'Higher IQ=less religous' apparently...

Daniel

... as it would've mine when I was your age.

This is from one of the comments following the article: "It seems 62% of Americans still believe in 'The devil'.

That ain't true, is it? Can't be!

I believe in him. I've seen him. he was on TV. He gave a state of the union speech.

JuanV.Soler

interesting.
'Higher IQ=less religous' apparently...

now the devil is another thing.
but what cares is God, is not it ?

Mike Lucey

An interesting subject and one that I often think about.
It's 2.00am as I write and this post and it should send me
off to sleep in the hope that I can switch my time zone from
Mid Atlantic (currently) to GMT

Here is an interesting article by Professor J. Philippe Rushton,
Winters Are Good For Your Genes: Lynn Book Finds World Average
IQ 90, Declining From North To South
http://www.vdare.com/rushton/060322_iq_pic.htm

I note he talks about 'Indigenous Peoples' here. According to
his argument, Indigenous Peoples in warm regions have lower
IQ's than people in colder regions. This makes a certain
amount of sense as the people residing in colder regions
have to figure out ways of keeping warm (in our case how to
get cheap oil ). But again we are all supposed to have
originated from Africa so I wonder about this. Maybe we
strengthened a particular type of intelligence?

On the other hand there are many types of intelligence, I am
aware of at least nine. Have a look at this link by By Howard Gardner
http://skyview.vansd.org/lschmidt/Projects/The%20Nine%20Types%20of%20Intelligence.htm

The Nine Types of Intelligence[/b]

Naturalist Intelligence
Musical Intelligence
Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
Existential Intelligence
Interpersonal Intelligence
Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
Linguistic Intelligence
Intra-personal Intelligence
Spatial Intelligence

I know a little about the spiritual believes of the Australian
Aborigines and from what I see they are very complex and make
a lot of sense. I don't think they regard it as 'religion',
more a way of life and I imagine the same goes for African
and South American tribes.

Food for thought I hope!

Mike

Stinkie

Noooooooooo, no syllogisms! Those take me back to, err, 'logic class'. I beg you!

Your comparison's a bit off, btw, Kwist.

Stinkie

It's an interesting question, though: does the climate influence the way our thinking has evolved? I'd say yes. As the climate influences the way our body evolves, it's only logical to assume that it has a vast influence on our mind as well. Mind you, I'm not using the word 'intelligence'.

But my guess is we'd need alien scientists to be able to get an unprejudiced view on these matters.

Let's not forget either that intelligence isn't a matter of genes (nature) alone. Your upbringing plays an important role (nurture) too. At least, that's what I like to think when I try to do maths.

And as Mike points out, there are different kinds of intelligence. I could read when I was three, but it took me another decade (!) to be able to tell what time it is. And I still have to look twice. Sad? You've said it!

kwistenbiebel

Very nice reading material, Mike.

Some of the theory is kind of far fetched though:
People in cold areas are more intelligent because they needed to use their brain to find ways to get warmer?
What about people in warm areas that need their brain to find ways to cool off?
These kind of deduction theories smell like 'sophisms' to me.

" 1) I fit in a suit---> 2) My suit fits in a suit case---> 3) so I fit in the suit case."
compare to:
"1) being cold makes me use my brain ---> 2) using my brain makes me more intelligent---> 3) being cold makes me more intelligent."

Kind of same mistake, not?
It is not because 1('thesis') and 2('anti-thesis') makes a logical pair , that 1-3 ('conclusio') automatically becomes a logical truth.

It might have confused people in the age of Sophocles , but it doesn't make an impression on me.

kwistenbiebel

It depends on who is using the word 'intelligence'.

For Western people, knowing how to tell the time by looking at a watch is considered more intelligent than being able to pick fruit from a tree.

Ask the same question to Non-Western people, and they might conclude that those who are good at picking fruit are the geniuses...and telling time is something useless, not done by more intelligent people.

= 'Antropocentrism' (= I measure other cultures by my own standards)

Stinkie

@kwistenbiebel said:

Ask the same question to Non-Western people, and they might conclude that those who are good at picking fruit are the geniuses...and telling time is something useless, not done by more intelligent people.

I've always known I was adopted.

Alan Fraser

Hehe. I just looked at the map at the beginning of that article. It suggests that most Aussies walk around with their knuckles dragging on the ground.
I presume it is referring to the aboriginal population.

Personally, I find the climatic reasoning to be total garbage. True, keeping warm in Northern temperate regions does require more strategies than lying around on some tropical beach, spearing fish and eating coconute and bananas all day. But that is nothing compared to the strategies applied by the Inuit, Kalahari Bushmen...or Aborigines simply to find enough food to eat. Logically, that ought to make them the most intelligent people on earth...maybe they are...it surely depends on how you measure it, free from "Western" preconceptions.

kwistenbiebel

...but I bet you have a full fruit basket on your kitchen table.
(sorry, couldn't resist kicking in an open door, Stinkie )