Mq, I will now answer a question which should have kept you up at night, namely, if substantial genetics mutations are rare from one generation to the next, why have IQ levels gone up so much over the years?
Hmm, you say you haven't been wondering about that at all? Well, I will answer the question now that you have indeed begun to wonder about it.
Here it is, thanks to Google:
brookings.edu
This article suggests that intelligence, like basketball, is a skill. If you have a small genetic advantage, then you are likely to find the environment which will reinforce that skill or it will find you. If you are a smidgen taller and quicker, it is likely that you will end up playing the sport, getting coached, etc., thereby developing the skill. And because skills are sharpened by practice, a tiny genetic advantage in inherited intelligence can be honed into a substantial ultimate IQ advantage, i.e., higher IQ scores, because the intelligent will get better schooling, more attention, etc. All of this of course militates strongly in favor of stimulating children, Yes, the mobiles over the cradle and the interesting books around the house will pay off.
The lesson, I suppose, is that if you wish to succeed then you must continue throughout life to challenge your cognition, We must keep doing things which are a little beyond our abilities until we master them, then go to the next difficult thing.
I think SI is wonderful for this. |
