The Business of Intelligence

A report from Science Daily highlights the problems of modern intelligence research:

ScienceDaily (2010-10-30) -- General intelligence is not enough. Practical intelligence can mean the difference between entrepreneurial success or failure. Psychologists have identified multiple kinds of intelligence, but a new study has found one -- practical intelligence -- to be an indicator of likely entrepreneurial success.

Charles Spearman created the concept of the "g factor", a general intelligence that underlies the styles of intelligence measured in iq tests. I'll stay away from the whole issue of iq tests, I have two professional friends with a behaviorist orientation and they seem to hate IQ concept with a vengeance. I think I know what they are getting at but I still maintain that IQ as a metric is fine but has a theoretical construct or as data for the same it is useless. The history of the debate about IQ is in itself instructive that when dealing with the question of intelligence we are still very much in the dark. At the end of this post I will reference a research item that demonstrates we may have absolutely no idea about the true basis of intelligence.

The Dumbest Generation Ever?

Once again someone is asserting that the upcoming generation will bring about the downfall of civilisation. To the best of my knowledge this refrain has been occurring since time immemorial. In this case the author is arguing that the internet age is breeding a generation of idiots. What the author fails to acknowledge is that our generation created the culture that has turned the upcoming generation away from learning about the world in general. There is no doubt education standards have markedly declined in recent decades but laying the blame at the current generation is a wonderful exercise in blame shifting. The problem lies not with THEM but US.