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0 points0xy1mo ago0 comments

IQ is highly correlated with both income and wealth so it seems like a fair comment. Of course not all billionaires have a high IQ, but far more billionaires do than your average person.

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tptacek1mo ago

Not in the way you're implying. There's an IQ threshold that correlates somewhat with income, but correlated gains drop (kind of vanish) after it, and that threshold is pretty low; it might be 100.

0xyOP1mo ago

Nothing you just said disproves anything I claimed. Billionaires tend to have significantly higher IQ than average. The same is true for high income people.

tptacek1mo ago

I think it is in fact not the case that high income people generally have significantly higher IQ than average. As for billionaires: when was the last billionaire IQ survey done?

0xyOP1mo ago

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01602...

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Natfan1mo ago

survivorship bias.

there is absolutely nothing stopping a poor child in sierra leone from becoming the next einstein, outside of access to things that should be considered mandatory for human life.

0xyOP1mo ago

Blank slate theory has been thoroughly discredited so many times I'm not sure why I'm even responding, but this is complete nonsense. If you're born with 62 IQ like the average Sierra Leone citizen, no amount of education will get you to 120. It's literally not possible.

According to research, a full education can add ~15 IQ points.

So someone from Sierra Leone who's average and receives a full education can expect to have around 77 IQ, which means severe issues with reading comprehension, math beyond simple arithmetic and following multi-step instructions.

Natfan1mo ago

so geographical region of birth dictates intelligence? how intriguing.

i would like to know if that child was fed well, provided with shelter and given a good education -- would it still be, in your words, "not possible" for them to break even 100IQ?

0xyOP1mo ago

I didn't claim that, this appears to be a strawman. I specifically stated average IQ, and yes, necessarily your region of birth does inform your average IQ.

Environmental and educational impacts on IQ are very minimal. Someone with an average Sierra Leone IQ is not becoming a genius after world-class education and the best environment possible. They'll be measurably improved, but not by 50 IQ points.

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tptacek1mo ago

Not in the way you're implying. There's an IQ threshold that correlates somewhat with income, but correlated gains drop (kind of vanish) after it, and that threshold is pretty low; it might be 100.

0xyOP1mo ago

Nothing you just said disproves anything I claimed. Billionaires tend to have significantly higher IQ than average. The same is true for high income people.

tptacek1mo ago

I think it is in fact not the case that high income people generally have significantly higher IQ than average. As for billionaires: when was the last billionaire IQ survey done?

0xyOP1mo ago

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01602...

1 more reply

Natfan1mo ago

survivorship bias.

there is absolutely nothing stopping a poor child in sierra leone from becoming the next einstein, outside of access to things that should be considered mandatory for human life.

0xyOP1mo ago

According to research, a full education can add ~15 IQ points.

Natfan1mo ago

so geographical region of birth dictates intelligence? how intriguing.

i would like to know if that child was fed well, provided with shelter and given a good education -- would it still be, in your words, "not possible" for them to break even 100IQ?

0xyOP1mo ago

I didn't claim that, this appears to be a strawman. I specifically stated average IQ, and yes, necessarily your region of birth does inform your average IQ.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse