ability
to remember a script after having had it read to her just once.
I supposedly have a very high IQ, but I am in many ways a complete idiot. I
have no sense of time and can't remember numbers. (Do you have any idea how
stupid I feel in a job interview when asked for my age and embarrassedly
have to say "Err... hang on, umm, 2001 minus 1953... that's ummm...) So
what does IQ measure? I don't think it really measures how smart someone is.
:-)
Best wishes,
- Miriam
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Q. What is the similarity between an elephant and a grape?
A. They are both purple... except for the elephant.
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http://werple.net.au/~miriam
http://members.optushome.com.au/miriame
Virtual Reality Association http://www.vr.org.au
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