Lex Fridman recently hosted Richard Haier and had a civil, but controversial, conversation on intelligence. By intelligence, I don't mean IQ scores or anything like that. As Richard puts it, it's about getting a sense of a person's ability to reason and make connections across all the information they have.
The argument that Richard makes is that a person's general intelligence is partially driven by their genetics. There are several very strong correlations between biological observations (mass of brain, size of brain stem) and one's intelligence. And then there are other factors which seem strongly affected by intelligence, albeit indirectly. Income, career achievement, life expectancy -- all of these things are positively correlated with intelligence.
These are uncomfortable things to point out.
I think most of us recognize the truth in these observations, but we (at least I) try to dodge them. In the past, observations like these seemed to be a source of fuel for hate and mistreatment for people around the world. The most egregious (and perhaps overused) example is eugenics research; particularly research conducted during the Holocaust.
For decades academics have had to be very careful and sensitive when researching intelligence. After listening to this conversation with Richard...I think it's time to face the reality that intelligence is a critical factor in one's quality of life.
I'm intimately familiar with how intelligence can positively impact someone's life. My 2018 SAT score was 1440 -- not the highest scores possible, but high enough to place me in the 95% of test takers. As Richard points out, the SAT and ACT are effectively IQ tests. And in fact, they're positively correlated with IQ tests.
My general reasoning and critical thinking skills have been such a crucial part of any success and happiness I have today. Most days I find myself wishing to be just a little bit smarter. I feel myself straining with academic and career material. Hitting one's limits is never pleasant.
For a vast amount of people, they feel some version of what I feel -- but everyday. The complexity of our world and how our social, cultural, and educational systems have not accommodated them. We try and try and try, but disparities in outcome exist. More disparity than you might expect, and definitely more disparity than what you'd want.
There's a scary future around the corner where we may have the medical, biological, and pragamtic knowledge to actually enhance one's cognitive ability. A true enhancement. Not narrowing focus through amphetamines or some other short term improvement. A genuine, lifelong improvement in general reasoning and cognitive abilities.
I use the phrase "around the corner" loosely here. I mean on the scale of a century or two.
But that's within my children's lifetime (if I choose to have children).
We are only brushing up against that kind of world. A world where people have god-like choices. The choice betwen better minds or not. For them and their children.
I'm afraid to imagine how it might turn out.