People are stupid

[gaspee]

I sometimes forget just how stupid people are.

I forget that the median IQ of the population has been trending downward. I forget that half of the people I interact with barely have an IQ higher than 100.

I sometimes forget that a lot of people are just working with limited brainpower. I forget that a lot of people cannot see the big picture or use reasoning or logic.

I forget that most people out there don't know the difference between they're their and there. Its and It's. And I think a lot of people don't know that your and you're have different meanings as well.

I forget that people can't be half-assed to read a book now and then. I forget that critical thinking skills are no longer taught in the classroom.

Damn, coming to internet message boards reminds me -- kind of like a slap in the face. Or maybe a kick in the head. I have to erase most of the boards I frequent from my history and bookmarks and never go back.

But the lectures from the stupid are lots of fun!

Sometimes I despair over the human race. Most people are followers. People with a brain, an ounce of ambition and a measure of charisma can be dangerous because all the little ape brains and the lizard brains want to follow. It's their nature. Alpha, Beta, Omega.

And hey, arguing that some people are not inherently smarter than other people is kind of a losing argument. I'm just saying... it's a little like arguing that all people are of equal height.

And on that note, a 4'8" man isn't going to play in the NBA, no matter how much "heart" he has. Just as a seven footer isn't going to be riding the Kentucky Derby winner.

Flame suit: ON

(I think I'm going back to the MENSA boards and leaving DU for awhile. I can't take much more of it without imploding.)

[lame54]

1. Stay out of GD:Primaries...

[seabeyond]

9. lol lol bah hahah. isnt that the truth. lol. i got sucked in monday before tx primary

and was finally able to step out last week... oh, feeling so much better. except then i got sucked into the whole prostitute thing, but i think i am dont with that one too.

[boobooday]

2. Have fun over at Mensa

Oh Alpha-one! Mr. Seven-foot horse! Giddyup!

[gaspee]

3. Nah

I'm a lone wolf. No pack hierarchy for me.

[Vickers]

4. You can always tell a MENSA member...

...but you can't tell 'em much.



As mentioned by lame54...stay out of GDP.

[undeterred]

44. yeah, and they have to tell you they're in MENSA

because you can't tell any other way...

[babylonsister]

5. How do you ever survive in this world, being so superior to

most everyone else? It must be a trial.

[seabeyond]

6. median IQ of the population has been trending downward.... wrong

how can someone so smart, smarter than so many others be wrong so soon. didnt read the rest of the stuff, might of enjoyed, maybe not. i am not such a negative person. but, i know that this statement is incorrect. consistantly and always iq trends up. please post a link or info validating you comment.

oh i perused down your post. really it is hogwash. now.... i am going back to my book i am "not" reading

[gaspee]

10. Actually

I just read that the median IQ WORLDWIDE (not just in the west) has been trending downward for the past two generations.

When I find the article, I'll PM it to you.

[seabeyond]

13. thank you, because i really did hear just the opposite not a couple months ago. n/t

[Greyhound]

26. Please post it. I read someplace last year that a large sample survey

found that the average American IQ has actually dipped well into the double digits, so I would be interested in reading your info.

p/s the grammar/vocabulary/usage issue bugs the hell out of me too.

[Occulus]

73. I think the grammar/vocabulary misuse comes from a couple of things

For one, I think the so-called "phonics reading" method is directly to blame for people not knowing the differences between they're, there, their, etc. Words that sound exactly the same will be misused if actual, real spelling isn't also taught. If one reads writings of the public for very long, one discovers a truly massive number of people make these mistakes, continually. Maybe it's not the phonics method, though- there's a general disdain for pleasure reading here in the US, as well as an over-reliance (in some measure, forgivably so) upon books on tape/CD/.mp3.

Because people read less, they know less about how vocabulary is used, how to make meanings clear through proper word usage, and on and on. Once we stop being actively taught those things- and for a lot of people, that ends with high school, if not before- we have to read on our own to continue to be exposed to the written word in anything more than a "sound bite" fashion.

These are just guesses, mind you, but I'm basing it upon what I'm seeing. By the by, this also means the general population will probably end up less educated as a whole. Combine that with underfunded public schools, and you have a populace that's even more ignorant of very basic things like simple scientific information, current events, and so on... and that makes the society in question quite easily manipulated indeed.

