Social media is NOT real life. Yet I’m finding that on occasion, people in the blogosphere still can’t resist the temptation to dust off the “I’m smarter than you” defense when discussing a current hot take on social media. There are fewer worse ways to engage in a conversation with someone in your life whom you care about than to start bickering about “Who has the higher IQ” and thus try to extrapolate “Who is therefore RIGHT?”
If you are debating an issue with a friend or colleague and you feel the need to resort to the “Studies have shown that my group has a higher IQ than yours …” as late game means of trying to score some points and potentially convince your opponent that the truth and facts are on your side, I have some disappointing news. You have subconsciously forfeited the argument.
Here’s why…
You’ve reached the point where you can no longer present compelling ideas nor analytical data in any format whatsoever in order to bolster your defense and attempt to align other people into accepting your viewpoint. (not that anyone typical ever wins a political argument but anyway…). Or you are struggling to accept the reality that the opposing party simply doesn’t agree with you. Shocking, I know. Pride comes in large bites and often gets stuck on our throats.
Here are a few key reasons that the IQ defense has no teeth.
First, IQ does NOT represent how exactly intelligent a person is (or isn’t). To be more blunt, it simply is an estimator of what type of intelligence “capacity” a person may have. It is calculated by measuring only a few factors such as memory, attention span and speed. IQ, might demonstrate a person’s ability to think “fast on his or her feet”. I’ve personally been around the sun enough times in my life to where I will acknowledge that yes, fast thinking can be a viable skill and possibly indicative of an intelligent person. But it is most certainly not the only factor involved. For example it discounts highly analytical people that like to collect all of the data and let it simmer for a few minutes before responding. I’ve seen those who when you give them five or ten minutes to collect their thoughts and review their notes, come back in to the room with some responses that completely drop the hammer on everyone in the room. Fast thinkers can yield a decent answer. Slow thinkers can often craft an exceptional one.
Second, IQs vary over time. Some cases have shown significant fluctuations that can change over relatively short periods of time. I’ve personally had THREE IQ tests in my lifetime, with a 32 point deviation between my lowest score and my highest. IQ alone is only going to demonstrate a “capacity”. High IQ alone is like having an enormous warehouse. But if you choose not to fill it with any incoming and outgoing inventory, it will remain empty and untapped.
Third, attempting to calculate a given demographic’s ENTIRE population is essentially impossible. If you are querying a given ethnicity, say you want to calculate the average IQ of a Hispanic person. You’ll see variations in your results based on what part of the world they live in, what religion they belong to, their age, marital status, number of children, gender, sexual orientation, social upbringing, educational level, current salary, etc. The list of control factors is virtually infinite. Which means you can pivot this data whichever way you’d like, adding and subtracting certain sub-factors and fine-tuning your data until you reach the desired output that aligns with your narrative. (Also known as “cherry picking” data). The same applies if you attempt to determine the average IQ of an American Conservative or an American Liberal. You’d have to also control for factors such as age, region, state, education level, employment, salary, marital status in order to find any data points worth investigating. Which brings me to my final point.
What possible value can come out of knowing the “average” IQ of a select demographic? Unless you can test every last living breathing soul in a demographic in order to “average out” their IQ, you’ve failed before you’ve begun because the task is simply too daunting and wrought with factors which will skew your results. If you desire that people view you as a caring soul with good intentions, you couldn’t be much more misaligned with that notion by trying to discount the social value of an entire demographic of people based on a aggregate number that doesn’t reflect any one person in particular in that group. Instead, it only uses it as a means to discriminate against them.
Your IQ is yours and nobody else’s. You can not be given an IQ nor can you assign yours to anyone else on this Earth. Regardless of what group a researched wants to lump you into and then average you out, if your IQ is 145, yet the average in your demographic is only 128, yours is STILL 145. Trying to stuff a high IQ person into a group where the mean is lower is horribly unjust. It is equally so to judge one group against another based on unsubstantiated averages.
Please avoid attempting to leverage a random and invalidated study that states; “The average American liberal has a higher IQ than the average American conservative and therefore when the two disagree, the Conservative must by default ALWAYS be wrong”. It is also often a place for the poorly educated and/or misinformed to try and find an inter-sectional group with higher numbers they can attempt hide behind. I have yet to see any intellectual powerhouses using this argument. Left or Right, they do not need to. Truly intelligent people do not need to remind others of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment