Why "Smart" People Are "Stupid"
Mar. 30th, 2007 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drwexToday's xkcd (http://xkcd.com/c242.html) is funny, but it also illustrates a truism: smart people are more likely than less-smart (in the IQ sense) to make the same mistake twice or even three times.
It's a combination of curiousity asking questions that normal people really don't care about (is that a random thing? is it repeatable?) with the arrogance of the smart (that couldn't possibly happen to me... again).
Contextually, this is part of the discussion about why conventional (IQ-like) measures of intelligence are outmoded or just flat-out wrong. It's part of the science of why intelligence and emotion are really inseparable (and thus why Meyers-Briggs is a load of horsepuckey) and makes me want to get back into reading that body of literature.
It's a combination of curiousity asking questions that normal people really don't care about (is that a random thing? is it repeatable?) with the arrogance of the smart (that couldn't possibly happen to me... again).
Contextually, this is part of the discussion about why conventional (IQ-like) measures of intelligence are outmoded or just flat-out wrong. It's part of the science of why intelligence and emotion are really inseparable (and thus why Meyers-Briggs is a load of horsepuckey) and makes me want to get back into reading that body of literature.
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several thoughts
Date: 2007-03-30 03:53 pm (UTC)-XKCD- is SO CUTE and often dead on. (not always)
-I have foundt he D&D "Wis VS Int" thing so very useful in explaining certain behaviors and archtypes, I mean - the Archtypical mad scientist has a huge INT and little Wis. Creating a sentient free willed flesh golumn? Bad idea.
-I have found 'computers' as a way of describing intellegence useful.
"this person has a fast processor" IE: thinks quickly
"this person has lots of RAM" :and can hold a great deal of data in mind while making decisions.
"this person has a huge/fast hard drive" " and remembers huge volumes of information and can access it quickly.
"this person does not have the software to perfrom that process.."
Now it starts to weaken when discussing exceptional people - My exwife shauna's language skills - could not be taught, easily. How to learn other launguages from context, how to write with either hand, or ones toes; legibly? Upside down?
Not software easily found or installed.
M-B is just silly. I have changed 'personality type' repeatedly every time I've taken it, and I dare say my personality type changes as a direct corralation to how much coffee I've had on a given day. Ditto my IQ.
Re: several thoughts
Date: 2007-03-30 05:23 pm (UTC)http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Er/scienceblogs/cognitivedaily/%7E3/105137987/the_differences_between_brains.php
Sure, it's a handy analogy, but it doesn't map reality very well.