So what's the forum IQ?
ElectricAye
Posts: 4,561
Research news from MIT as reported by the Boston Globe:
...A striking study led by an MIT Sloan School of Management professor shows that teams of people display a collective intelligence that has surprisingly little to do with the intelligence of the teams individual members. Group intelligence, the researchers discovered, is not strongly tied to either the average intelligence of the members or the teams smartest member. And this collective intelligence was more than just an arbitrary score: When the group grappled with a complex task, the researchers found it was an excellent predictor of how well the team performed...
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/12/19/group_iq/?page=1
...A striking study led by an MIT Sloan School of Management professor shows that teams of people display a collective intelligence that has surprisingly little to do with the intelligence of the teams individual members. Group intelligence, the researchers discovered, is not strongly tied to either the average intelligence of the members or the teams smartest member. And this collective intelligence was more than just an arbitrary score: When the group grappled with a complex task, the researchers found it was an excellent predictor of how well the team performed...
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/12/19/group_iq/?page=1
Comments
Yes, this is a law of nature. But the average group of people probably couldn't remain cohesive and coherent enough to participate in any kind of study, so the sample space was terribly skewed.
Q: What has an IQ of 150 and a full set of teeth?
A: The aggregate total of the front row at most any WWE event...
Good one Erco. I am amazed at some of the things that attract enough of an audience to make money or stay on the air. No accounting for taste ... or lack thereof.
I like to think that we've intellectually progressed past the 1950's but judging from the success of WWE, I guess not...
-Phil
In a similar vein, car magazines are still flauting hot women laying across the hoods of hot cars. Same 50's motif, so not much has changed overall.
-Phil
Flauting? But why use a flute when everyone knows that only trombones can provide the appropriate accompaniment to hot women laying across the hoods of hot cars?
We could poll Parallax for Mensa (and higher IQ) memberships. There is Sigma3, which is about the limit of organizations of high IQ. But I do have doubts that the aggregrate IQ of a Mensa function is higher than the IQs of the individuals. I just found a lot of people very pleased with themselves at such functions. And so, I retained the membership for only one year for the sake of a note on my resume.
This makes me wonder if the longer one is a Mensan is related to something else - either the lower the IQ or how smug one is about their intelligence. I've found knowledgable people everywhere that did seem to qualify. I was taught automotive mechanics by a friend that never finished junior high school and could barely read - but he certainly understood engines, farming, fishing, and hunting.
I was tempted to form a "Demensa" society but, like the British Apathy League, it was hard to get support.
Many years ago, I lived and worked in Richland, Washington and that was supposedly the most Phds per capita of any community in the USA. People were certainly more intelligent than average, but we still had all the incumbent human problems of egos, divorces, and idiotic management.
I prefer to consider myself as having a high IQ, but very little common sense. One can be very creative at doing wonderful things or at getting into and out of trouble. I am embarrassed to admit that I have done more of the second option.
It has taken a long time to see that a 'good idea' is NOT something astounding that come to mind, but one that has a good outcome. So much for being in the two 2% of intelligence. Smart can and often does make one impulsive.
I came to the conclusion that "IQ tests" measured the ability to do well on "IQ tests", but not a lot else. There may be correlations with other forms of intelligence/accomplishment/skill, but no guarantees. There are may kinds of intelligence, IMHO, such artistic, aesthetic, social, conversations (which is not the same as "verbal"), presentational, entertainment (both consumption and production), musical, all the geometric/mechanical disciplines (of which "spatial relations" type of IQ questions is a small subset), physical (e.g. sports, dance), etc. Lots of people are smart is lots of ways, and a single test cannot reduce that to a simple number.
I think one of the main conclusions of the Sloan School study is that emotional intelligence is essential to enhancing group IQ. Perhaps the Mensa culture has overlooked this aspect - or has a blind spot when it comes to such matters? For one thing, it's probably not easy to test for. And to make things worse, if you're part of a group that's feeling smug about your intelligence and likes to spend time sitting around restaurants congratulating each other on how bright you are, the prospects for growth are not very high.
John Abshier
I take it that you have never herd of White Snake
Well, I used to live with a wife/snake. But that was a couple marriages ago.
Of course that is 'wealth creation', not 'wealth possesion'. Some people merely inherit wealth or marry it and survive (do they qualify for high SQ?). And so, there is still a 'dumb luck' factor for the sake of whimsy.