Re High IQ:
These are the issues that you don't understand:
(1) You seem to think it takes great intelligence to realize being a jack ass does not pay in the long run. This is not so. Anyone with normal intelligence can see that. There are also a ton of other aspects in life that do not take great intelligence to figure out. The concept is akin to saying that a Ferrari and a Chevey both perform the same in Manhattan.
(2) You think that most decisions are made based on thoughtful analysis and understanding. You need to educate yourself more on the subject. "what" you want is rarely decided by your intellect. "how" you go after getting it is only *partially* governed by your intellect. Therefore high-IQ will not make you want an honorable life, nor will it make you want to work towards betterment of mankind, nor will it make you spend time developing caring relationships, nor will it affect your choices on a slew of other critical things in your life.
(3) Even if a person is not smart enough to figure out many things on their own (i.e. knowledge synthesis), it is sufficient for them to figure out how to get the information they need from a source (e.g. google, library, trusted friend) that has already figured it out (i.e. knowledge application). Therefore, and I have seen this many times in practice, a person with average (IQ 80-110) can outperform a person of much higher IQ just through dogged determination and perseverance. In fact, given that people with the lower end of average IQ often have to work harder to move ahead, it is more likely that they have developed the stamina and operational skills (e.g. being neatly organized) and patience for application of the knowledge/training they get than the person who had it come to him more easily. Advantage here is often the lower IQ.
(4) IQ is a very narrow measure of one's talents. High-IQ people are not necessarily more creative than others (often times they are not). Nor do they necessarily understand social issues better. Nor do they stay healthier than others. Or spread their genes more. Or...a slew of other important things in life.
We are getting very close to a stage in computer science that programs could score very high on IQ tests (they already beat chess champions). That does not make computers smarter than people. But even if it did, it would not make computers better, more loving, decent beings than humans.
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