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Termyn8or -> Are you smarter than a fifth grader ? et al . (11/18/2007 3:22:11 PM)
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There is alot of this running through my head, so it is hard to know where to start.
By example maybe.
Water, disolved in the atmosphere basically, known as humidity is caused by :
A. Precipitation
B. Hydration
C. Evaporation
D. Global warming
Of course most with an understanding of the English language pick C. That does not mean that they fully understand the process, but it means they know about it and can grasp it. However if you are say, an Armenian meteorologist who does not speak English you can't prove that you know quite a bit about the process.
That is the point, it seems alot of quiz shows, intelligence contests and the like are based on knowing the word for something. Let's say they tell you that you have an occlusion. Just what is an occlusion ? Some may know, sure, but I don't right now.
I know I have read that word and I have looked it up and found out what it means, but it was not recent so it has slipped my mind. I generally do not use the word, and if I was on the Jeopardy show that might hurt me.
And thusfar, this is only words that have been around for awhile. What about new words ? The scientific community makes up words all the time. Latin and Greek are considered parts of a well rounded higher education because to make up new words you need to understand word roots. So when you make up a new word, which describes a process, an organism or something else heretofore undiscovered, the word you make up can make some sense to others with a well rounded education. Thing is, it is entirely possible that 90% of the population will have no idea what you are talking about.
A caveman would know what an igneous rock is, by it's shape and appearance, other factors. But he might only say "This came from volcano over there". No conception of the word, but enough of a geologist to get by, in a way.
I believe intelligence is alot harder to measure than they think. In the field there has been talk of this, the unreliability of IQ tests and such. More than once.
One day about I'd say eighteen years ago, Dad, his friend and I were enjoying a few beers. Dad had been given an old copy of The Machinery Handbook. It was from the forties during which he was probably still in diapers. He loves the thing. We explored the book, damn, when he croaks I am taking that, I shall have it. Among the vast wealth of information in the book are details. Among those details, how to do a square root longhand. On paper.
For some reason, which I still can't figure out, we decided to learn how to do longhand square roots. And we accomplished it in an afternoon of drinking. Now that's wierd. I don't want to sound nasty or superior here, but I must ask, just how many of you can do longhand square roots ? On paper without a calculator.
That leads me to believe alot of things. Not etching anything in stone right now, but I think that we think that we have come a long way. I beg to differ. I believe that not only are we not evolving intellectually, we are devolving.
Went out jamming last night, took the piano. Of course this is a nice electric piamo, weighted keys and touch responsive. It really is nice for the money, but having it in the house made me think of something. Who invented the piano ? Those keys are weighted to give it the feel of a real piano. Just who thought that up ?
I mean every note an a piano has a specific mathematical relationship to another. Somebody figured this shit out. Wasn't me. Just how do you tune the first piano ? Tune it to what ?
What's more, just try to make a piano right now without a comupter, team of engineers and a manufacturing facility suitable for the task. Technically, if you can get the wire and the wood you should be able to do it, but you can't, and I can't. But somebody did. There is no way in hell there was a piano factory when the first piano was built. It became the first once the thing was ready.
How many people realize just how complex a piano is ? Each key has a dropoff for the hammer and a seperate damper. Additionally there is a pedal that removes all the dampers at once, and another that applies another damper to all the strings. And there are no springs ! Not a one. It uses gravity. Suffice it to say that I think the piano is a truly impressive instrument.
Anyway, there are different kinds of intelligence, and some traits are hereditary. Dad was a machinist and he built things. Metal things. Like the prototype that made those first floppy disks. (he really was involved with that) Well, I built my firs guitar.
I used a toy boat paddle, a rubber band, a pin and a phono cartridge. A ceramic phono cartridge has what's called a yoke, made of rubber. I anchored the string to the handle end and glued the phono cartridge to the paddle end. I strung the rubber band, anchoring it beyond the cartridge because I knew if I put the stress on the yoke it would break. I then carefully used the pin to couple the rubber band to the yoke, and connected the wires to the input on the stereo. It worked. I made marks on the "neck" which correspond to where G and A would be on a real guitar. I was eleven years old.
Not to hijack myself too much, but where is that creativity now ? I have a basement full of tools that would make Tim the toolman drool. Tell me something, anything you want made out of metal. It seems that when I couldn't do it I had a million ideas, of course alot of them get shot down, but there were plenty left. Now that I can do it I do not have any ideas.
But on point, the human condition has many aspects. Intelligence is one, and with the unreliability of IQ tests we can't even go by whether someone is branded a genius or an idiot. And then there are other factors. Some people, by example again, the good Wife.
You are a nuclear physicist. You get home and you Wife wants to please you..If you are a good Husband you want to please her as well, but she does not have to know nuclear physics to please you. You do not have to know the cost of prime rib or brocolli though.
You can interpolate the roles if you wish. I do know a househusband. I went at it in that traditional sense for clarity. You can substitute whatever you want actually.
I got a buddy, can't fix cars, knows very little about mechanical things and could'nt solder a wire to a block of solder. The only numbers he deals with are the clock and the spedometer. But say civilisation was removed. I would die. He would make traps to catch some squirrels or something, build a fire and survive.
So who is smarter ?
T
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