The Rantings of an Old Man, if you call 86 old.

By Ernest A. Herr

Still working on this one

        About IQ

     Although most of us have heard of the initials "IQ," and know that it stands for Intelligence Quotient, we never hear of it on television or in the news. If anything is ever printed about it in a newspaper, it will usually, if not always, be printed on a back page. Why is this? Why is it treated like a "dirty word." It appears to be that this is because one of the great truths that the people of the United States are really told to believe in is that all people are created equal.

     This quotation from the Declaration of Independence has been expanded upon by many great Americans and politicians and means that when you are born that you have the rights of every other American to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. No one would argue that you don't have the right to become a millionaire or to become president of the country. You may have these rights but not many have the IQ to make it become possible.

     So most of us know that IQ stands just how smart (or how dumb) we are. And when someone mentions IQ, it can make us a little uneasy, it's that kind of a subject.  But no one seems to know if the figure is accurate or if it applies in our own personal case. And anyway, is it really important that we know just what our IQ happens to be. Since somewhere along the way our IQ will be measured and used for us or against us, it is important that we know as much as possible about what it is and what it can mean to our future wellbeing.

     So if you don't yet know what your IQ is, we can start by recognizing that most of us are in the range of normal intelligence which means about 20 points above the overall average or about the same number of points below. There are very few people who are geniuses and very few who are mentally deficient so most of us have nothing to worry about. We are somewhere in the middle. Latest data on the world's intelligence, puts the United States with an average IQ Of 98. So, if you are from some other country, check the graph below to see your country's average IQ and we can start from there to determine just where you fit in.

 

			Percentile of		GDP Per Cap
	National		Avg. Person		Purchasing
Nation	Avg. IQ		Relative to UK		Power Parity
Eq. Guinea	59		0.3%		$          1,817
Nigeria	67		1%		$            795
Barbados	78		7%		$        12,001
Guatemala	79		8%		$          3,505
India	81		10%		$          2,077
Iraq	87		19%		$          3,197
Mexico	87		19%		$          7,704
Argentina	96		39%		$        12,013
US	98		45%		$        29,605
China	100		50%		$          3,105
UK	100		50%		$        20,336
Italy	102		55%		$        20,585
Japan	105		63%		$        23,257
Hong Kong	107		68%		$        20,763

     If you are from Equatorial Guinea, you may want find some other reading material but then again if your IQ was not above average, you would not be online here reading this. So, stick with us. If you are from Hong Kong, you may be starting to get a little conceited as your location is in the top position. Ok, so you have a little edge.

     Next, we have another graph which will allow you to use your occupation to give you a better idea of where you stand in the world of brain power although examination of the data can be confusing. This chart shows the wide diversion of IQ's for various types of jobs and professions. What is scary about this  is that a job title doesn't guarantee anything. A college professor may have an IQ no better than a truck driver and your doctor may not be as smart as your plumber. This can be a bit scary if you are looking for a good doctor.

   From the chart below, it would appear that anyone with just a normal intelligence level should be able to aspire to just about any job. However, if you aspire to reach job of the presidency of the United States (what is described as the most important job in the world), an IQ of at least 120 will probably be needed unless you are blessed with some powerful and important friends.

     Shown below is a Bell-Curve that is shows the distribution of IQ levels across the spectrum. Notice that the percentage of people at the very low and very high levels is quite small -- just a few percentage points. Good news on the low side, not such good news for the high side.

     So by now you should have some clue as to where you might be in the range of IQ scores or, at least, a ballpark figure. This of course is if you really want to know. If you are very young and still don't know, you can use one of the online tests, which cost nothing, and you come away with a figure. But you have no assurance   that the results are accurate. However, it can be a starting point and if not satisfied with the results, test further on other locations.

     The chances are that if you are online using a computer and Internet facilities, your IQ is probably at least 120 which is not bad. But how high do you want it to be. Below is a graph which gives some idea of what IQ values are for the population. Of course, use the average value from the country where you live. If you are from China or the UK, 100 is the average and a nice starting point.

     Not happy with your IQ because your average is a little low. Lucky you, since most TV programs and movies are made for you. So, what-if your average is a little high. That's not so good because most entertainment will be boring and if your IQ is very high and you will have few people that you enjoy talking to. Best range for happiness is to be about 140 which puts you 40 percent above the average so you're smart enough to get through life without too much of a problem and you still can enjoy the company of nice people with many ranges of intelligence.

