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Yeah I think IQ is a useless measurement.
The basic IQ test is made by people who think someone is smart if they can follow the pattern of logic created by the author of the test. The problem with this is that the test assumes that the author is the smartest person in the world and is infallible, and that everyone taking the test is intellectually somewhere under him.
If I were to ask you which of the following does not belong with the others:
Trumpet
Clarinet
Flute
Guitar
Which would you answer? The question is just stupid - any of the group could be different. The trumpet is the only instrument made of brass and is the only one with valves. The clarinet is black and played with a wooden reed. The flute is played by blowing air across a hole instead of blowing into a hole. And the guitar is made of wood (usually) and played with two hands and no mouth (usually). What is the answer?
I would say flute is different because it's the only instrument that is played to the side of the musician whereas the other three are played in front of the musician. Or I would say the guitar because you can play six notes at once. Or the trumpet because it is played with three fingers (usually) instead of two hands like the guitar, flute, and clarinet. There are so many reasons for each of them to be different than the others. The guy that wrote the question was probably thinking that the guitar was the most different because you don't play it with your mouth (usually), and the truly gifted and creative person would spend the entire test duration determining what the writer of the question was thinking when they wrote the question. Instead of giving the best answer, to score high they would have to guess what the author wanted them to answer.
And that is the biggest weakness to this type of testing. The person that responds to society's question with the expected answer may make a good politician or mid level management suck up, but do you think he could have created Fedex, conquered almost the entire continent of Europe, or created a reliable way to cheaply make light (or audio) from electrons in motion through a wire?
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