Clever fools: Why a high IQ doesn't mean you're smart

"IQ indicates a greater capacity for complex cognition for problems new to you. But what we apply that capability to is another question. Think of our minds as searchlights. IQ measures the brightness of the searchlight, but where we point it also matters. Some people don't point their searchlights at the other side of the case much, for many reasons - entrenched ideas, avoidance of what might be disturbing, simple haste. A higher wattage searchlight in itself is no protection against such follies."

New Scientist

This pretty much sums up my experience in life. I have met extremely sharp average IQ and uneducated people as well as extremely dim high IQ and super-educated people.

IQ and education are not good indicators of someones "real" intelligence, IMO.

I have also noticed that practicing for IQ tests makes a real difference. If it were a real measure of innate ability practice wouldn't make any difference.

I call Bull-S**t

The article in question is Measuring "Intelligence" from "George Bush Jr"


Yeah, he has an above average intelligence.... and YEAH, he made some pretty BIG mistakes in Running this country.


That does not mean he is "A Dumb Smart Person"

That merely means that his motivation for "Running the Country" had absolutely NOTHING to do with what was good for anyone but his "Base"


If you presume his motivation was to make his friends OBSCENELY WEALTHY off of the suffering and turmoil of others... then yeah, he did that pretty intelligently.


Wow... this article is FAIL.

-Edrick

[edit on 3-11-2009 by Edrick]

Firstly, the article is an opinion piece about a subject that has been hotly debated for about a century.

Secondly, using GW Bush as an example was ridiculous, except to interject the author's political bias into the article.

Thirdly, IQ tests are very accurate predictors of academic success. However, it should be noted that a lot of folks with high IQs drop out of school and an whole lot of folks with IQs closer to the mean do very well.

There's a thing called motivation and another called hard work.

The only problem with IQ is that some people try to make it mean more than it's meant to mean.

Some people use IQ as a means to get an editorial printed in a magazine. Perhaps the article would have been more meaningful if the author had used himself as an example of the "clever fool."

[edit on 2009/11/3 by GradyPhilpott]

Personally, I think the IQ is just a measurement for speed and accuracy.

IMO, just because they can't measure brain activity yet - they created a bunch of questions and named it IQ test and attached the scores.

I think Bush was used because he is the most well known person that is commonly thought of as "dumb". I would hope that he isn't.

Hopefully the author wasn't using him for political reasons but this is how it has been taken by more than one poster now.