Would the world be a better place if it were run by smart people?

[Rhone]

What if, in every country, one's ability to attain positions of power and influence was directly proportional to one's intelligence? Would the world be a better place?

I have my own theory, but I'm interested in hearing others' responses first.

Also, I don't want this to turn into a discussion of IQ and measurement and what intelligence is. Let's just assume "intelligence" as measured by standard IQ tests.

(and yes, this was inspired by the Simpsons episode I just watched)

[pshreck]

Yeah, then our world leaders can play eachother in chess, then try to break each others record in solving rubik's cubes.

[Eurotrash]

David Sklansky would then be running the US in the most +EV way possible.


<font color="white">RESULTS: crushing other nations under his shiny, fascist jackboot. </font>


disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily correspond to what I actually believe

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
What if, in every country, one's ability to attain positions of power and influence was directly proportional to one's intelligence? Would the world be a better place?

I have my own theory, but I'm interested in hearing others' responses first.

Also, I don't want this to turn into a discussion of IQ and measurement and what intelligence is. Let's just assume "intelligence" as measured by standard IQ tests.

[/ QUOTE ]

If we go by IQ, then no I think the world wouldnt be any better. Lots of people with high IQs are [censored] stupid when it comes to lots of things. In the instance of world leaders, id much rather have someone with a 110 IQ and a dumptruck full of common sense, than your typical egotistacl prick with a 160 IQ who has no real world experience and has no idea how things really work.

[DBowling]

[ QUOTE ]

If we go by IQ, then no I think the world wouldnt be any better. Lots of people with high IQs are [censored] stupid when it comes to lots of things. In the instance of world leaders, id much rather have someone with a 110 IQ and a dumptruck full of common sense, than your typical egotistacl prick with a 160 IQ who has no real world experience and has no idea how things really work.

[/ QUOTE ]

i agree

[slickpoppa]

Bobby Fischer has a ridiculous IQ. Imagine if he ran the world.

[Benholio]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What if, in every country, one's ability to attain positions of power and influence was directly proportional to one's intelligence? Would the world be a better place?

I have my own theory, but I'm interested in hearing others' responses first.

Also, I don't want this to turn into a discussion of IQ and measurement and what intelligence is. Let's just assume "intelligence" as measured by standard IQ tests.

[/ QUOTE ]

If we go by IQ, then no I think the world wouldnt be any better. Lots of people with high IQs are [censored] stupid when it comes to lots of things. In the instance of world leaders, id much rather have someone with a 110 IQ and a dumptruck full of common sense, than your typical egotistacl prick with a 160 IQ who has no real world experience and has no idea how things really work.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sure, I'd rather have a lower IQ guy with common sense, leadership skills, etc. But how about the average high IQ guy vs. the average lower IQ guy?

Your statement is like saying you'd much rather face the high IQ guy at the poker game who is extremely weak-tight than the agressive dumb guy at the table. Sure, if you take the extremes on both end you can make one more preferable than the other.

If I could instantly add 25 points of IQ to all of the people 'running the world', I'd do it in a heartbeat.

[DMBFan23]

the thing is, is that I think the average high IQ guy has much less than average people skills.

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]


If I could instantly add 25 points of IQ to all of the people 'running the world', I'd do it in a heartbeat.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, but thats not what we are talking about, someone who lives their life and then suddenyl gets a hell of alot more IQ, is going to be way diff than the guy who had the high IQ all along. It would also be a horrible idea. A significant portion of the people in charge are corrupt and power hungry. Making them smarter is only going to allow them to excel at it that much better.

[spamuell]

[ QUOTE ]
the thing is, is that I think the average high IQ guy has much less than average people skills.

[/ QUOTE ]

What are you basing this on? Social stereotypes or actual evidence?

[Benholio]

So dumb guys do a better job at running the world because they are less successful at being corrupt and power hungry?

Intelligent leaders are more likely to properly analyze situations and make good decisions.

[Jazza]

[ QUOTE ]
Bobby Fischer has a ridiculous IQ. Imagine if he ran the world.

[/ QUOTE ]

very good point

that would be scary

[Broken Glass Can]

Smart people, huh? You mean like sort of having the world run by a master race?

No thanks.

A person of good character is better than the smartest guy you can find.

[Duke]

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the thing is, is that I think the average high IQ guy has much less than average people skills.

[/ QUOTE ]

What are you basing this on? Social stereotypes or actual evidence?

[/ QUOTE ]

He's basing it on the fact that "normal" (IQ under 120, say) people get unnerved when they're not talking to someone else who also says things like:

&lt;rant&gt;

Gee, I dunno...

Yeah, I like the real world too, because it's REAL.

I totally know what you mean, it's like when on Friends Joey and Chandler were laughing about that SAME THING!

Uh, I hope that truck carrying nitrogen doesn't explode either!

&lt;/end rant&gt;

People like to be led by someone that they can relate to. The masses cannot relate to someone who understands the Chinese Remainder Theorem, or can explain precisely why the sky is blue. They can relate to a guy who cannot pronounce the word 'nuclear,' though.

~D

[spamuell]

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A person of good character is better than the smartest guy you can find.

