Are all cultures intelligently equal.

[Cliff Clavin]

sorry i feel im getting a hammering here.

 

i was just refering to general intelect like reasoning, debating anything really.

 

 

LOL I think ol' eagle eye cherry as hammered us all here without realising it great stufff loving it :hihi:

[Bartfarst]

for what its worth i don't particularly disagree with you. however peterw makes a valid point as well, academically smart and IQ isn't a measure of overall intelligence. perfect example would be muhammed ali - who failed the army physical originally because his iq was measured in the low 70's (i think) - i would hardly call him stupid though

Are you joking????????? Have you ever listened to Ali in an interview? He's a dimwit. he may be able to sing rhyming tunes that would be the pride of a nursery, but listen to the man in a serious interview and you'd see that he's got less between his ears than a sheep.

[Bartfarst]

Perhaps you'd like to discuss this with the likes of Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice............

And perhaps somebody would explain to Longcol the meaning of the word 'average'.

[Bartfarst]

Of course all cultures can't be equally intelligent as far as books and $h>> goes but then again simple villagers in the far regions of the amazon may not know about the theory of relativity but i'm sure they'd know great fishing techniques!!!

 

So intelligence isn't always down to grades????

Do you claim that learning to fish requires as much grey matter as obtaining a physics degree?

 

Interesting point you have there.

[Cliff Clavin]

Do you claim that learning to fish requires as much grey matter as obtaining a physics degree?

 

Interesting point you have there.

 

No i'm claiming that a physics degree is only any use in a capitalist system that funds a suburbanite who follows the laws of the land.

 

Whereas the Swiss Family Robinson may not be able to view MTV but will probably live a shorter more interesting, fun but often more brutal life than a grade A student.

 

The moral is that there are more levels of intelligence than meets the eye

[Longcol]

And perhaps somebody would explain to Longcol the meaning of the word 'average'.

 

And perhaps they'd explain that if black Americans had started with the same advantages as white Americans there would be no difference in "IQ" ?

[Cliff Clavin]

And perhaps they'd explain that if black Americans had started with the same advantages as white Americans there would be no difference in "IQ" ?

 

In a non-ratial way I feel this statement is wrong. Unfortunately by evolution European/Western Europeans grey matter have devolped that bit more than African blacks but they've had the disadvantage of a lower adverage muscle devolpment. So that evens things out - the law of evolution.

 

Evolution is unfortunately non-PC but it isn't safe from 1984!!!

[happyhippy]

Do you claim that learning to fish requires as much grey matter as obtaining a physics degree?

 

Interesting point you have there.

 

There is an immense difference between intelligence and intellect in my opinion. I've met some truly brilliant scholars in their fields who are so utterly clueless in the 'everyday' field it borders on the comical (can't wire a plug correctly, that type of stuff). I have also met people who aren't exactly booksmart, but can work at their trades b****y hard, and well, and then more than likely go and change yon boffin's plug.

 

I agree that the intellect required for a physics degree is at a higher level than knowing how to catch a fish, but when stuck in the Amazon starving, do you want your native friend to know the arc seconds in the swish of the tail of the fish (a segment of the full circle from the base of the tail to it's end), the water temperature to ascertain its absolute density, and the mass of the fish, not to mention its depth in the water, to attempt to ascertain its true velocity (assuming it's swimming in a straight line) ........

 

..... or to eat the thing and get to safety with your companion? Assuming you're not veggie of course ;-)

 

And as diplayed above, I'm no physics expert ;-)

 

"Horses for courses" is what I'm saying I suppose.

[Cyclone]

I don't think the tests were just the book versions that we see - remember that the people conducting these surveys aren't imbeciles either.

The latest survey I read, published in the broadsheets a few months ago and based on the UK 100 point average, showed us ahead of the French (98 ), behind the Germans (104 ), and the Koreans (108 ). Various other countries came in all over the place, but the African nations were 'way down' with the world dunces being the Zimbabweans (at 61 ). No surprise - that is why the stone age continues in such nations.

 

Eynseck surveyed the USA some years ago and found that the average black American was 15 point behind the average white American - you can't explain that on different national cultures, and he took people from comparative socio-economic groups to ensure that he had a fair comparison.

 

It's highly likely that the measure of intelligence was biased towards one measure or another.

It was probably knowledge biased to start with, which might explain why white americans (who on average get better schooling) did better. They just know more.

Knowledge of course is nothing to do with intelligence.

 

As to the examples about degrees and fishing. The comparison is meaningless. Intelligence is not a measure of what level you have studied too. One measure might be what level you could study too, or how quickly and well you could learn something.

The fact that I don't have a physics degree doesn't mean that I couldn't have one, and the fact that I can't fish doesn't mean that I couldn't learn how.

[craigmason]

did a university professor Andrew Fraser not say recently that black people were intelligently inferior to white people