IQ Scores on the Rise

Posted by Ibecame 8 years, 10 months ago to Culture
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IQ has to rise or man would turn back into an animal.
What I found interesting in this is that they left out the simplest explanation.
Darwins law. People lower in intelligence are more likely to succumb to accidents. Add to that the increasing complexity of technology around and Mankind has created his own Predator. Lets face it; Technology is dangerous, but intelligence gives us the ability to safely utilize it. Make a left turn at the wrong moment and that Semi coming won't be forgiving and you won't be having children.
Now, this is important. WHAT DO YOU THINK? WHO IS JOHN GAULT?
SOURCE URL: http://www.aol.com/article/2015/05/30/iq-scores-worldwide-have-been-on-the-rise-for-a-century/21189076/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000058


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  • Posted by skidance 8 years, 10 months ago
    People lower in intelligence tend to have the most children, which conveys something of a temporary evolutionary advantage, until the Darwin effect kicks in. I recommend watching the film "Idiocracy."
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    • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
      Love that film, although it makes me worry about the future. I suspect though you are making the same mistake I made for a lot of years. Ambition and Intelligence are two completly separate things. I have been a landlord for along time and it took me all of this time to realize a lot of the people you are talking about are "Smart", they just use us to support them. They manipulate the system, while we support them.
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      • Posted by skidance 8 years, 10 months ago
        I don't know that many of them are actually "smart," but there is a strong tendency to "learn" such behavior as welfare dependency from parental or other example.

        I think I'll see what I can dredge up about current patterns of reproduction and intelligence.
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        • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
          I'm curious to find out what you come up with. It might merit its own post.
          I am basing my comment on experience. First off, most people I have had as tenants are nice people.
          But, every once in awhile one gets in and believe me they figure out how to use the system. Almost always, this is someone that has moved in with a current tenant. Discussions with them are at the same level as many here on the Gulch, only lacking any moral fiber, and for the purpose of mooching. The lawyers they resort to are mirror images of themselves.
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          • Posted by khalling 8 years, 10 months ago
            Marshafamiliaroenright asks if under this criteria a Newton could have been above 140
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            • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
              The reference I found put him at 170 to 190. http://sirisaacnewton.info/isaac-newtons...
              Although he certainly was never tested. I don't want to dispute your 140 number in light of the fact that I am sure that was the number I was familiar with before looking up this reference. I suspect the larger number has been "normalized" to compare with testing today.
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              • Posted by khalling 8 years, 10 months ago
                No, I use it as a benchmark number to round backwards by. My point is, IQ tests make me extremely nervous. Not sure I trst there 's no bias and that children are not "trained " to them. Not to mention the highly creative who tend to read into questions and overthink them.
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                • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
                  I agree with you that the idea of IQ tests make me nervous to. There have been numerous bills run through Congress to make them mandatory at different levels in school. You are right, bias is a extreme problem with the tests, and they don't compensate for different personality types (Analytical, Artistic, etc.). Of course I wasn't promoting them, the article simply points out that people are getting smarter ( within the limits of the test ) as the years go by.
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    • Posted by $ Thoritsu 8 years, 10 months ago
      Indeed. The anti-socialism of this movie is lost on most.

      "Breed more of you, so I can control more of the world" is another thinly veiled message.
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      • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
        In the realm of "Strange but True" the people that recommended it to us had severe Socialist leanings. Good example of what could happen with declining IQ's in the Gene pool.
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  • Posted by $ winterwind 8 years, 10 months ago
    The whole standardized testing process makes me impatient and crazy. First, it's like a photograph - how this person answers these questions on this day.
    Secondly - and more importantly - that that the further scores, or people are from the norm, the less reliable the tests are. The might say "you're smart', but when you get up in the 170's, 180's, exact measurements become more difficult. The Four-Sigma Society [assuming they still exist] tested for the top 2% of those generally labeled "gifted" - the 135 spot. The test is very interesting and one of the least "culturally biased" I've seen. I at least managed to understand the questions - I couldn't answer them, but I understood them!
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    • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
      I wasn't promoting IQ tests, only pointing out that on average people are getting a little smarter as the years go by. Of course the test results doesn't show that they are getting any better on average. I haven't run across the 4-Sigma Society so will have to look them up. Thanks.
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  • Posted by plusaf 8 years, 10 months ago
    Are people getting 'smarter' (higher IQ's) or are we just expecting them to spit back more facts because More Information Is Available now than whenever back in time???

    Lower Intelligence people are more likely to Darwin themselves out of the gene pool because of Accidents?!

    Hell, in the major countries, most risks and dangers have been legislated or engineered out of existence! OSHA and Auto Safety Features being two good measures of that...

    So, on average, we're being 'protected' down to dumbness is as likely as any claim that something is driving us to become 'smarter.'

