Issac Asimov What Is Intelligence Anyway

Chapter Three The Trouble with Geniuses, part 1 by Malcolm Gladwell. This chapter describes the threshold to intelligence and explains that the domain of intelligence is only good up to a degree by which the author describes. The chapter goes on to discuss a very intelligent person named Christopher Lanagan. It tells how Lanagan was on a television show and earned a lot of money for answering questions.

In today’s modern world, recent scientific research has been conducted, which reveals that world-wide IQ test scores have risen, and continue to rise every year. In Alison Gopnik’s article, “Smarter Every Year? Mystery of the Rising IQs,” she discussed how these recent scientific discoveries relate to our society throughout the last century. It is evident that in our society a person’s level of intelligence is extremely important in our culture which is obsessed with being knowledgable. In her article, Gopnik addresses the historical evidence that supports the conclusion that people are getting smarter as the years go on because of today’s society. Gopnik effectively explains the fact that people’s IQs are rising every year, by using the results

The basis of labeling intelligence has changed over the course of time. Intelligence tests (IQ tests) generalize the overall intelligence of the average person and categorize people into groupings of high, medium and low IQ. By having a high IQ, one is generalized as “intelligent,” and in contrast, one with a low IQ would be deemed “stupid.” In Isaac Asimov’s “Thinking about Thinking,” Asimov discusses how IQ test labels of “intelligent” or “stupid” become falsified through specific examples; in comparison, Russel Warne’s "A Welcomed Intrusion," discusses how IQ test scores can be used to determine which students should be placed into accelerated courses. IQ tests need to be changed because they cannot accurately measure overall intelligence due to society’s perceptions, gender differentials and the various types and strengths of intelligence levels.

Intelligence has been used by testing someone's IQ to determine where they fit into society, but does it really show that a person is fit for a certain job or meets a certain requirement? Intelligence should be tested by determining someone's dedication that they put toward their strive to be successful in a sport or already having good athleticism, and someone's ability to make effective decisions in situations that pertain to their life or others. Original IQ tests do not show a person's full intelligence because these tests don't show how a person thinks in a situation or how they are dedicated to something important in their life. A person's dedication towards something they pursue to be successful in, plays into other moments. In the book

In the article, the author highlights differing views on the nature of intelligence. He states that in Asian cultures intelligence is something that they must acquire or work to achieve; whereas, western cultures view it as something one is born with. Neither of these views is necessarily incorrect however, I believe the best outlook lies somewhere in between. People are born with natural gifts and skills. Therefore, certain subjects come very easily to them. Nevertheless, it is possible for one to increase his skill by applying himself.

A high Intelligence Quotient may not always correlate with one's happiness. In the short story, “Flowers for Algernon,” by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon is a mentally challenged man with an I.Q. of sixty-eight. Due to his motivation, and desire of becoming “smart,” he attends an adult night school class with his teacher, Miss Kinnian where “[he tries] the hardist and reely… [wants] to learn” [sic] (6). Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur select Charlie upon the proposition by Miss Kinnian. The doctors will perform an operation which may triple Charlie’s I.Q. and “make [him] smart” (5). The operation on Charlie made; him into a social outcast, lose his routine and income, and bring him to an early death. Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss’ operation on Charlie Gordon should not be performed.

Asimov acknowledged this each time the sought out the help of his auto-repair man. He knew that although he excelled in many things, auto-repair was not one of them. High scores on an intelligence test or belief that you are more intelligent than others can often lead to a prideful mindset. For example, I once had a friend who had to put together a visual display for a science presentation. He excelled in the area of science; however, he was not skilled at getting his ideas across to others. Even though he knew I had ability in visual arts and photography, he would not accept my offer of assistance. His pride hindered him from accepting help, and as a result, he scored poorly on the visual aspect of his presentation. Emily Wapnik in her TED talk, “Why Some of Us Don’t Have One True Calling” talked about idea synthesis, which is the combining of two or more fields to create something new at the intersection. When we can put aside our pride and seek out the ideas and expertise of others we are better able to solve complex

Not everyone is the same; some learn better than others, but only a fraction of those people who can’t learn as fast want to be intelligent. In the book Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, the reader is introduced to a intellectually disabled man named Charlie Gordon who is trying to become smarter and will try his hardest to do so. He had an operation that tripled his I.Q. , Later, in the story Charlie’s stroy unravels even further and we see what this knewly aquired intellegence does for him and a little mouse named Algernon who had the same operatoin as him. Charlie Gordon’s experience with the artificial intelligence operation was positive.

