ip  

[IP] Times Letter on Intelligence.

David Farber
Fri, 22 Dec 2006 09:58:20 -0800



Begin forwarded message:

From: Frode Hegland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: December 20, 2006 6:38:00 AM EST
To: Douglas Engelbart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Ted Nelson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Vint Cerf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Bruce Horn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Dave Farber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
Subject: Times Letter on Intelligence.

FYI, just sent this to the London Times:


My apologies for taking so long to write.
Your article earlier this week on IQ and how we have apparently leveled off in increasing our intelligence was profoundly disturbing. 

"We are about as smart as we're going to get, says IQ pioneer"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2509459.html
The way the article discussed intelligence is as if intelligence is like an athletic ability where someone can just practice and get more intelligent like they can get faster at running for example and that this in isolation is important.
The definition of intelligence can be argued for ever, I won't waste your time with my personal definition of intelligence. However, I can say that when I seek advice from, say, a hospital, I care not a whit about the doctors intelligence. I care about getting the right answers. A high IQ doc who can't tell me what I need to know is not very impressive or useful even though she might be impressive on Stephen Fry's QI.
Intelligence is required, sure, but modern knowledge work also requires a high level of teamwork and increasingly useful tools.
Augmenting the collective IQ of an organization to use Doug Engelbart's term, is a useful metric: How does an organization as a whole deal with its environment, it's challenges and opportunities? How does it contribute to the world around it? These are worthwhile questions. Not how high the IQ of it's individuals are. 


Frode Hegland
ceo
The Hyperwords Company
www.hyperwords.net






-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as archive@mail-archive.com
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
  • [IP] Times Letter on Intelligence. David Farber