     And, you may have read somewhere that many of the high achievers in these IQ tests often are passed up in life by those who only scored in the middle IQ ranges. How could this be. The answer seems to be that there are many other factors involved that determine just how far we can go in life in our search for success and for happiness. Just what are these other factors?

     The first thing that comes to mind is that maybe those that have been informed that there IQ is only about average decide to try harder in everything they do by putting in more time and effort to accomplish goals. These efforts may make the difference. At the same time, those that have been informed of their high ratings may tend to ease up in their strivings since they already appear to have made it toward the top end of the scale. Well, that's one explanation.

     And there are other factors that deal with intelligence that seem just as important, one is memory. People with superior memories often appear to be brilliant because they have answers for just about any question that is thrown at them. But, if the conversation drifts into an area where they are not well informed, they can come across as quite dull.

     So, if the memory part of your brain functions well, you can appear to be quite smart but this can come at a cost. A good memory can weaken the analytical part of the brain since it is not often called upon to function. So a poor memory can be a blessing in some respects since it forces the brain to use logic which gives that portion of the brain more usage. Thus we have those with good memories and poor analytical abilities and others who are just the reverse.    

     Ambition and motivation are other factors in a person's make-up that can make them appear to be of a higher intellectual level. Those persons who are lucky enough to enjoy good health certainly have  an advantage. Feeling secure and being happy are great pluses also. These good things arrive courtesy of good parents.

     If your IQ is not as high as you would like, don't worry about it. You may be just a late bloomer. Some really bright people like Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton came across as rather dull when they were young. You could be just a little slow in your development. And remember, the world is made for low IQ's. Practically nothing is being provided for the high IQ's. In fact, society shuns those people but will pay them nice salaries if the proper slot can be found for them.

     The people with IQ's considerably above normal often find life a bit boring and are likely to say things that don't make much sense most of us. This causes us to move on since we find this boring and those geniuses are left talking to themselves. Below is a chart with a list of many people who could have spent a lot of time talking to themselves. If you don't find yourself listed in this chart, it's not necessarily a bad thing. You won't find my name their either.

     The chart below displays reasonably accurate estimates of people of recent years but those back in George Washington's time or that of Abe Lincoln are likely to be that; only estimates or guesses if you are not as polite. Notice that Bill Gates has the same IQ as Albert Einstein. That may be a little surprising but not when you think of it for a few moments. Considering the billions of people that inhabit the planet, high IQ people are few and far between but without them we would probably be still living off nuts and berries.

    If you examine the Bell-Curve shown below, another scary thought could come to mind; the percentage of high IQs is so small in number that it is clear that the most countries are being run by just average people. One reason this is possible is that, in many societies, all people are considered as being equal. So IQs are kept pretty much secret. In fact, even on the Internet, it is almost impossible to find the IQs of people holding public office. This appears to make one fact evident; it is little wonder that countries can plunge into deep depressions without government knowing how we got there or how to get out of it. Fortunately, in America government agency like the Space Agency do check IQs otherwise the space vehicles might still be sitting on the ground.

 