[Homer Wells]

95. Most spell-check programs are not designed

to catch such errors in grammar. If the person making the on-line comments do not know the difference in such usage, even spell-checking such missives will not disguise their own ignorance.

[Journeyman]

7. Mugsy Bogues. . .

5'3"

14 seasons

Charlotte Hornets, Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and the Toronto Raptors.

[seabeyond]

11. was he wrong about something else? lol lol. not doing so good on the smart thing. lol. n/t

[Birthmark]

8. Oh, we're not really that stupid

We were just acting stupid so you would like us. I guess it didn't work. Sorry.

[Juche]

12. IQ has been going up

Look up the flynn effect

[Duke Newcombe]

14. Good luck in your new location... n/t

Duke

[MichaelHarris]

15. well

aren't you special.

[AlinPA]

16. Read "The Age of American Unreason" by Susan Jacoby. It will confirm

your writings in the post, at least for the U.S. The U.S. is "dumbing down" and is anti-rational and anti-intellectual.

[stellanoir]

17. I am continually appalled by how many people think that

"quote" is a noun.

IT"S A VERB PEOPLE!!!

"Quotation" is a noun.

/minor grammatical rant

You can quote that quotation if you ever want to seem like a person who gets bent out of shape over something that is relatively inconsequential.

[Tesha]

40. It's a little more subtle than that, but don't let me get in the way of a good rant.

http://www.answers.com/quote&r=67

[IowaGirl]

18. You need a puppy. I got one last week and a dose of pure happiness has actually helped me get life

back into perspective. Basically, don't sweat the small stuff and it's all small stuff. Few of us can make much difference in the whole scheme of things, but if we all try to make our little corner of the world better, it will have a ripple effect. Watch the movie "Love Actually" and you'll feel better.

[gaspee]

28. Wow

Thank you - yours is the best response on the thread. And I have a puppy. I have seven dogs, actually. And you are 100% correct. I always feel better after playing with him/them.

[seabeyond]

31. cute. my son and i got a giggle from your comment.... great. n/t

[IowaGirl]

32. See, it's the ripple effect....

You guys got a giggle.

[seabeyond]

38. yes girl....

you are right on. and look how smart, lol. thanks

[DireStrike]

70. ugh I could never feel better watching a hugh grant movie

damn that bastard! How can I be jealous of someone I dislike so? ...Oh yeah, he gets the girls... on the screen anyway.

[mitchum]

19. The "well meaning" and stupid contribute far more misery to the world...

than those who are intelligent and malevolent

[Subdivisions]

20. Pompous ass! Take your stupid post and

come right over here so I can buy you a beer and bullshit about how stupid people are!

[Make7]

21. I propose that we kill everyone with an IQ lower than gaspee's...

... so he/she will no longer have to needlessly suffer.

- Make7

[live love laugh]

22. Okay. You start and we'll "help".

[Make7]

30. Sure, just tell me where you live.

[live love laugh]

60. So you're starting with me? Bwahhahahahahaaaa. OK here's my pic...

my address is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

[Make7]

79. See... if you were smart, you wouldn't have told me how to find you.

How can you be certain that I don't have a dilemma similar to the "hit man" in the following Kids in the Hall sketch?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xijVhFsahjk

- Make7

[Goblinmonger]

36. Of course then gaspee's

going to be the idiot that everyone bitches about.

[varelse]

47. DUzy-worthy

[Goblinmonger]

65. Thank you

I try my best. Don't forget to tip your server.

[DireStrike]

71. 0_0

Don't tip the server! If it falls over, the site might go down!

[Occulus]

74. *snort*

[Dr. Strange]

63. Well, I for one will miss those five people.

But, if it must be done, so be it.

[petronius]

100. But that would make him the stupidest person in the world

Imagine the suffering of not being able to feel superior to anyone...

[MadHound]

23. Now that was a fine piece of bloviating rhetoric

First of all, your issues with grammar and spelling are laughable, since grammar and spelling aren't the be all and end all of intelligence.

Second, making broad brushed attacks against entire groups of people based on your so called higher intellect is laughable, since you have actually no clue as to the intelligence of the people that you're ranting at.

And frankly, intellectual elitism is as ugly, if not uglier, than other types of elitism. Give me a good ol' boy whose intelligence is just average, who is friendly and fun to be with than so cold hearted intellectual with no common sense or personality any day.

