Ask HN: Do you think human intelligence is segmented?

1 points by Randolf_Scott 4y ago ↗ HN

I've seen and read incredible things from very smart people, but I've also seen and read incredible things by people who are not considered smart. In this I must ask, is human Intel segmented? And how can we use this?

4 comments

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really_relay 4y ago ↗

Scott Alexander wrote an interesting post on the topic: https://readsomethinginteresting.com/a/69a1f71a

Edit: fixed

Randolf_Scott 4y ago ↗

404 on the link. Thanks though

qualudeheart 4y ago ↗

It’s multidimensional (segmented) with correlations between dimensions.

webmaven 4y ago ↗

The reference to Einstein batting a thousand in the ideas department is telling. I'm pretty certain that he had just as many bad ideas as the other folks mentioned, but that he was better at abandoning them.

Treating geniuses as black boxes generating hypotheses that need to be tested and discarded as necessary is all very well, but it isn't too much to ask such individuals to treat their own ideas that same way, rather than insisting they must be right against all evidence to the contrary.