Looking for a way to quantify IQ
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on May 1, 2024, 12:40 a.m. by TypicalTimmy
This is going to sound absolutely absurd, and I perfectly understand that.
So my girlfriend is currently enrolled in college, studying endocrinology. She is on an accelerated program - essentially meaning 3 semesters a year (No summers or spring break) and will get her PhD ahead of schedule.
She is currently being flown all across America to study under seminars to learn more about the field. It's not just her, but a bunch of students.
She is also currently assisting her professor research Type 3 Diabetes, which is diabetes of the brain. This is thought to be the cause for Alzheimer, dementia, etc.
She is currently doing laboratory work with mice brains to look into ways to ameliorate the symptoms, and are moving toward approval for pig brains, then monkey brains and eventually Human brains.
When I asked her just how freaking smart she is, she said numerous tests have continually placed her IQ at an average of 152.
So like... help me quantify that. What the heck does an IQ of 152 even mean?? I mean it's like, I can only view the world with my silly little brain so I literally have no perspective on this.
Does that mean that she like, idk, reads super fast? Just memorizes things really well? Like what the heck man
(I say girlfriend, but we have already spoken about marriage and a family together. We both want it, and I've told her once I can afford a nice ring I'll propose properly. Tbh I recently found my mom's old engagement ring from my dad, and am working up the courage to ask if I can propose with that since my mom is now engaged to her current fiance {Dad passed in 2009 and she rekindled with an old highschool crush all of these years later})
There's a bit of a dispute about how effective traditional IQ test for testing how smart someone is. But from what you've explained here she is a very smart woman. But use your parents old engagement ring I bet she'll love it
May 1, 2024 10:43 a.m.
sergiodelrio says... #4
First of all, I second the previous comments.
To oversimplify it (which IQ tests and really the whole concept of that already does) think of it as an analogy for a processor or graphics card. The 152 model will do what the 100 model does much faster, and it is able to compute stuff the 100 could not even begin to handle.
The test is not good enough to predict how much faster or how much better the 152 actually is tho.
Keep the girl
May 1, 2024 8:01 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #5
It's not even "a bit of a dispute" IQ is irrelevant past about 13 or 14 once people start gaining specialized knowledge and reasoning skills because it can only measure general knowledge and reasoning. Also exactly what is tested is skewed heavily toward how middle to upper class white people in the early 20th century performed. So it isn't a good objective measure much like most standardized testing.
Having said all of that; I'll try to provide what IQ means for when it is a valid measure to use. IQ is your "mental age" divided by your chronological age and multiplied by 100. So an 8 year old who scores what would be expected of a 10 year old has an IQ of 125 and if they score what would be expected of a 6 year old it would be 75. 140 is considered "genius" and 70 is usually where they start testing for developmental disabilities. (Though some "disabilities" such as ASD manifest with increased IQ). From a random website I found explaining IQ tests. "IQ tests are administered by licensed psychologists. There are different kinds of intelligence tests, but many involve a series of subtests that are designed to measure mathematical abilities, language skills, memory, reasoning skills, and information-processing speed."
For a more practical reference, when I was in school I was given multiple IQ tests and scored between 144 and 148. All standardized testing I have taken I have scored in the 99th percentile, so I was "smarter" than 99% of people if you want to look at it that way. At 152 I'd assume that your GF is in the top 99.5%. Again, though, this sort of testing has limited usefulness.
Use Mom's ring if it is cool with Dad. Good luck in all your endeavors.
May 1, 2024 8:04 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #6
When I did my standardized testing by the way, I scored something like 111 or 112. But, there is a caveat... I am very terrible with math. It isn't that I can't follow prompts and instructions such as PEDMAS or whatever, it's that I struggle to remember what algorithm or what mechanical device to use when and where. What this means is, I can't get the "correct answer", because I can't remember the physical way the expressions and calculations are written.
History? My dyslexia makes it very difficult to recall specific dates. Retelling events is easy, but if it's a question like "What happened on March 5th, 1811?" well like hell if I know?? (Idk that's just a date I made up)
Between dyslexia and struggling with math concepts that basically means physics and chemistry are out the window. So this leaves me to liberal arts like music, ceramics, writing... But also more hands-on focused work like mechanics, welding, photography, etc
So I scored like 111 or 112 but only because half the tests I took were focused on physical orientation and pattern analysis. Demonstrating critical and rational thinking, over physical applications.
