Selection bias—which groups and forums actually asked about IQ?
Your average knitting/auto maintenance/comic book forum probably has a lower average IQ but doesn’t think to ask. And of course we’re already selecting a little just by taking the figures off of web forums, which are a little on the cerebral side.
True. I don’t think I can define the precise level of inaccuracy or anything. My point is not that I’ve detected the true signal: it’s that there’s too much noise for there to be a useful signal.
Do I think the average LessWronger has a higher IQ? Sure. But that’s nothing remotely to do with this survey. It’s just too flawed to give me any particularly useful information. I would probably update my view of LW intelligence more based on its existence than its results. In that reading the thread lowers my opinion of LW intellgence, simply because this forum is usually massively more rational and self-questioning than every other forum I’ve been on, which I would guess is associated with high IQ, and people taking the survey seriously is one of the clearest exceptions.
BTW, I’m not sure your assessments of knitting/auto maintenance/comic books/web forums are necessarily accurate. I’m not sure I have enough information on any of them to reasonably guess their intelligence. Forums are particularly exceptional in terms of showing amazing intelligence and incredible stupidity side by side.
Selection bias—which groups and forums actually asked about IQ?
Your average knitting/auto maintenance/comic book forum probably has a lower average IQ but doesn’t think to ask. And of course we’re already selecting a little just by taking the figures off of web forums, which are a little on the cerebral side.
True. I don’t think I can define the precise level of inaccuracy or anything. My point is not that I’ve detected the true signal: it’s that there’s too much noise for there to be a useful signal.
Do I think the average LessWronger has a higher IQ? Sure. But that’s nothing remotely to do with this survey. It’s just too flawed to give me any particularly useful information. I would probably update my view of LW intelligence more based on its existence than its results. In that reading the thread lowers my opinion of LW intellgence, simply because this forum is usually massively more rational and self-questioning than every other forum I’ve been on, which I would guess is associated with high IQ, and people taking the survey seriously is one of the clearest exceptions.
BTW, I’m not sure your assessments of knitting/auto maintenance/comic books/web forums are necessarily accurate. I’m not sure I have enough information on any of them to reasonably guess their intelligence. Forums are particularly exceptional in terms of showing amazing intelligence and incredible stupidity side by side.
People with high IQ have extra power to be exceptionally stupid.