Furthermore, you're basing your measure of peoples' intelligence on a very limited scale, a verbal/mathematical-logic scale. Yet if you would read the literature of the past couple of decades, you would realize that there is a very good case out there for Gardner's multiple intelligence theory, and that while people may not be high in one sort of intelligence, they could very well be high in one or more of the other seven types of intelligences. And if you really want to get into the whole argument about just how valid IQ scores are, please schedule an appointment with me, since my afternoon today is full.

As far as MENSA goes, I find the organization laughable. In my opinion, and that of many real intellectuals, MENSA is nothing more than a circle jerk for the intellectually insecure, a place where they can continue to feel superior to the rest of the population while in the real world they are slaving away at McJobs and not having any real effect on the world at all. And yes, for your information, I easily qualify for MENSA and rejected it long ago.

But hey, go on and crawl back into your ivory tower and lock it from the inside. The rest of the world really doesn't need another intellectual snob carping about how horrible the world is, especially since in many cases it was intellectual elites who've ruined this world anyway.

[Feron]

29. Great post!

And I completely agree. I remember studying I.Q. tests when I was getting my psych degree and they are quite flawed. It's silly to take a score personally or as a measure of worth.

[annabanana]

34. "at whom you're ranting.". . . tsk

[senseandsensibility]

24. I forget that people can't be half-assed to read a book now

and then. What kind of a sentence is that? Sorry, if I'm not impressed by your Mensa level writing skills.

[spoony]

25. Oh the pain of being exposed to the unwashed masses!

Why do people feel the need to share their superiority complexes with everyone?

[Hannah Bell]

107. which are really secret inferiority complexes....

give me someone with a straightforward inferiority complex anyday. the ones w/ sup. coms. are doubly twisted.

[leeroysphitz]

27. If only we all could be as thoughtful and erudite as the O.P..

Enjoy the Mensa boards. I'm going out back to root around in the mud for spare change and later I may stick some berries up my nose.

You sure put me in my place.

[B Calm]

33. Have you always started a sentence with the word And?

[1620rock]

39. I would prefer the company of Forrest Gump to you any day.

[Goblinmonger]

35. Hey genius

A score of 100 on the IQ test means that you are average. Perhaps you need to refresh your statistical memory that definitionally half the people in the US at any given time will have a score above 100 and half will have a score below 100.

MENSA indeed.

[Tesha]

41. And you need to ponder the difference between "median" and "mean". (NT)

[Goblinmonger]

64. I don't need to ponder anything

I am well aware of the difference between median and mean.

Are you telling me that the OP's statement of shock that half the people he knows do not have an IQ over 100 doesn't make the OP look like a buffoon who completely misunderstands what the score of 100 is?

[Tesha]

83. Well...

> Are you telling me that the OP's statement of shock that
> half the people he knows do not have an IQ over 100...

That claim isn't asserted in the original post.
What *IS* asserted is the claim that the median IQ
has dropped. This claim could well be true depending
on how the IQ distribution curve has shifted over
the years. ANd that's why I asked you if you
understood
the difference between median and mean.


> ...doesn't make the OP look like a buffoon who
> completely misunderstands what the score of 100 is?

No, it doesn't make the OP look like a buffoon.
If I were *YOU*, though, I'd be careful of posting
too many more replies to this thread.

Tesha

[bean fidhleir]

80. Mean vs Median vs Mode

Median: the middle of the ordered list of all data points in a set. There need not be a data point there.

Mean: what most people mean when they say "average". The sum of all data-point values divided by the number of data points in the set.

Mode: the value that is represented by the most data points in a set. A set can have more than one mode.

[Tesha]

82. Very good! Perhaps our replier just above will read your reply! (NT)

[bean fidhleir]

88. He doesn't need to - his response makes clear that he already knows

IQ 100 is, by definition, the median for the population. It's not the mode or mean. (It's also not a very meaningful number, being egregiously culture-bound)

[Tesha]

90. Actually, that's not exactly true.

> IQ 100 is, by definition, the median for the population.

Actually, that's not exactly true. IQ is based on the
assumption that the distribution is a normal distribution
so the median=the mean=the mode. This assumption (about
the distribution) is not necessarily true and the distribution
could well be skewed (by any number of factors including
a lot of socio-economic factors).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient

Tesha

[bean fidhleir]

93. That's where the "egregiously culture-bound" comes into it

Most people can improve their IQ score by study. Elites generally score higher than their "real" score because of their cultural advantages, and the poor, lower.