    I think there are definitions and measurements that are completely lacking in articles like those... which, for me, is yet another indication that 'we're' NOT getting 'smarter.'

    ps... "Galt."
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  • Posted by $ jdg 8 years, 10 months ago
    (Aside: I avoid the term IQ because it is discredited. IQ started out as "mental age / chronological age" and was part of a theory that said everyone's mind develops in the same way, but at different speeds. That theory was published in the 19-teens and was kaput in about six months.)

    There is nothing magic about intelligence that makes humans immune to evolution, but there are certainly lots of ways humans can modify our environment that will result in humans evolving in ways we might not expect or might not want.

    Right now 30% of all US births are to welfare mothers with no father in the home. They breed because we are paying them to breed, and most of the resulting children have no prospects in life other than to stay on welfare like their mothers. If this situation were to continue for enough centuries, we could very well breed enough Marching Morons to destroy civilization. It seems to me that the rise of Obama shows we are well down this path already.
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  • Posted by samreginab 8 years, 10 months ago
    As a physician I have noticed a steep decline in the quality of patients' It's. It definitely feels like we are reversing survival of the fittest. One example was a a guy who kept getting drunk at a topless bar, and turning left into oncoming traffic. Darwin would have had him die the first time, but we patched him up and he did it twice more, the last time taking out an upstanding citizen. Net decline in IQ.
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    • Posted by plusaf 8 years, 10 months ago
      But was he expecting a different result from turning left each 'new time' he got drunk?
      You KNOW that's one of the definitions of insanity, right? Or Liberalism, depending... :)
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    • Posted by johnpe1 8 years, 10 months ago
      there goes my driving test for common sense.
      awshucks. -- j
      .
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      • Posted by plusaf 8 years, 10 months ago
        I disagree... I would posit that one's accident rate for driving might be a reflection of 'common sense' to some degree (or lack of it.)

        I just hate it when some local kid wraps his car around a tree and dies and the news clipping doesn't mention whether he/she was wearing a seat belt...
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        • Posted by johnpe1 8 years, 10 months ago
          I just had a car which I had loaned out ... wrecked.
          the guy I loaned it to *was* wearing the seat belt,
          and the air bags worked, so he only had a scratch.
          the little subaru baja was totaled. . sad, but it did
          its job -- protected the driver!!! -- j

          p.s. he swerved to avoid a dog in the road, hit
          the sharp edge of a concrete driveway, and the
          baja ended up on its left side. . right front corner
          was in bad shape.
          .
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          • Posted by PeterAsher 8 years, 10 months ago
            My deepest sympathy for th loos of the Baha which is no longer made.

            My wife's ia a white and silver , in Mint condition with 155K on it and people frequently come up to her wanting to buy it
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            • Posted by johnpe1 8 years, 10 months ago
              oh, man! . we got soooooooo lucky! . I did a thorough
              internet search and found another one, 3 years
              younger (but with more miles on it) -- and a turbo
              model -- just 300 miles away. . we went down to the
              atlanta area and bought it. . in great shape!!! -- j
              .
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  • Posted by samrigel 8 years, 10 months ago
    I have for the better part of 3 decades been for removing all warming tags and signs and allowing the problem to sort itself out.
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    • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
      I think the Lawyers already solved that problem. I bought a saw the other day and the manual started out with "Read This First" and then proceeded with five pages of fine print on all of the things I shouldn't do. In fact I think it basically covered everything; In other words anything I did with the saw except leaving it packed in the box and never using it was dangerous and the instructions were littered with disclaimers of liability. No one but me would have read that thing and the only reason I did was because I was thinking about your post.
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      • Posted by samrigel 8 years, 10 months ago
        I have seen those disclaimers as well. I suppose in our non-Gulch world Lawyers will always have a job. The phrase I remember from times past: the USA as 5% of the worlds population and 95% of the worlds lawyers.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 8 years, 10 months ago
    They might be getting more intelligent, but if so they are also becoming more irrational. Thanks, but I'll take rational people any day to those who ignore their own intelligence in favor of their glands or emotions.
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    • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
      If you buy a computer that is twice as fast with twice the memory and then load the old decrepit software and then don't protect it with a firewall/virus protection, it will act like people do today. Garbage in, irrational behavior out.
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      • Posted by $ blarman 8 years, 10 months ago
        Love the analogy. Been in IT for 20 years and it still amazes me that people think IT is magic. ;) It's not - it's a direct reflection of business process. If you've got convoluted code and lots of bugs, it's likely that this is due to the complexity of your business processes.
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        • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
          But it is magic! The hardware people put magic smoke inside of the chips, and it does marvelous things until you spill coffee on your laptop and let the magic smoke out.
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  • Posted by freedomforall 8 years, 10 months ago
    Nice feel good story, but what does it mean? IQ "scores" have not been rising, by definition, so the headline is false.
    Is there correlation between getting more correct answers on IQ tests and productivity, inventiveness, looting, laziness ?
    I think if this was done on the US testing only from 1960 to date the answer would be considerably different.
    As I understand it, standardized testing has been made less challenging in the US pretty steadily since the mid 60s. It probably doesn't matter for those at the ends of the bell curve, but for the mass in the middle this relaxation of standards and test scores does matter.
    I think the reports of this 'study' gives the impression that average ability to think rationally and to reason has improved when the truth is it has declined.
    And it's G-A-L-T.
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    • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
      I have been doing some research on this so I am going to disagree with your first line. This was about IQ tests only. IQ scores in the US are rising faster than most of the rest of the world (again, I believe because we use more technology than anywhere else). Educational test scores are declining, but there is no such thing as standardized test scores (they keep changing the standard test) any more than Global warming data with non-standardized thermometers is valid. IQ test's primarily test for the "capacity to learn" and make quick decisions. They lean heavily on "response time"; hence the use of the stop watch. The mind is a programable computer; Garbage in, Garbage out. I regularly have to match wits with lazy moochers. Many of them are very sharp, although in my opinion a pathetic waste. The rest of your comments are spot on. Having a more capable computer loaded with poor software doesn't make for a usable system.
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      • Posted by freedomforall 8 years, 10 months ago
        By definition IQ's can't rise, they are normalized to 100, and that is what my 'first line' meant.
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        • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
          Agreed, but mean test scores, before they are normalized, have been rising at a rate of 3 points per year. This has been causing them to have to factor gross tests scores down an average of three points per year. This is what the article is actually referring to. Check this out: http://www.wsj.com/articles/smarter-ever...
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          • Posted by plusaf 8 years, 10 months ago
            I'm sorry (not really) but how the hell can scores go up over a hundred years (or any period of time) when the tests aren't the same as they were?!