[/ QUOTE ]

omg I agree with BGC!

Except not because I'm sure we have very different definitions of "good".

[wacki]

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Would the world be a better place if it were run by smart people?

[/ QUOTE ]

If we pretend highly educated/specialized = smart, then hell no.

If we are more realistic and have leaders that are highly skilled in a wide variety of subjects/disciplines then my answer is: "Beyond a shadow of a doubt". Unfortunatelly, with many of our leaders, this is far from reality.

As for the Bobby Fisher comment, well, Bobby Fisher did not have a wide variety of skills. And neither did Einstein.

[spamuell]

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People like to be led by someone that they can relate to. The masses cannot relate to someone who understands the Chinese Remainder Theorem, or can explain precisely why the sky is blue.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you might be right, but also this might just be an excuse that intelligent people can use to defend their incompetence. I think it's probably usually the latter and occasionally the former but I don't really know how one who genuinely can't understand someone's ideas is meant to distinguish between the two.

[Broken Glass Can]

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A person of good character is better than the smartest guy you can find.

[/ QUOTE ]

omg I agree with BGC!

Except not because I'm sure we have very different definitions of "good".

[/ QUOTE ]

To quote my Loc:

[b]GWB is a man of True Character /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
So dumb guys do a better job at running the world because they are less successful at being corrupt and power hungry?

[/ QUOTE ]

You keep misinterpretting what I say. Intelligence and corruption arent related. All I said was that right now most governments are run by power hungry corrupt people. I wouldnt really want to make them smarter. This doesnt mean dumb people would do a better job of running the world.

My original statement is simply that I'd rather have someone with a lot of common sense be in power, than someone with a high IQ.

[Non_Comformist]

It would be the same, because in general smart people ascend to positions of leadership.

[Broken Glass Can]

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It would be the same, because in general smart people ascend to positions of leadership.

[/ QUOTE ]

I disagree. People good at managing other people become leaders. The smart people work for them.

A lot of people thought Carter was smart (Nuclear Engineering etc.), but he was a terrible manager of people and hence a failure as a leader.

[Benholio]

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My original statement is simply that I'd rather have someone with a lot of common sense be in power, than someone with a high IQ.

[/ QUOTE ]

Fair enough, although I don't think that really answers the OP, unless you assume that high IQ people have lower common sense, which I guess you are indeed assuming.

I don't think common sense and intelligence are mutually excelusive. So give me the intelligent guys that have common sense, too. Better than the less intelligent guys with common sense.

[Non_Comformist]

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It would be the same, because in general smart people ascend to positions of leadership.

[/ QUOTE ]

I disagree. People good at managing other people become leaders. The smart people work for them.


[/ QUOTE ]

Either way most of the policies and decisions would be the same.

[Broken Glass Can]

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[ QUOTE ]
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It would be the same, because in general smart people ascend to positions of leadership.

[/ QUOTE ]

I disagree. People good at managing other people become leaders. The smart people work for them.


[/ QUOTE ]

Either way most of the policies and decisions would be the same.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know about that. Smart people don't always understand the art of the possible and overstep. The good people managers tend to get that balance right. They use the smart people, but don't let them get out of control.

[Rhone]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Would the world be a better place if it were run by smart people?

[/ QUOTE ]

If we pretend highly educated/specialized = smart, then hell no.

If we are more realistic and have leaders that are highly skilled in a wide variety of subjects/disciplines then my answer is: "Beyond a shadow of a doubt". Unfortunatelly, with many of our leaders, this is far from reality.

As for the Bobby Fisher comment, well, Bobby Fisher did not have a wide variety of skills. And neither did Einstein.

[/ QUOTE ]

As I wrote in the original post, I mean "smart" in the IQ test sense, so Bobby Fischer and Einstein are good examples. But they're also interesting examples because they had such different world views. You can't imagine the world I'm thinking of as either one that is run by Bobby Fischers, or one that is run by Einsteins, since those two images would be radically different.

[Rhone]

So (pardon my paraphrasing), Alobar basically distinguishes goals from the ability to pursue those goals. Some leaders are good, some are bad, and higher IQ will allow both those types of leaders to more successfully pursue their ends. If (adding my own thoughts here) most of the world's leaders are more interested in enriching themselves, their families, ethnic groups, political cronies, etc., than they are in benefiting the societies they are supposed to lead, then higher IQ hurts more than it helps. I think that's pretty interesting.

But then Wacki and BGC and another poster or two bring up the idea that it's probably not IQ at all that boosts leaders' abilities to successfully pursue their goals. This is what I was thinking when I posed the original question. We may disagree over which particular traits are most important to success, but the real question is whether those traits are as prevelent among smarter people as they are among less smart people. I would think that the traits most of us would agree on as being key here, say, perseverence, charisma, ability to manage people, ability to communicate ideas to a wide variety of people, ability to be ruthless when necessary...I don't see why these traits wouldn't be fairly evenly distributed across different IQs.

So, I really don't think the world would be any different if it were run by smarter people.

[Rhone]

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...because in general smart people ascend to positions of leadership.

[/ QUOTE ]

I couldn't disagree more with this statement. Really, what are you basing this on? /images/graemlins/confused.gif