But for practical purposes such as shunting people off into more- or less-desirable career paths, the assumptions about the shape of the distribution and the predictive validity of a given score are "good enough for government work".

[lonestarnot]

43. Heh! snort!

[Swamp Rat]

37. LOL! MENSA people are just as stupid, perhaps more so.

I know this because they invited ME!... they'll let anyone in.

[Sugar Smack]

50. Oh...here, then, sweetie!

I simply COULD NOT RESIST.

[Swamp Rat]

51. LOL!

Where do I buy a copy?

[varelse]

53. I found one for sale, at a bargain price too!!!

Check it out

[Swamp Rat]

54. HAHA! No wonder I didn't see it on Amazon.com

I really looked for it too.



"(Offer valid for American citizens only. No MENSA members or Canadians. Method of payment will be arranged after you have been approved to buy this book.)"

[varelse]

55. "No MENSA members

or Canadians."

please stop... this is killing me... hellllpppp



Seriesly, this is taking a toll, all the rolling about on this hard, cold floor... not to mention my housemates are about to have me committed... and both the cats are hiding.

[Sugar Smack]

69. NO freaking WAY!!

OMG!!!! I love it, I love it, I love it.

There was a "another Leaving DU" thread here a few days ago. Anyone remember it? The poster mentioned abandoning the anthropoid rabble at DU and going back to the warm, loving arms of MENSA. I done seed it with my own two eyes.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

101. Groucho Marx "I'd never be a member of a club that would have me as a member"

And don't ever forget "two wrongs don't make a right, but three rights make a left." Marx

I haven't red a book this year, but I just got threw reeding a fu tax regs that killed some brain cells.

[lonestarnot]

42. Adifuckingos!

It must be tough to be so stuck on your superiority.

[Ikonoklast]

45. I ALWAYS read books 'whole-assed', thankyouverymuch.

"I forget that people can't be half-assed to read a book now and then."

Huh?

I apologize in advance if English is your second language.

[sammythecat]

46. What is the purpose of this post? What is your point?

Is it just to insult and belittle nearly everyone who reads it? Was it just self-adulation, a prelude to that casual reference to your membership in MENSA? What a comforting relief it will be to again return to the company of fellow geniuses after your eye-opening adventure among the "little ape brains" found here. Perhaps this lesson of your latest foray among the dullards will stick this time and you won't again forget "just how stupid people are". Try writing it down on paper. That sometimes helps to make a stronger imprint on the memory.

I'm a little astonished that you don't see (or care?) how unflattering you are being to yourself with this post. You're coming off as arrogant and unpleasant. Though maybe that doesn't matter, as arrogance is always accompanied by a haughty disdain for the perceptions of others.

I'm also a bit surprised at your surprise. By MENSA's own definition, 98% of everyone is intellectually inferior to you, and fully half of them are vastly inferior. When is this simple fact going to sink in? I've long ago stopped having to remind myself that, after 19 years, my dog still can't open a can or answer the phone. And, if there was a way I could communicate to her how relatively stupid she is, I wouldn't. That would be mean and unnecessary. Like your post.

I hope you rethink this and someday come to have a different attitude. I don't doubt your intelligence quotient one bit. Your brain's processing power is in good working order. It's your personality that needs tweaking. That sounds like a terribly mean thing to say and I really don't like saying it. I just don't know how else to put it. Our basic intelligence is pretty much hard-wired into us and there's little we can do to change it. Wisdom, however, is something we can always work to improve till the day we die.

[cbayer]

59. OMG, I am peeing on myself!

[sammythecat]

67. Ah, don't worry about it.

How else are "lizard brains" expected to behave? I'm sitting in my own feces as I type.
Pretty sure it's mine. I forget.

[NashVegas]

48. Dude, You Almost Had My Sympathy, There

And then you had to bring up those self-congratulatory twerps.

[Brigid]

49. You don't live in Indiana, do you?

You sound exactly like this know-it-all co-worker of mine, who in dire need of a serious slap in the face. Sheesh.

[galledgoblin]

52. people are smart in different ways

stop and ask a sports fan what their dream team would be, and why.

stop and ask a soap opera fan what their favorite couple is and why.

stop and ask a political junkie who their current hero is and why.