In other words, if you ask me to frame the trusses for a roof, I can do that. Give me a saw and a nail gun and I'll get it done. But if you ask me to DESIGN the roof on paper, ... AHAHAHAHAHA no
And that's why I'm just a dumb dumb turning a wrench :3 (Industrial ammonia refrigeration, training for Waste Water Treatment, learning 480v, learning low pressure boilers, etc)
You know... The things that go BOOM lol
May 1, 2024 8:31 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #7
Hey now, the refrigeration cycle is more advanced science than most people need to understand in their adult lives, so you are doing just fine in science. Then again I'm not super familiar with industrial ammonia refrigeration since I do mostly commercial HVAC-R. Maybe you don't have to understand the refrigeration cycle, IDK.
Not trying to hijack your thread, but you have complained in the past about your work situation and finding out you are in the same general field I am... you might want to get ahold of your UA Local and see about joining. MES (mechanical equipment service, it is what they call HVAC-R techs) is the fastest growing trade within the organization. Depending on how extensive your previous experience is you might be able to skip some/all of the apprenticeship.
May 1, 2024 9:02 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #8
I spent 10 years in plastics and jumped ship 15 months ago. Haven't looked back yet. Like literally right now I am donning gear for an ammonia line break. So we are reviewing Hazmat protocols and gathering PPE.
We are something like Local 1524.
Basically a groceries union (we make sliced deli meat)
May 1, 2024 9:18 p.m. Edited.
TypicalTimmy says... #9
As for NH3, the refrig cycle is the exact same with minor changes such as having multiple ways to reject heat, varying PSIG differentials, different PT curves, etc
The biggest difference is not trapping it, because it'll literally become a bomb. Liquid NH3 expands to about 1,100x it's volume into vapor. So 10 ounces liquid becomes 11,000 ounces of vapor. That's enough expansion to blow apart Schd 80 stainless. And it can expand up to 80% the speed of sound when pressurized, meaning it literally turns pipes into bombs.
May 1, 2024 10:03 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #10
Then yeah bro, don't be down on yourself about science. The refrigeration cycle is the practical application of some pretty neat science. Sensible heat and latent heat and all of that are concepts that most people never have to deal with and never learn. Again we are getting back to specialized knowledge and how IQ isn't everything. If you give Joe Blow off the street a refrigeration manifold, a jug of refrigerant, and a P/T chart and tell him to make the system work he is going to have no idea what to do. Because you have an understanding of how the system works and the relationship between pressure, temperature, and physical state you think it is as simple as "compressor go brrrr".
May 1, 2024 10:26 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #12
I’m not a professional on the topic, but IQ looks to me to have come from the same hyper-science era that also produced the idea of measuring your skull to see if you’re a criminal, or a universal height-based index on weight. It was a very important time for science, but not everything from that era is necessarily a winner.
May 2, 2024 9:11 a.m.
I do a fair bit of work in the field of mental health - IQ is one of those things that medical professionals still use and it does have some utility - but, in a lot of cases, they are doing so because it is expected, not because they actually think it is the right test to apply.
As a metric, IQ has a lot of problems - they only test certain types of intelligence and are extremely prone to non-intelligence factors influencing the results (for example, dyslexia can heavily reduce one’s performance on certain IQ tests, even though it has no bearing on actual intelligence). IQ is designed to measure a generalize aptitude - but not really the actual usage of that aptitude. Richard Feynman, for example, has an IQ of 125 - the lowest bounds of the “genius” category. Feynman helped revolutionize our understanding of the universe, and his theories both won him the Physics Nobel Prize and were instrumental to the Manhattan Project. He did all of that while also being extremely witty and charming, showing types of intelligence IQ tests simply ignore.
This is why the psychologists I work with only pay attention to low IQ scores. At the low end, IQ is actually helpful - it shows the individual has a diminished capacity for learning and likely will have impediments to their functioning. At the high end, you do not get as much from the metric - you know they have a high capacity for one specific type of reasoning, but not what types of intelligence or if they are even using that capacity in an effective manner.
Overall, I would not give it much thought. IQ is not really important; what is important is whether two people are compatible and love one another. It sounds like you have found someone you connect with, and, when it comes down to it, does anything else really matter in this world in which we all live?
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #2
There might be others better equipped to define what the IQ tells you, as it's pretty specific, but not a perfect value to tell someone's smarts.
Nonetheless, IQ is spread on a Bell curve, with 68% of an average population somewhere between 85 and 115. So 152 is pretty damn smart.
May 1, 2024 3:47 a.m.