I’ve always believed that the Intelligence quotient was a hoax, and after reading the assigned chapters, especially Incognito, I feel like they’ve proven my point. Being intelligent is associated with many subtle influences that include lifestyle, education, religion, culture, background, knowledge, memories, and so on. These are all factors that can shape how people think and react. However, IQ tests are designed to measure one‘s cognitive abilities without taking cultural differences and lifestyle into account. Also, it was suggested that scientists found a strong correlation amongst children with their parents which implies that IQ may be inherited. That doesn’t make sense to me because we are exposed to a massive amount of technology on a daily basis as opposed to our parents. This will be the case in the future with our kids as well; they’ll have access to more developed tech as opposed to us.
Technology, like everything in the world, has its pros and cons. Some people might suggest that it’s causing people to rely on it so much that they forget to use their brains and actually ‘think’. Others, including me, think that technology is a blessing (wo)manmade creation that introduces us to an unlimited amount of information at absolutely anytime. Coming to ITP with this mindset, I try to always create or co-create projects that challenge users and make them think, while participating.
On another note, I was going to talk about another “illusion,” because now I think everything is an illusion after last class’ discussion. But what intrigued me to focus on IQs and intelligence is the fact that Incognito talked about how some of the greats were somewhat possessed by the unknown to create the work that planted their names in history. This fact just blew my mind, and made me wonder, were they ‘smart’ all along?