Bayesian Investor Blog

Ramblings of a somewhat libertarian stock market speculator

  • Contact Form

More on the Flynn Effect

Posted by Peter on August 2, 2009
Posted in: Book Reviews, The Flynn Effect, The Human Mind. Tagged: IQ.

This review by Cosma Shalizi of James Flynn’s book What Is Intelligence? provides some interesting criticisms of Flynn (while agreeing with much of what Flynn says).

Shalizi’s most important argument is that Flynn and others who attach a good deal of importance to g haven’t made much of an argument that it measures a single phenomenon.

After a century of IQ testing, there is still no theory which says which questions belongs on an intelligence test, just correlational analyses and tradition.

Flynn and others have good arguments that whatever g measures is important. But Shalizi leaves me with the impression that the only way to decide whether it’s a single phenomenon is to compare its usefulness to models which describe multiple flavors of intelligence. So far those attempts that I’ve looked at seem underwhelming. Maybe that means trying to break down intelligence into components which deserve separate measures isn’t fruitful, but it might also mean that the people who might do a good job of it have been scared away by the political controversies over IQ.

HT Kenny Easwaran.

Posts navigation

← The Law Market
Create Your Own Economy (?) →
  • Recent Posts

    • Evidence under Adversarial Conditions
    • Investing for a World Transformed by AI
    • BioVie
    • Investing Amid Low Expected Returns
    • Review: LOVE in a simbox
    • Cold War II
    • Blood Tests
    • What We Owe the Future
  • Recent Comments

    • Peter on Investing for a World Transformed by AI
    • Ben Smith on Investing for a World Transformed by AI
    • Peter on Investing for a World Transformed by AI
    • Sapphire Star on Investing for a World Transformed by AI
    • gwern on Investing for a World Transformed by AI
  • Tags

    aging amm autism best posts bias brain bubbles CFAR climate communication skills consciousness covid diet effective altruism empires equality ethics evolution existential risks genetics happiness history honesty industrial revolution information economics IQ kelvinism law macroeconomics meditation mind uploading MIRI neuroscience prediction markets prizes psychology rationality relationships risks seasteading status stock market crash transhumanism war willpower
  • Categories

    • Announcements [B] (6)
    • Book Reviews (268)
    • Economics (170)
      • Idea Futures (38)
      • Investing (77)
    • Life, the Universe, and Everything (143)
      • Fermi Paradox (6)
      • Health (103)
      • Humor (11)
    • Movies (2)
    • Politics (183)
      • China (15)
      • Freedom (18)
      • Mideast (14)
      • U.S. Politics (73)
    • Science and Technology (220)
      • Artificial Intelligence (58)
      • Miscellaneous (20)
      • Molecular Assemblers (Advanced Nanotech) (15)
      • The Flynn Effect (15)
      • The Human Mind (107)
      • Virtual Worlds (4)
    • Uncategorized (14)
Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: Parament by Automattic.