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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated
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To: quehubo who wrote (404883)1/17/2011 8:31:11 PM
From: Alan Smithee2 Recommendations  Read Replies (2) of 794157
 
A person with that high an IQ figures out what he wants and how to get it. I would bet there are many average IQ people who grew up in very similar circumstances to Langan's and have achieved higher "success".

Which raises the question. How do you define success? It's more than pure intelligence. No doubt Bill Gates is an intelligent guy. But an IQ in the 190s like Langan? Not likely. Bill Gates succeeded because he grew up in a household that valued achievement. Gladwell notesin his book that Gates got his opportunity at Lakeside School in Seattle (a very exclusive private school) which had computers and where he was able to spend hours and hours programming.

Intelligence isn't the end of the question. What are the other influences in the person's life? Did he/she grow up in a family that encourages the value of gaining knowledge for it's own sake? Hard work? Having the time and opportunity to focus on your interests? Gates had all that and he succeeded. It was a confluence of events that allowed him to do what he did. Langan, on the other hand, didn't have the right mix. He had innate intelligence, but he didn't have the framework to take advantage of that intelligence.

What Langan "wanted" was shaped just as much by his early life and environment as what Bill Gates "wanted" as shaped by his early life and environment. Gates built a hugely successful company and is one of the richest men in the world. Langan, likely with more intelligence than Gates, ended up a bouncer.
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