Name (First/Last)	Description	Country	IQ (SB)
Abraham Lincoln	President	USA	128
Adolf Hitler	Nazi leader	Germany	141
Al Gore	Politician	USA	134
Albert Einstein	Physicist	USA	160
Albrecht von Haller	Medical scientist	Switzerland	190
Alexander Pope	Poet & writer	England	180
Sir Andrew J. Wiles	Mathematician	England	170
Andrew Jackson	President	USA	123
Andy Warhol	Pop artist	USA	86
Anthonis van Dyck	Painter	Dutch	155
Antoine Arnauld	Theologian	France	190
Arne Beurling	Mathematician	Sweden	180
Arnold Schwarzenegger	Actor/politician	Austrian	135
Baruch Spinoza	Philosopher	Holland	175
Benjamin Franklin	Writer, scientist & politician	USA	160
Benjamin Netanyahu	Israeli Prime Minister	Israel	180
Bill Gates	CEO, Microsoft	USA	160
Bill (William) Jefferson Clinton	President	USA	137
Blaise Pascal	Mathematician & religious philosopher	France	195
Bobby Fischer	Chess player	USA	187
Buonarroti Michelangelo	Artist, poet & architect	Italy	180
Carl von Linn	Botanist	Sweden	165
Charles Darwin	Naturalist	England	165
Charles Dickens	Writer	England	180
Christopher Michael Langan	Bouncer & scientist & philosopher	USA	195
Sir Clive Sinclair	Inventor	England	159
David Hume	Philosopher & politician	Scotland	180
Dr David Livingstone	Explorer & doctor	Scotland	170
Donald Byrne	Chess Player	Irland	170
Emanuel Swedenborg	thologian/scientist/philosopher	Sweden	205
Sir Francis Galton	Scientist & doctor	British	200
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling	Philosopher	Germany	190
Galileo Galilei	Physicist & astronomer & philosopher	Italy	185
Geena (Virginia) Elizabeth Davis	Actress	USA	140
Georg Friedrich Händel	Composer	Germany	170
George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel	Philosopher	Germany	165
George Berkeley	Philosopher	Ireland	190
George H. Choueiri	A.C.E Leader	Lebanon	195
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)	Writer	England	160
George Sand (Amantinr Aurore Lucile Dupin)	Writer	France	150
George Walker Bush	President	USA	125
George Washington	President	USA	118
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz	philospher / scientist / lawyer	Germany	205
Hans Dolph Lundgren	Actor	Sweden	160
Hans Christian Andersen	writer / poet	Denmark	145
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton	US Politician	USA	140
Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht	President of the Reichsbank / Nazi Officer	Germany	143
Honoré de Balzac (Honore Balzac)	Writer / novelist	France	155
Hugo Grotius (Huig De Groot)	Jurist	Holland	200
Hypatia of Alexandria	Philosopher & mathematician	Alexandria	170
Immanuel Kant	Philosopher	Germany	175
Sir Isaac Newton	Scientist	England	190
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy	Composer	Germany	165
James Cook	Explorer	England	160
James Watt	Physicist & technician	Scotland	165
James Woods	Actor	USA	180
Jayne Mansfield	--	USA	149
Jean M. Auel	Writer	Canada	140
Jodie Foster	Actor	USA	132
Johann Sebastian Bach	Composer	Germany	165
Johann Strauss	Composer	Germany	170
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe	--	Germany	210
Johannes Kepler	Mathematician, physicist & astronomer	Germany	175
John Adams	President	USA	137
John F. Kennedy	Ex-President	USA	117
John H. Sununu	Chief of Staff for President Bush	USA	180
John Quincy Adams	President	USA	153
John Stuart Mill	Universal Genius	England	200
JohnLocke	Philosopher	England	165
Jola Sigmond	Teacher	Sweden	161
Jonathan Swift	Writer & theologian	England	155
Joseph Haydn	Composer	Austria	160
Joseph Louis Lagrange	Mathematician & astronomer	Italy/France	185
Judith Polgar	Chess player	Hungary	170
Kim Ung-Yong	--	Korea	200
Kimovitch Garry Kasparov	Chess player	Russia	190
Leonardo da Vinci	Universal Genius	Italy	220
Lord Byron	Poet & writer	England	180
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte	Emperor	France	145
Ludwig van Beethoven	Composer	Germany	165
Ludwig Wittgenstein	Philosopher	Austria	190
Madame de Stael	Novelist & philosopher	France	180
Madonna	Singer	USA	140
Marilyn vos Savant	Writer	USA	186
Martin Luther	Theorist	Germany	170
Miguel de Cervantes	Writer	Spain	155
Nicolaus Copernicus	Astronomer	Poland	160
Nicole Kidman	Actor	USA	132
Paul Allen	Microsoft cofounder	USA	160
Philip Emeagwali	Mathematician	Nigeria	190
Phillipp Melanchthon	Humanist & theologian	Germany	190
PierreSimon de Laplace	Astronomer & mathematician	France	190
Plato	Philosopher	Greece	170
Ralph Waldo Emerson	Writer	USA	155
Raphael	Artist	Italy	170
Rembrandt van Rijn	Artist	Holland	155
Ren Descartes	Mathematician & philosopher	France	185
Richard Nixon	Ex-President	USA	143
Richard Wagner	Composer	Germany	170
Robert Byrne	Chess Player	Irland	170
Rousseau	Writer	France	150
Sarpi	Councilor & theologian & historian	Italy	195
Shakira	Singer	Colombia	140
Sharon Stone	Actress	USA	154
Sofia Kovalevskaya	Mathematician & writer	Sweden/Russia	170
Stephen W. Hawking	Physicist	England	160
Thomas Chatterton	Poet & writer	England	180
Thomas Jefferson	President	USA	138
Thomas Wolsey	Politician	England	200
Truman Cloak	--	--	165
Ulysses S. Grant	President	USA	110
Voltaire	Writer	France	190
William James Sidis	--	USA	200
William Pitt (the Younger)	Politician	England	190
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Composer	Austria	165