Don’t confuse knowledge with intelligence.
Knowing what a trireme isn’t a sign of intelligence, it’s trivia.
Being able to figure out how to build a trireme is intelligence.
And I don’t mean looking up instructions and doing, I mean being able to reconstruct the knowledge from baser principles. This is not to say you or your son aren’t intelligent, just that knowing about triremes isn’t a sign of it.
Re:IQ Tests Results for AI
by robwwilliams on Sunday August 17, 2025 @12:23PM
(#44932718)
Just a funny story. Exposure to vocabulary is an important factor in learning to think.
Re:IQ Tests Results for AI
by machomaster on Sunday August 17, 2025 @07:25PM
(#44935825)
Has nothing to do with IQ. Knowing fancy words can only fool some people to think that the speaker is smarter; but it won't influence the actual IQ.
This is known as the Flynn effect. Here is the wikipedia entry in case you want more details:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect
Video games like Civilization and Myst etc, probably add 5 to 10 IQ points to kids. My 9 year old knew all about Greek triremes. Me: What the heck is a trireme?
Most if what people call “genetic effects” are actually “genetic-by-environment” interaction effects. Chane the environment and you change the APPARENT heritability. Good example is the genetics of substance use disorders which range from 30 to 60%—-but IF AND ONLY IF there are drugs around to which you are exposed in YOUR environment.?
Same applies to good and bad schools.