I think there’s a lot of variance in the intelligence of animals too. (I was a veterinary surgeon and am definitely an “animal person”.)
Variance in human intelligence, (but how are you judging that? - ability to learn and repeat, ability to problem solve?) but anyway a quick list …
Genetics. Roll a multi-faced (Humans have about 20,000 to 23,000 genes. - Merck manual) dice, roll another one. That’s your randomly selected DNA.
Interactions with others. - positive influences on your life. People that teach and explain. (when kids are at that “why” stage they should be answered with quality information).
Opportunity and Stimulation. - exposure to knowledge/education/new experiences.
Environmental factors. - Nutrition. Exposures to negative influences (disease, pollution)
Attitude—personality, desire to learn/interest in a subject.
I have seen articles that track IQ of countries in Northern Hemisphere vs countries along the equator. The IQ of people in colder countries is significantly higher than along the equator. Maybe historically people who lived in cold climates had to struggle to survive against the climate and this caused them to exercise larger % of the brain in order to survive??
You have to struggle to survive even harder in hotter temperatures or at least that is how I feel. Nowadays, I associate higher temperatures with an invitation to leisure and laziness somehow. Also it happnes that the countries along the Equator are somewhat less developed or have been dealing with political, climate, economical and health issues most of their existence.
In terms of countries near equator are you seeing cause or effect. Equator regions should have been able to live off the land (eat and use plants that they did not have to grow) In northern countries people either hunted to survive or became agriculture based society. Either way they would have put in more planning and effort. Repeat this for a few hundred years might result in more creativity and reasoning ability.
The sample size isn’t big enough: nearby countries are too strongly coupled with each-other. Regions are closer to independent. But the only major regions were Europe, Middle East, East Asia, India, West Africa, East Africa, South Africa, and several in the new world. It’s hard to form statistics around such a small number.
Of these, four enjoyed “top of the world” civilization status at some point in time: the Middle East + North Africa, Europe, China, and India. Mesoamerica lived independently until it got destroyed by Europe, so it is hard to place in a global hierarchy. This list is pretty random; there is no evidence for or against an “avoidance of the equator”.
And it keeps moving. After the industrial revolution, the “top of the world” in terms of innovation moved from England to New York (Edison days) and most recently into the Silicon Valley.
But why does the king of the hill keep changing? So what breaks the technology/resource extraction/warfare feedback? It’s basically crumbling infrastructure combined with regulatory capture at all levels of institutions. The trouble is the timescales are now so fast that the silicon valley is already elderly. There are 5 gas-tank apps. Many startups use the same recycled formula with social media, block-chains, “Uber for X”, etc rather than addressing new problems. We already have to go to wherever is “next” (which may or may not be in the same physical area) if we want to use our skills in a young blossoming community.
I think there’s a lot of variance in the intelligence of animals too. (I was a veterinary surgeon and am definitely an “animal person”.)
Variance in human intelligence, (but how are you judging that? - ability to learn and repeat, ability to problem solve?) but anyway a quick list …
Genetics. Roll a multi-faced (Humans have about 20,000 to 23,000 genes. - Merck manual) dice, roll another one. That’s your randomly selected DNA.
Interactions with others. - positive influences on your life. People that teach and explain. (when kids are at that “why” stage they should be answered with quality information).
Opportunity and Stimulation. - exposure to knowledge/education/new experiences.
Environmental factors. - Nutrition. Exposures to negative influences (disease, pollution)
Attitude—personality, desire to learn/interest in a subject.
Just a few thoughts.
I have seen articles that track IQ of countries in Northern Hemisphere vs countries along the equator. The IQ of people in colder countries is significantly higher than along the equator. Maybe historically people who lived in cold climates had to struggle to survive against the climate and this caused them to exercise larger % of the brain in order to survive??
You have to struggle to survive even harder in hotter temperatures or at least that is how I feel. Nowadays, I associate higher temperatures with an invitation to leisure and laziness somehow. Also it happnes that the countries along the Equator are somewhat less developed or have been dealing with political, climate, economical and health issues most of their existence.
In terms of countries near equator are you seeing cause or effect. Equator regions should have been able to live off the land (eat and use plants that they did not have to grow) In northern countries people either hunted to survive or became agriculture based society. Either way they would have put in more planning and effort. Repeat this for a few hundred years might result in more creativity and reasoning ability.
The sample size isn’t big enough: nearby countries are too strongly coupled with each-other. Regions are closer to independent. But the only major regions were Europe, Middle East, East Asia, India, West Africa, East Africa, South Africa, and several in the new world. It’s hard to form statistics around such a small number.
Of these, four enjoyed “top of the world” civilization status at some point in time: the Middle East + North Africa, Europe, China, and India. Mesoamerica lived independently until it got destroyed by Europe, so it is hard to place in a global hierarchy. This list is pretty random; there is no evidence for or against an “avoidance of the equator”.
And it keeps moving. After the industrial revolution, the “top of the world” in terms of innovation moved from England to New York (Edison days) and most recently into the Silicon Valley.
But why does the king of the hill keep changing? So what breaks the technology/resource extraction/warfare feedback? It’s basically crumbling infrastructure combined with regulatory capture at all levels of institutions. The trouble is the timescales are now so fast that the silicon valley is already elderly. There are 5 gas-tank apps. Many startups use the same recycled formula with social media, block-chains, “Uber for X”, etc rather than addressing new problems. We already have to go to wherever is “next” (which may or may not be in the same physical area) if we want to use our skills in a young blossoming community.