Are some people biologically dumb or is it upbringing and other factors?

[Maximilian]

Thoughts?

 

[moshquerade]

yes.

 

[her209]

Related thread
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2157337

 

[Kadarin]

Well, someone has to be on the left side of the bell curve...

 

[Texashiker]

Yes and Yes.

Some people are just dumb.

Some people are heavily influenced by their upbringing.

Are few years ago I was working with a Mexican. He was born in Mexico, but 1 of his parents was American.

We were talking one day about relations between the USA and Mexico. I mentioned that Mexican Spanish was a slang of real Spanish. The guy got mad about it. I told him that "real" Spanish comes from Spain, and that Mexican Spanish was a slang form of Spanish.

The guy went on to tell me that Mexican Spanish was "real" Spanish and he did not know what language they spoke in Spain; whatever language they spoke in Spain was not real spanish.

 

[rivan]

Well, someone has to be on the left side of the bell curve...

 

[highland145]

Well, someone has to be on the left side of the bell curve...

<looks around the room>

 

[NaOH]

I think it goes hand in hand with personality traits that hold people back. For instance, someone can be really smart, but for one reason or another be super racist and focus all their energy on being racist.

 

[vi edit]

Some people can process things very fast and have an answer/resolution immediately.

Other people are much more detail oriented, meticulous in their processes and capable of figuring out complex problems.

Some people can do both.

Some people can do neither.

 

[highland145]

Some people can process things very fast and have an answer/resolution immediately.

Other people are much more detail oriented, meticulous in their processes and capable of figuring out complex problems.

Some people can do both.

Some people can do neither.

Got a friend that is super bright. So much so that he's almost "frozen" with thoughts while he keeps adding more and more factors to simple questions.

 

[sdifox]

First you have to define what you mean by dumb.

 

[her209]

First you have to define what you mean by dumb.

Dumb: not smart

 

[Texashiker]

Dumb: not smart

Not being able to think for themselves

Not being able to think outside the box

Not being able to develop their own opinions

 

[sdifox]

Dumb: not smart

but in what aspect? street, school, relationship, etc. They are all distinct and you can be uber smart in one area and utter failure in another.

 

[artikk]

Yes and Yes.

Some people are just dumb.

Some people are heavily influenced by their upbringing.

Are few years ago I was working with a Mexican. He was born in Mexico, but 1 of his parents was American.

We were talking one day about relations between the USA and Mexico. I mentioned that Mexican Spanish was a slang of real Spanish. The guy got mad about it. I told him that "real" Spanish comes from Spain, and that Mexican Spanish was a slang form of Spanish.

The guy went on to tell me that Mexican Spanish was "real" Spanish and he did not know what language they spoke in Spain; whatever language they spoke in Spain was not real spanish.

Would you say then that American English is a slang form of British English?

 

[davmat787]

Well, someone has to be on the left side of the bell curve...

Are you implying there is only one to the left of you on said curve?!!?

 

[purbeast0]

Yes and Yes.

Some people are just dumb.

Some people are heavily influenced by their upbringing.

Are few years ago I was working with a Mexican. He was born in Mexico, but 1 of his parents was American.

We were talking one day about relations between the USA and Mexico. I mentioned that Mexican Spanish was a slang of real Spanish. The guy got mad about it. I told him that "real" Spanish comes from Spain, and that Mexican Spanish was a slang form of Spanish.

The guy went on to tell me that Mexican Spanish was "real" Spanish and he did not know what language they spoke in Spain; whatever language they spoke in Spain was not real spanish.

well you are ignorant and wrong, but so is he. they are both correct "spanish" languages. they just have different dialects. just like in america we speak english, not american english.

 

[JTsyo]

Of course there's a distribution of natural intelligence. Just look at the outliers in the "smart" end. They are there due to biological reasons, stands to reason that there would be others on the other end and all the space in between.
However, I think a large quantity you the population could be above what's currently accepted as average intelligence if they were to put an effort into it. The thing is it might not be worthwhile for them to put in that effort, just for the sake of being smarter.

 

[highland145]

well you are ignorant and wrong, but so is he. they are both correct "spanish" languages. they just have different dialects. just like in america we speak english, not american english.

Wife knows a woman from South America. She says she can't understand the Mexican Spanish.

 

[davmat787]

Something I have wondered about on occasion: Lets say you could quantify intelligence, lets use 10&#37; percentiles. If someone is say in the bottom 20%, but through hard work and studying moves into the equivalent success level of the 40 percentile, are they more successful than one moving from 60 to 70 percentiles? Not sure if I am wording this correctly, but consider say an immigrant who had no higher level education, but through hard work provides for his family and puts his children into college and owns a small home. Maybe this person opened up a gas station, corner mart, teryaki shop, etc.

I guess it depends on how one views success.

 

[vi edit]

Something I have wondered about on occasion: Lets say you could quantify intelligence, lets use 10% percentiles. If someone is say in the bottom 20%, but through hard work and studying moves into the equivalent success level of the 40 percentile, are they more successful than one moving from 60 to 70 percentiles? Not sure if I am wording this correctly, but consider say an immigrant who had no higher level education, but through hard work provides for his family and puts his children into college and owns a small home. Maybe this person opened up a gas station, corner mart, teryaki shop, etc.

I guess it depends on how one views success.

In the end it isn't what you have, but rather what you do with it. Intelligence is the ability to learn. Wisdom is knowing how to apply it. The real power is getting off your ass and doing something with it.

 

[highland145]

In the end it isn't what you have, but rather what you do with it. Intelligence is the ability to learn. Wisdom is knowing how to apply it. The real power is getting off your ass and doing something with it.

This. Bro did poorly in school because of math and reading disabilities but he's a kick a** plumber. Own business for ~30 years. Lots of nice toys to show for his hard work.

 

[ShawnD1]

Something I have wondered about on occasion: Lets say you could quantify intelligence, lets use 10% percentiles. If someone is say in the bottom 20%, but through hard work and studying moves into the equivalent success level of the 40 percentile, are they more successful than one moving from 60 to 70 percentiles? Not sure if I am wording this correctly, but consider say an immigrant who had no higher level education, but through hard work provides for his family and puts his children into college and owns a small home. Maybe this person opened up a gas station, corner mart, teryaki shop, etc.

I guess it depends on how one views success.

Working hard will always get you farther than being smart. I know a lot of dumb ass retards who pull in 90k/year. I also know really smart people who are stuck making shitty wages.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Yes and Yes.

Some people are just dumb.

Some people are heavily influenced by their upbringing.

Are few years ago I was working with a Mexican. He was born in Mexico, but 1 of his parents was American.

We were talking one day about relations between the USA and Mexico. I mentioned that Mexican Spanish was a slang of real Spanish. The guy got mad about it. I told him that "real" Spanish comes from Spain, and that Mexican Spanish was a slang form of Spanish.

The guy went on to tell me that Mexican Spanish was "real" Spanish and he did not know what language they spoke in Spain; whatever language they spoke in Spain was not real spanish.

Well, you were being kind of derogatory with how you described Mexican Spanish. It is like arguing that Swiss-German is the slang version of German. Of course he's going to be offended.

They are just different dialects. One isn't any more "real" or correct than the other.

 

[davmat787]

This. Bro did poorly in school because of math and reading disabilities but he's a kick a** plumber. Own business for ~30 years. Lots of nice toys to show for his hard work.

Word. I just made a comment the other day in the Deadliest Catch thread, someone said something about how those guys ended up doing what they do because they didn't go to college. IMO, that is a lame attitude. Not everyone views the HS -> Degree -> White Collar office job as desireable.