I dislike ranking people on intelligence because we are all experts in our own fields, and rankings rarely take that into account.

now, if you're saying that those fields might not have a practical value in advancing society and that someone who is an expert on cancer can have a larger and longer-term impact than someone who knows every little bit on Bradgelina, then I agree with you, although I still value populist intelligence.

[cbayer]

56. Why do you hate morans?

Is no R fawlt.

[BlooInBloo]

57. Americans are fucking stupid - no doubt about it...

... What's funny is how hard they fight to maintain that stupidity.

[Hissyspit]

58. Meanwhile:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[lib2DaBone]

61. Yes they are

Flash... Sadam Hussein had nothing to do with 911. The USA is fucked because of stupidity. Take action accordingly.

[lumberjack_jeff]

62. Whatever. My dick is bigger. n/t

[galledgoblin]

68. XD n/t

[NNadir]

66. "IQ" is trending downwards?

Do you have any idea what "IQ" means?

No?

Why am I not surprised?

In general, the weakest thinkers are precisely those who are most obsessed with "IQ."

[DireStrike]

72. I think a lot of stupid folks are distracted.

There's this one girl who always struck me as a little off. I recently learned she had(past tense) cancer, in addition to family problems. I think most people have about the same mental capacity, it just depends whether they're able to focus it or not.

[kedens]

75. We all are, even those who boast of great wisdom!

If I say that I am smart then I am comparing myself with others. By what measure might I do this and who defines this intelligence? I know that I am neither wise, nor intelligent, nor smart. I don't need to elevate myself or bring others down. We all have our own gifts. Often the smartest scholars in an era will later be found to be fools by them that come after them, bearing new truths that invalidate the old ones. Often upon viewing a circumstance from the outside I have said, "Why is that person so foolish", only to later do the very same thing. Later I realize that we are all only human. For the most part, none of us are either wise or smart. None of us.

[gulliver]

76. Great rant!

It's not just stupidity, though. If only it were. IMO, the world needs to be made safe for stupidity. It needs to be foolproof and fool friendly. Right now, we have a monkey in the Oval Office. Pop the corks, dumb folks!

There is nothing quite like reading an "argument" that has four fallacies, eight misspellings, excessive punctuation, but intense, "authentic" emotion. Mr. T had it right. Pity the fool. There is diddly that can be done for them. They have Google. It "equalizes" people--just like guns. Everybody is equally crappy.

The emotion of feeling that one is correct is unfortunately distinct from the mental tools that produce correct results. Feeling right is enough. Indeed, if you feel you are right, some would argue that in some way, you are right. Contrary feedback is simply not believed.

Even people with good essential mental horsepower are ruined in the current educational environment. All their mental agility is warped into rhetorical "framing" with one purpose: to believe what they want to believe. Karl Rove is medium-high intelligent. George Tenet, Condi Rice...who needs fools when you have intelligent people who lie to themselves.

Mensa has boards?

[Missy Vixen]

77. I'm grateful I don't qualify for MENSA

I'd rather spend the time I'd be meeting with them reading, anyway.

Julie

[Slagathor]

84. Why would you be proud of that?

Meeting their IQ criterion =/= being forced to join the idiots. On the other hand, being grateful for having a non-genius level IQ seems incredibly dumb.

[Missy Vixen]

109. I'd rather be grateful for what I have, frankly

How can I say this? I'm sure I could pass the MENSA tests.

I choose not to.
Julie

[Spider Jerusalem]

78. I think you mean 'can't be arsed'. 'Can't be half-assed' makes no sense at all.

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/can%27t+be+arsed

But hey, go ahead and rant about how other people don't know how to use words properly.

[Frank Cannon]

81. The original poster cannot be a real Mensan

Anyone who's been to a Mensa meeting knows that those people, on first meeting, mostly talk about their health problems. It's like visiting a retirement home, only a lot worse.

I went to a few Mensa parties and could not believe how complete strangers were sharing with me all of the sordid details about their irritable bowels, yeast infections, prostate problems, etc. I was not a healthcare professional. And I could not care less.

[mwb970]

85. Here's a novel that explores the problem.

I just picked it up the other day and haven't started reading it yet. I'd better get going before I'm too dumb to understand it!

