[mattrp]

You have a point re: vindictiveness and pettiness. I clicked the link and immediately scrolled into the article failing to notice the author. After about 30 seconds I had the following reaction, “wait! Is this Taleb?” Despite the severe flaws in his prose, he makes some points that I think are worth considering. The chief one is that it’s kind of dumb to attempt a measure of total mental capacity. At best it will result in gross over generalization of the individual’s potential. So what’s the point if not to serve as a means for separating people into developmental tracks as early as possible. Put another way, IQ is simply another way people get evaluated not as individuals but as cogs in the machine. I rather like this critique of IQ and I’m appreciative for Taleb bringing it up (though I doubt he’s the first).