eBay

rabbitearbandicoot · ‎05-04-2015

what is Intelligence?

Are we more or less Intelligent than those who lived 50 years ago?

Are we more or less Intelligent than those who lived 500 years ago?

Are we more or less Intelligent than those who lived 5000 years ago?

Is a person of today who can read, more intelligent than the people of x,000 years ago who recognised the need for written language and set about designing one (well many)?

I am not talking about learned knowledge although that could be a subject all on it's own - I am talking about Intelligence or the ability to reason, learn.

lind9650 · ‎06-04-2015

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination.

Albert Einsttein

krylekathe1 · ‎06-04-2015

IQ is not based on knowledge. A child or adult who cannot read or write can get the same IQ result as someone with a phd. A proper IQ test is done by a psychologist. Your IQ will not change over your lifetime (unless of course you receive brain damage).

IQ tests online are meaningless.

i-need-a-martini · ‎06-04-2015

@rabbitearbandicoot wrote:
The other thing that separates Intelligence from Knowledge is opportunity and learning.

ie a native in remote Papua who has no exposure to anything other than his village and 5km surroundings could be as INTELLIGENT as the guy who has lived in a city and had the opportunity to be educated and Learn lots of STUFF, but the two have totally different KNOWLEDGE BASES. The attitudes of the early explorers tell us that - the native would be considered an ignorant savage regardless of his Intelligence level. He may have absorbed the names and healing properties of every tree, plant, animal and insect in the forest - certainly a sign of Intelligence. Of course that opens up another can of worms - what is Knowledge and why is that native's Knowledge base any less vital or any less 'Knowledge' than the university graduate's knowledge of STUFF.

So, does it mean that a person of high intelligence KNOWS everything there is to know? Certainly not - without Intelligence one could not learn and retain Knowledge, any type of Knowledge, and without a Knowledge base to learn from Intelligence means nothing in itself. How did Knowledge come about? I would say experimentation had a lot to do with it.

Comments?

Intelligence is wholly based on knowledge. And I stand by my definition early in the piece.

Your PNG example is a good one. But you are applying cultural values that are not relative. You are also assuming that intellogence is about "learning" on its own. It is not. It is about how you apply that learning.

For example, an Aussie living in Sydney with an IQ of 130 working in the IT industry will use his intelligence to develop some fabulous software that helps society out enormously.

Someone else in same company with an IQ of 80 continues to use the same software and is satisfied that it is the best available.

A man living in a remote part of PNG with an IQ of 130 will use his intelligence to develop some fabulous new tool that helps his society out enormously. That tool is based on knowledge of what is available and what he has learned in his life and is able to apply critical thinking to in order to take this knowledge further.

Someone else in same small remote village with an IQ of 80 continues to use the same tools and is satisfied that it is the best available.

the_great_she_elephant · ‎06-04-2015

A man living in a remote part of PNG with an IQ of 130 will use his intelligence to develop some fabulous new tool that helps his society out enormously. That tool is based on knowledge of what is available and what he has learned in his life and is able to apply critical thinking to in order to take this knowledge further.

Someone else in same small remote village with an IQ of 80 continues to use the same tools and is satisfied that it is the best available.

I guess the big difference is that the man with an IQ of 80 knows that such a tool exists and uses it. The man with the IQ of 130 knows such a tool could exist, and designs it. So I suppose it does comes back to imagination.

bright.ton42 · ‎06-04-2015

I think if intelligence is measured by knowledge then it would figure that most of today's educated/civilized people would be far more intelligent than Einstein and da Vinci. I do agree that imagination has to play a big part. Then there is emotional intelligence which surely can't be separated from general intelligence.

rabbitearbandicoot · ‎06-04-2015

@i-need-a-martini wrote:
Intelligence is wholly based on knowledge. And I stand by my definition early in the piece.

Your PNG example is a good one. But you are applying cultural values that are not relative. You are also assuming that intellogence is about "learning" on its own. It is not. It is about how you apply that learning.

For example, an Aussie living in Sydney with an IQ of 130 working in the IT industry will use his intelligence to develop some fabulous software that helps society out enormously.

Someone else in same company with an IQ of 80 continues to use the same software and is satisfied that it is the best available.