[Sugar Smack]

89. Oh, hey, mwb970! I read that about 10 years ago.

I don't want to spoil the plot for you, but I thought it was a little silly. Just my opinion, but the idea of a "stupid virus" being unleashed worldwide is a great premise; it's just that the follow-through is weak (the main character's alarm begins when his kids can't name the US states alphabetically any more. All women become promiscuous. People drool.). "Brilliant", "apocalyptic", "horrifying", and "riveting" are not words I would have chosen, except maybe out of a hat.

But what do I know? Enjoy. I'd love to hear your impressions.

[mwb970]

91. Well, my expectations are somewhat low already.

It sounds like the premise is better than the actual book! But, it was about $1 used on Amazon so I figured well, I'll start it. It was odd to have the declining-IQ idea surface on DU the day after the book arrived.

[lumberjack_jeff]

92. LOL

"Brilliant", "apocalyptic", "horrifying", and "riveting" are not words I would have chosen, except maybe out of a hat.

Perhaps the reviewers were infected with the George Will thesaurus virus.

[Sugar Smack]

102. Heh. Maybe I'd have been more frightened by the book if

I believed that a threat to my own precious brain-pan, real or imagined, would imperil humanity. Anyway, I liked "My dick is bigger" (as a review of the topic) much better!!

[GOPBasher]

86. I's ain't be nowing wut you tawking bout. I's is smaut. n/t

[Echo In Light]

87. Most people excel in one area while remaining ignorant about others - depoliticization is key

This allows some to feel as though they're somehow 'above' it, not seeing the political as personal. The less one understands regarding deep politics, the corporate/state nexus, and how it serves its own interests ahead of humanity's, the more likely they are to buy into the Name Brand party scam - divide and rule.

[Homer Wells]

94. Individuals are often SMART

People are stupid.

[JBoy]

96. You rock.

[jumptheshadow]

97. Your point is taken, but...

Yes, it is disgusting to see the lack of critical thinking and the media-driven shallowness of today's contemporary culture -- at least here in the U.S.

However, an old friend of mine who was active in MENSA once told me that, if you put a group of MENSA members in the same room with a severely IQ-challenged group, you could not tell the difference.

I didn't believe him until I went to a MENSA function with him. Then I understood what he had said. Many members of the MENSA group seemed dumbfounded when they had to order from a semi-complex menu. They either had not seen many menus before or were ruminating so intensely over their decisions that the poor waiter had to come back several times.

I don't want to hijack your thread, but I wouldn't hold up MENSA membership as the holy grail of social intelligence.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

98. what is the point of this? and before you argue that i am not intelligent enough

to figure out the point of this tirade i would like to point out the my GRE scores are over the 95th percentile in both math/verbal.


so now, what is the point of this?

[Marr]

99. In other words, "let's not forget who's wearing the RED paper hat here!".

Not to put too fine a point on it, but every person I've met who eagerly announced their MENSA membership was doing it to compensate for a lack of real achievement.

[pepperbear]

103. gaspee, that's cute. wouldn't judge too harshly...

the folks that don't know "the difference between their they're and there." One does wonder if they know how to use a comma, though.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

104. "It ain't the way I wanted it! I can handle things! I'm smart! Not like everybody says...

like dumb...I'm smart and I want respect!" dubya (AKA Fredo)

[Javaman]

105. People are stupid.

we roam this earth trying to find answers. But in mostly, we get by on our best guess.

In the grand scheme of things, we are all in a dark room looking for the light switch. While looking, we bump into each other. Some people say excuse me, while other punch each other. But worst off, some people when they bump into each other, they take it personally and feel that they need to go all ape shit and start a war.

then somewhere along the way, someone figures out how to create really nasty weapons. All while bumping into each other in the dark.

Some of those weapons are used all in the hope for "peace".

At the end of the day, all people are stupid. You, me, everyone.

We all in this dark room looking for the light switch.

Sometimes I fear what we will find when we flip that switch.

[Hannah Bell]

106. wrong.

IQ tests have had to be revised & re-normed several times since they began to be used, because IQ scores were rising on average.

and that in itself tells you all you need to know about the validity of IQ tests as a measure of "innate" intelligence.

(BTW, supposedly I have an IQ higher than average. But I've known it's a crock since I was 18.)

[datasuspect]

108. the only critical thinking skills most people acquire are merely sufficient

to make purchasing decisions among many similar products.