In the article The Economist has no Clothes in Scientific American Robert Nadeau uncovers the roots of “modern” economic theory in old formulas from physics that has long since been proven wrong in physics.

In addition the economists replaced physical units with economical in a strange way that has never been shown to be correct.

I studied some economica at the university and have always been sceptical towards the strong belief of mathematical formulas to formulate such things as happiness and utility.

Far too little consideration is given to human emotions when it comes to economic decisions.

The brain is a muscle. As all muscles it needs training to keep in shape.

Personally I see the type of tasks you solve in an IQ test as one type of training, mainly for logical thinking.

Solving puzzles of different types trains other parts of the brain. Anything you are not already familiar with will start your brain cells working.

Moving your body in new unfamiliar ways by trying a new sport or dancing keeps other parts of the brain in shape. Here you have the added benefit of also training you mobile muscles.

Keep them grey cells busy!

“… Well, then, suppose my auto-repair man devised questions for an intelligence test. Or suppose a carpenter did, or a farmer, or, indeed, almost anyone but an academician. By every one of those tests, I’d prove myself a moron, and I’d be a moron, too.” Source

One of my favourite science fiction authors (creator of the three laws for robots) Isaac Asimov wrote this little piece.

Long before Gardner he was on the track of multiple intelligences, that is that a person can be skilled in various ways. Gardner counts to eight and others recognize even more.

All over the world governments are striving to raise the education level of their population. But almost all efforts seems to go towards theoretical and scientific education.

There is a tendency to look down on manual work which is highly needed in all societies to build new houses, roads and bridges, to keep existing houses in shape, to ensure the flow of water, electricity and information, to cook our food and so on.

But in fact the most needed labour skills globally are:

2008 Hot Jobs
    1.  Skilled Manual Trades
    2.  Sales Representatives
    3.  Technicians
    4.  Engineers
    5.  Management/Executives
    6.  Laborers
    7.  Administrative Assistants / PAs
    8.  Drivers
    9.  Accounting & Finance staff
    10. IT Staff
Source: Manpower

Many of them require more practical than theoretical skills. And even the best engineers have both strong theoretical and practical skills.

I think we should accept that not all people are theoretically inclined, some may be more skiled with their hands and that should be an accpetable career choice.

More of Gardners Multiple intelligences and less of traditional IQ tests.

According to a study from King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA the effect on IQ scores of breasfeeding depended whether the infant had a certain gene or not.

For the 10% of children missing the gene there was no difference between the breast-fed kids and others. But for children having the gene there was a 6 point difference in IQ test scores as the children became older.

So whether genes or environment are more important the answer is: It depends…

Is it possible to improve your IQ test score by practice?

Are the IQ scores really saying anything meaningful about the intelligence of a person?

Is it meaningful to judge a persons IQ from a single test?

How much are test results influenced by cultural factorfs?

This blog will discuss different questions around IQ test taking.