A man living in a remote part of PNG with an IQ of 130 will use his intelligence to develop some fabulous new tool that helps his society out enormously. That tool is based on knowledge of what is available and what he has learned in his life and is able to apply critical thinking to in order to take this knowledge further.

Someone else in same small remote village with an IQ of 80 continues to use the same tools and is satisfied that it is the best available.

"Intelligence is wholly based on knowledge. ".

I dispute that.

Let's take another example. A young person at the age of 10 can play all of the old masters in music, at the age of 12
he has a degree in Mathmatics, at 14 he has a degree in physics. He used his super Intelligence to LEARN all that KNOWLEDGE.

I don't think anyone would argue if I said he is Very Intelligent.

Now, one day his sibling says to him:"Why don't you make a pavlova tonight - just like mum used to make".

Him:"I wouldn't have a clue where to start". ** see note

In other words, even with his super Intelligence, he did not have that particular KNOWLEDGE to make a pavlova.

Using your logic, at that moment. mum was more Intelligent than her son which, of course, was not the case.

Therein lies the difference between Intelligence and Knowledge.

Intelligence - the ability to LEARN and gain knowledge through experiment / study / reading / tutoring.

Knowledge (the end result) that mum gained through experiment / study / reading / tutoring - even though her Intelligence may not have been as high as her son.

** Yes, I know that he could use his Intelligence and look it up but that is not what I am saying.

rabbitearbandicoot · ‎06-04-2015

@bright.ton42 wrote:
I think if intelligence is measured by knowledge then it would figure that most of today's educated/civilized people would be far more intelligent than Einstein and da Vinci. I do agree that imagination has to play a big part. Then there is emotional intelligence which surely can't be separated from general intelligence.

what do you class as 'emotional inteligence'?

rabbitearbandicoot · ‎06-04-2015

An example of Intelligence V good old horse sense

William James Sidis (IQ Level- 250-300)
Sidis had exceptional mathematical abilities. At 6, he went to a grammar school and in 7 months he had graduated. He attended Harvard at the age of 11 and mastered over 40 languages. He was threatened by some fellow students in Harvard so his parents assigned him on a teaching job in Texas.

But soon he left the job and started concentrating on a political career.

.

krylekathe1 · ‎06-04-2015

Something I want to point out; someone keeps saying that someone with an IQ of 130 can do all these fabulous things that someone with an IQ of 80 couldn't.

That's not exactly true.

A high IQ means your have the potential to do well academically, but usually in 1 area.

A child with an IQ of 130 is not destined to grow up and work in a great job and create great things. They have the potential to do well, but if their area of strength is math, and they struggle with reading, they're unlikely to be a neuroscientist.

IQ is a measure if intelligence, but not a predictor of success, more a predictor of the ability to be successful in a particular area IF and only if that person applies themselves.

chameleon54 · ‎06-04-2015

Our son has recently been proffesionaly tested and is in the top 20% of population for IQ. He has mental health problems and learning disabilities ( Disgraphia ). He is struggling to even stay at school and battles with remembering simple things such as taking his medication or brushing his hair. He will have a lot of problems retaining even basic employment and living independantly. He operates very complex computer programmes to compose and record his own music. Yes he sounds a bit autistic but has been tested and does not meet the criteria.

High IQ ( as it is tested in western society ) does not neccesarily mean a person will be more likely to "succeed" in life. Many of the smartest and financially succesfull people I know, failed or dropped out of school. Many of the supposed high IQ people I know have no life skills and are unable to see the big picture or plan complex tasks. IQ tests as they stand where designed by academics with a slant to infer academia is an indication of IQ. and thus valueing this academia above practicle life skills type IQ

The schools system is currently deeply flawed. It rewards and values those that can remember and recite information. ( basic recall ) or understand theoretical, often useless calculations. Maybe we need a different way of asessing intelligence which places more value on practicle skills and the ability to plan complex tasks, rather than valueing the ability to learn and resight theoretical information which may not have much practicle use in everyday life for most people.

The system as it stands at the moment is broken. We are placing too much emphasis on some attributes of a persons abilities and devaluing others of equel importance. Its time for the carpenters and plumbers of the world to stand up ( or at least charge those academics double !!!! )

Spoiler

Most have so little life experience that they wouldnt even know !!!! hehe