This article is very well written but makes me very sad.
A) Talking about “of low cognitive ability” in such a tone is valid jargon, I’m sure, but I think it’s othering and arrogant considering how little we know about the various faculties of the brain[1] and how IQ tests correlate very strongly with childhood stability and opportunity. This article’s language strongly implies that your intelligence is somewhat set and universal, which seems beyond unfair to those who think they have “low IQ” and take this as a reason to give up.
B) The science seems strong, at least from the two studies cited! I’m guessing this has to do with the necessity of Tangible Hope for the (self-identified) poor, but I don’t know… A very interesting finding.
C) I certainly think the leap to financial markets is some fun flair for a very non-HN audience, so in that lense it’s very enjoyable. Unless I’m missing something though that’s all pretty meaningless - “what do ‘dumb’ people think their future will be like” isn’t a very helpful question for investment planning.
> unfair to those who think they have “low IQ” and take this as a reason to give up.
The problem isn’t having low cognitive ability, the problem is giving up. Ideally, everyone should know and accept their true limitations, intelligence being only one of them and not the only one used to justify giving up. Since none of us know what our true limitations are we should push ourselves until we find them and we’d all be surprised if we did.
A) Talking about “of low cognitive ability” in such a tone is valid jargon, I’m sure, but I think it’s othering and arrogant considering how little we know about the various faculties of the brain[1] and how IQ tests correlate very strongly with childhood stability and opportunity. This article’s language strongly implies that your intelligence is somewhat set and universal, which seems beyond unfair to those who think they have “low IQ” and take this as a reason to give up.
B) The science seems strong, at least from the two studies cited! I’m guessing this has to do with the necessity of Tangible Hope for the (self-identified) poor, but I don’t know… A very interesting finding.
C) I certainly think the leap to financial markets is some fun flair for a very non-HN audience, so in that lense it’s very enjoyable. Unless I’m missing something though that’s all pretty meaningless - “what do ‘dumb’ people think their future will be like” isn’t a very helpful question for investment planning.