Maybe this isn’t right, but I remember reading that most young boys 50 years ago dreamed about becoming astronomers, scientists, firefighters and policemen. Now young boys dream about becoming influencers, streamers, and rich personalities. Was Idiocracy written by a time-traveller? Are we working hard to make it a reality?
I was under the impression that trivial pursuit questions would not measure IQ.
Which means that it is linked to e.g. corruption, education, crime?
And why one foundation of a well functioning society is a social support system for the weakest, lowering inequality, crime, intergenerational stress, no?
IQ being one number is like SATs…
It’s an average of a bunch of different subjects, one of which is “crystalized intelligence” which is basically trivia pursuit. You have to miss 3 questions in a row, when I was tested I ran out of questions because I never missed three in a row. It took forever.
The root cause is resource scarcity. All those other problems can lead to that.
If you want to look more into that specifically, look into the "marshmallow test’ and how being able to wait for a larger reward as a child is the biggest indication of success as an adult. Resource scarcity makes us take the guaranteed small payoff instead of waiting.
Those changes as a child follow us our whole lives. It’s one of a handful of things that’s set for life by the time we’re toddlers along with in group/out group.