Time-scales

I think that maybe, just maybe, I was a bit too snarly in my
replies re: IQ. When I have taken such tests, I have ranged from 121
to 134. This, plus what I hear about cultural bias, makes me very
distrustful of such tests. All other things being equal, the smarter
person will score higher on an IQ test, but are all other things
equal? I have my doubts.

By cultural bias I do not charge racism, which would mean
deliberately fixing the tests so as to make the Eskimos or other
disliked group seem dumber than they really are. I doubt that goes
on much in the making of IQ tests. I mean simply that the people
making such tests see the world in a particular way, and this tends
to make those from a different type of upbringing seem not quite as
smart as they really are. As a personal example, I scored higher on
IQ tests when I was in college, which is hardly surprising, as I was
at the time used to taking tests. Also, the folks making the test
spent a lot of time in college. So it is hardly surprising that
OTHER FOLKS in college would do better.

Also, I am into transhumanism (a little bit), and tend to look on
eugenics for intelligence the way a sports car buff might look at
racehorse breeding. Yes, if you breed fast-running mares to fast-
running stallions, and do so for several generations of horses, then
you are likely to wind up with a generation of horses which run
faster than any horse has run before... and any cross-eyed granny in
a VW bug can leave horse and rider in her dust (not to mention
somebody in a Ferrari!).

But I didn't need to snarl QUITE that much!

Xenophile (who suspects that the needs of habitat construction will
tend to filter out dumb-butts anyways, with no test needed)