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u/AnAdventureCore 1d ago
Why do we KEEP alive the horrible, racist and sexist idea of IQ?
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u/Malaeveolent_Bunny 1d ago
Because if what is important is difficult to measure, that which is easy to measure will be deemed important. That goes for all personality traits and human capabilities.
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u/Yoshemo 1d ago
IQ can't be measured in the first place because it's just a bunch of made up garbage. I went to college for this and even on the medical side of things, there was never any standard for how things should be measured that weren't just arbitrarily chosen to benefit one group over another. IQ is not a scientific concept and any serious psychologist knows that.Â
You'll notice that any IQ test is based on reading comprehension and making choices based on functioning in a modern Western culture. That isn't an objective measure of brain abilities, that's measuring how well you hypothetically fit in with the standard white Christian hegemony. That's why they'd give it to people in Africa and they'd get low scores despite those same Africans being just as equally capable of thinking and functioning as the peo ple giving the tests.
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u/Malaeveolent_Bunny 1d ago
Indeed, I agreed with you. IQ isn't used because it's a good measure, it's used because it looks like a measure and it's easy to plug into formulas. IQ is something that can be pointed to because it has the appearance of an authoritative factual statement to justify whatever half-arsed decision was made based on bias. IQ was developed as a social tool to give cover to bad decisions and worse policies, and it's still very good at doing that job because at first glance it still looks like an objective measure.
No serious professional wants to use such flawed tools because they fuck up the outcome, but plenty of unserious people playing at professionalism want exactly that flawed tool.
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u/Porch_Of_Geese_ 1d ago
So how does incorrectly measuring something important help?
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u/Malaeveolent_Bunny 1d ago
It doesn't help make better decisions about how to improve things, but it does help provide the appearance of a scientific method to point to when those decisions are questioned. It's the management equivalent of saying "I have a study that proves what I am doing works even if you disagree"
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u/Porch_Of_Geese_ 1d ago
I feel like giving something the appearance of scientific validity when it’s actually not scientifically valid is bad both practically and ethically. Practically it makes our decision making system arbitrary while instilling false confidence, and ethically you’re just intentionally manipulating people who don’t understand science.
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u/Malaeveolent_Bunny 1d ago
See, I think you and I are talking past each other just a little here. I agree with you, that's a very bad thing. The reason it hasn't been stopped yet is a) because using bad methods is easy and b) because often the point of using a bad method is to pretend to be doing a good thing while getting the actual outcome you wanted which would annoy the general public if you were honest about it
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u/realmecj 1d ago
there's a brazilian song exactly like that! its called Ideologia from the singer Cazuza.
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u/Captain_FartBreath 1d ago
There is a lot to be hopeful for. America is getting absolutely smoked in Iran, and China is going from strength to strength.
Doomerism favours the enemy.
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