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A comment on Is there a general factor of intelligence?. Parent comment

Re:Is there a general factor of intelligence? by daenz on Friday March 25, 2022 @11:55AM (#30803692)
I've heard the argument that even if there is a reliable measure of IQ and there is a measurable difference between groups of people, that knowledge only harms people and doesn't do any good, so we shouldn't pursue it anyways.

So I think to get everyone on the same page, you have to address that concern in some form, or there will be some people who are always against the idea of measurable intelligence.

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Re:Is there a general factor of intelligence? by SpicyLemonZest on Friday March 25, 2022 @12:36PM (#30804242)
I'm not sure that's the same argument. If a chemical engineer wants to explain why she won't research chemical weapon agents, she's not going to say "chemical weapons don't exist" or "everything's made of chemicals so chemical weapons aren't a coherent category". She'll say chemical weapons are a clear, coherent, and real idea, but the risks of understanding them better outweigh any potential benefits.

It's a reasonable argument, and one I personally tend to lean towards, but you can't meaningfully debate it if you don't have a shared understanding that a general factor does indeed exist.

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