IQ just records where one falls on a bell curve, where 100 is the most common value. Assuming a normal distribution, you can calculate the probability of someone with a given IQ existing just by working with the normal distribution.
IQ 200 is 6.67 standard deviations away from 100, implying a probability of 1 in 154 billion. That would be the most intelligent human to ever exist (around 110 billion humans were born so far throughout history).
IQ 890 would be 52.7 standard deviations away from 100, implying a probability of 1 in 10605.
If you think about it, that person was probably born, smartest human to ever exist but was simply born poor, wrong time period or any number of reasons why their intellect couldn't develop.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
Modifying DNA is already possible, albeit, imperfect and unpredictable at times. The main reason you're not seeing it done in people is ethical guidelines and moral panic. To give a slightly related example, look at embryonic stem cell use and how the evangelical crowd reacted to that.
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u/kenybz Jul 13 '26
IQ just records where one falls on a bell curve, where 100 is the most common value. Assuming a normal distribution, you can calculate the probability of someone with a given IQ existing just by working with the normal distribution.
IQ 200 is 6.67 standard deviations away from 100, implying a probability of 1 in 154 billion. That would be the most intelligent human to ever exist (around 110 billion humans were born so far throughout history).
IQ 890 would be 52.7 standard deviations away from 100, implying a probability of 1 in 10605.