From: Michael M. Butler (butler@comp-lib.org)
Date: Wed Aug 15 2001 - 11:36:56 MDT
stencil wrote:
> The thing that frets me about it is that it has fostered
> the meme that intelligence - or, rather 'IQ' - is a moral
> quality akin to courage or loyalty but superior simply
> because it can be assessed, quantified, and compared - and
> used for prediction of behavior.
And as Gerald Weinberg has pointed out, effort goes toward whatever is measured.
We're wired that way.
> Earlier cultures were
> aware of intelligence too but their perceptions of its
> value - embodied in tales of Trickster, Loki, Monkey,
> Odysseus - were a lot more equivocal.
"Oh! What does THIS button do?!"
Don't forget Pandora. And the story of Adam and Eve.
"Smarts"!=wisdom. And that's not a slam on smarts. Just a cautionary note.
Ever read any of de Bono re different "thinking hats"? Mucho value there.
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