It is generally accepted that humans are the only intelligent species on the earth. I would submit that due to our proclivity to destroy the habitat that gives rise to our existence: we are the only unintelligent species on the planet. I am interested to know whether environmental questions are included in IQ tests. I suspect that there aren't or that they are grossly under-represented. This would further support my thesis. I tried doing a Google search but no luck.
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$\begingroup$ I think you have a mistaken understanding of what an IQ test measures. IQ tests measure IQ. This might be correlated with "intelligence", but an operational definition of intelligence is very difficult to come by. Intelligence is not the same thing as knowledge, either. Also, depending on how you define intelligence, it is absolutely certain that humans are NOT the only intelligent species. $\endgroup$– Bryan Krause ♦May 4, 2018 at 19:26
1 Answer
Your environmental issue is more a matter of philosophy than intelligence, as it is determined mainly subjectively by views and beliefs, driven by ideologies. It's not what the current, more objective definition is of intelligence
For example, standard IQ tests consist mainly of more objective questions on things like:
- Block Design, that measures an individual’s ability to analyze and synthesize an abstract design and reproduce that design from colored plastic blocks;
- Similarities, that measures logical thinking, verbal concept formation and verbal abstract reasoning;
- Digit Span, measuring short-term auditory memory and attention;
- Picture Concepts, to measure categorical, abstract reasoning;
- Coding, that measures visual-motor dexterity, associative nonverbal learning, and nonverbal short-term memory;
- etc etc etc.
Although I, personally, totally agree with you that smart people care about the future, the harsh reality is that people totally ignorant, and even baldly dismissive of the global impact of man, causing the 6th mass extinction (Holocene extinction) and all, can still score highly on the intelligence scale on the currently accepted outcome measures of IQ [no explicit political examples due to my position as moderator here].
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$\begingroup$ That is exactly my point. We accept these IQ tests like some people accept the bible. It is like the power of naming. I have not seen an IQ test since i was in the 5th grade when i scored 1 point below genius. If you are in the know about them: tell me simply. Are there no references to environmental issues? $\endgroup$ May 4, 2018 at 2:23