In “A Rounded Version: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences”, Howard Gardner illustrates how there are a variety of intelligences. Gardner starts off with an example how IQ tests may predict achievement in school but may not predict achievement in life. After finding out certain parts of the brain are responsible for certain functions, such as “Broca’s Area” which is responsible for sentence production, Gardner proposes the existence of multiple intelligences. Multiple studies later led him to propose seven distinct intelligences; Musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Each intelligence has certain classifications. According to Gardner’s classifications, I realized my intelligences are bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, and intrapersonal.

The researchers during the era of psychometrics and behaviorism believed that intelligence is single, inherit entity. In contrary to this notion an increasing number of researchers and psychologists now believed that individuals are born with and possess different levels of ability. The researcher can support their argument by the use of intelligence tests. Gardner (1993) expresses this view elegantly, stating that “there exist a multitude of intelligence, quite independent of each other, that each intelligence has its own strengths and constraints; that the mind is far from unencumbered at birth; and that it is unexpectedly difficult to teach things that go against naïve theories that challenge the natural lines of force within an intelligence and its matching domains.” Howard Gardner viewed intelligence as “the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural settings.”(Gardner and Hatch, 1989)

In today’s modern world, recent scientific research has been conducted, which reveals that world-wide IQ test scores have risen, and continue to rise every year. In Alison Gopnik’s article, “Smarter Every Year? Mystery of the Rising IQs,” she discussed how these recent scientific discoveries relate to our society throughout the last century. It is evident that in our society a person’s level of intelligence is extremely important in our culture which is obsessed with being knowledgeable. In her article, Gopnik addresses the historical evidence that supports the conclusion that people are getting smarter as the years go on because of today’s society. Gopnik effectively explains the fact that people’s IQs are rising every year, by using the results of scientific research to support her point, and by explaining theories which state how the world’s social and economic environment are significant factors towards a person’s level of intelligence.

Imagine a young adult who is struggling in school and they can’t get their grades up. Their scraping the bottom of the bucket C’s and D’s all thee way. They have stopped believing that they can change that but they don't realize that if they only believe that they can change their intelligence they can. My question for this essay is intelligence is changeable and I believe that you can change your IQ level completely. You can change and manipulate your intelligence if you believe that you can you will be able to do it.

This autobiography was written by Doctor Isaac Asimov who wanted to hint us on what intelligence really is. When the doctor went to get his car fixed, he was asked a riddle by the auto-repair man and got it wrong. The doctor was very smart and the auto-repair man knew it too, yet he was sure that he would trick the doctor because the doctor was too educated. It was true and even the doctor knew it. He was smart by the standards of education but there are different types of being smart like being street smart. He was so educated that he had no experiences with things like riddles which may have been common sense to others. The strength of the passage was being an autobiography with real personal experiences while the weakness was the lack of explanation about how the doctor was lacking in intelligence.

Gottfredson, (1997) stated that intelligence is ‘a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience.

When a person utters the word “intelligence,” people tend to think of a genius like Albert Einstein developing some obscure equation that the great majority of the population will never understand. The problem with the definition of intelligence is that people relate intelligence to words like “genius” which require intelligence but do not have the same definition as intelligence. Often, people try to use related words to define intelligence, but these words are unable to define intelligence since many are only different levels of intelligence. While many definitions try to encompass the meaning of intelligence and various definitions describe a small part of intelligence, no definition completely explains intelligence, because