Average IQ by country 2012

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Meh.
All an IQ test measures is how good someone is at IQ tests. Wake me up when someone invents a common sense test.

[klr]

You've got the causality arseways. It's because the countries are a mess that the (derived) IQ scores are so low.

Or perhaps you have it backwards
The countries are a mess because their average IQ is so low. Really, what would you envision a low IQ country to be like

You've probably been told this 100 times before here, but there's no harm in telling you again: Look up "confirmation bias".

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You've got the causality arseways. It's because the countries are a mess that the (derived) IQ scores are so low.

Or perhaps you have it backwards
The countries are a mess because their average IQ is so low. Really, what would you envision a low IQ country to be like

Bigot.

[FBM]

Meh.
All an IQ test measures is how good someone is at IQ tests. Wake me up when someone invents a common sense test.

Over here they have a standardized English test, TOEIC (Test of English in International Communication). I had a student who made a perfect score in it twice. Couldn't have a conversation with him much beyond how the weather is without him breaking out in a sweat. Unless I spoke to him in Korean, that is.

[Tyrannical]

Meh.
All an IQ test measures is how good someone is at IQ tests. Wake me up when someone invents a common sense test.

You can't believe that intelligence is unmeasurable, because differentiating between a very dumb person and a genius is easy. So you must doubt the validity of the various IQ tests to measure intelligence. But you aren't familiar with the several varieties of IQ tests, are you So that makes you a bit lacking in logic and common sense

[Azathoth]

bait thrown, bait taken. My work here is done

[Robert_S]

Meh.
All an IQ test measures is how good someone is at IQ tests. Wake me up when someone invents a common sense test.

You can't believe that intelligence is unmeasurable, because differentiating between a very dumb person and a genius is easy. So you must doubt the validity of the various IQ tests to measure intelligence. But you aren't familiar with the several varieties of IQ tests, are you So that makes you a bit lacking in logic and common sense

So, let us assume for a minute that these IQ tests are somewhat accurate. You then take countries that have had war, food shortages, economic exploitation and a whole slew of other things and you're going to get a a big chunk of the population that hasn't been thinking about all that much beyond staying alive and maybe getting a wee bit more stability.

Add to that the effects of having a lot of mothers mother not getting steady nutrients to the child in utero, but pumping a lot of stress hormones in there and the spotty nutrition during childhood and you've accounted for abysmal IQ scores without bringing genetics into it.

But just for good measure, we should also remain sceptical of IQ tests used in such diverse cultures.


But why would anyone want so badly to believe that skin colour is an indicator intelligence? Why would anyone want so badly to believe in a six day creation myth?

[Drewish]

So the thread opens with people openly concluding that Asians are smart, and nobody gives a fuck. Then people realize that the evidence also makes a strong case for Africans being dumb and PEOPLE FREAK THE FUCK OUT! Oh I'm so fucking surprised

[Robert_S]

So the thread opens with people openly concluding that Asians are smart, and nobody gives a fuck. Then people realize that the evidence also makes a strong case for Africans being dumb and PEOPLE FREAK THE FUCK OUT! Oh I'm so fucking surprised

"You're smart."

"You're dumb."

Which of these will get you banned on most fora?

[Drewish]

So the thread opens with people openly concluding that Asians are smart, and nobody gives a fuck. Then people realize that the evidence also makes a strong case for Africans being dumb and PEOPLE FREAK THE FUCK OUT! Oh I'm so fucking surprised

"You're smart."

"You're dumb."

Which of these will get you banned on most fora?

It's all relative. If one says, "Asians are smarter than others," then one is implicitly saying that Asians are smarter than Europeans or Africans. People who think that saying, "Bob is taller than Kevin," is fine, but saying, "Kevin is shorter then Bob," is being mean toward Kevin are idiots who 'feel' their way through communication rather than think about what's actually being said.

[Robert_S]

When someone who is not you gets complimented, do you feel insulted?

[macdoc]

Gotta be the most useless set of figures ever....says more about the testing than the subject

[Drewish]

When someone who is not you gets complimented, do you feel insulted?

No. Then again that has absolutely nothing to do with this situation. Try again.

EDIT -

Hint, trying to reframe the discussion around hypotheticals that are not direct parallels isn't a response.

[Robert_S]

When someone who is not you gets complimented, do you feel insulted?

No. Then again that has absolutely nothing to do with this situation. Try again.

EDIT -

Hint, trying to reframe the discussion around hypotheticals that are not direct parallels isn't a response.

It has everything to do with your complaint, which is that there is something wrong with us because we don't care to freak out about who's on top, but come to defend those on the bottom.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

What does it matter what the average IQ in your country is? What does that say about you? Fuck all!

Even if it is true that the "average" Ethiopian is pretty fucking stupid, that does not preclude an individual Ethiopian being the next Einstein, Newton, Feynmann, Archimedes or Katie Price! It just doesn't! Average is no measure of extremes!

And if you sit there, smug in the belief that the high IQ of your country/race/religion/football club reflects at all favourably on you, please consider removing yourself from that group's gene pool in order to raise their average!