            Can ANYBODY see the Possibility that the questions have become easier?! Or examined Any Reasons why something like that could or would happen in Real Life?

            Critical Thinking is Dead.
            Hellllloooooooo?
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  • Posted by $ jlc 8 years, 10 months ago
    I like IQ tests and encourage their use, in spit of the fact that they only test a certain type of intelligence and underrate individuals who do not test well. I want to have more objective metrics, not less. IQ tests have not been made simpler, they have been made more complex over the years - to keep everyone from scoring in the genius range (from a 1900's test).

    Let me start by saying that I am quite fond of Darwinian evolutionary parameters - I say this because what I will say next will seem anti-Darwinian, but you must understand that my underlying premise is that we inherit our capacity for IQ.

    Three points on IQ increase:

    Firstly, while we inherit our IQ potential, we know that the ability to develop that intelligence is related to nutrition. If a brain lacks protein or vitamins whilst it is growing, the IQ of the individual will be lowered. And, while we complain about eating habits in the US, there are very few children who now do not get enough protein and vitamins in their diet. (This is a personal advantage that can be derived from 'feeding the world'. If we want warp drive, we will get it faster if all the children are well fed.)

    Next is the environment in which we are raised. An interesting study posed this question (example - one of many) to people around the world: "All animals that inhabit polar regions have white fur. What color would a bear be if it lived in a polar region?" In existing primitive cultures, the people answered "I would have to see the bear." These were not dumb people (many were the chieftains of their tribes) - these were people who had never been trained in the logic of classes. We live in a world the complexity of which requires us to think in set theory (whether or not we are explicitly trained in it). Our ancestors, even our recent ones, were able to look at the world as series of individual events much more than we are; we find rules and paradigms for just about everything.

    Lastly, the volume of information is incredibly different. I have read that 'the amount of information in a single Sunday edition of the NYTimes' approximates the amount of information that a 15th C farmer would have had access to in his Entire Lifetime. Our brains have become little data processing centers - it is not surprising that this shows up on tests.

    So, I believe that these are the reasons the IQ is steadily increasing. These reasons do imply that there is a natural limit that will be reached. I personally suspect that by the time that is true, we will have chip augmentation and our capacity will be extended further.

    Jan
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    • Posted by Ben_C 8 years, 10 months ago
      Smart people beget smart offspring. My understanding is that IQ is 80% genetic and 20% environmental. And life is a bell shaped curve. Yes, occasionally the stars align and some not so bright people have a really smart child and vice versa. For me its not so much about genetics is that it is about social structure. As the family unit slowly succumbs to liberal policies we will become a more dependent society and the producers will really get tired of feeding the moochers. The REALLY smart people will isolate themselves from government tyranny and have a decent life. The rest will be caught in the quagmire of The Capital's politics. Hunger Games comes to mind.
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      • Posted by $ jlc 8 years, 10 months ago
        Granted, but if the above factors are correct, the 'background' IQ of the general people may be a lot higher than we thought it was.

        We still need the super bright folk to move us ahead. They may come from India for the next few generations.

        Jan
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  • Posted by handyman 8 years, 10 months ago
    On the other side of the ledger from succumbing to accidents are the higher birth rates in lower IQ populations (as already noted) plus the fact that the existence of the many safety net programs keep many people going for a lot longer than they otherwise might.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 10 months ago
    Had this study not been world wide and conducted outside the USA I would have looked at the results long and hard. I accept your survival of the fittest explanation except perhaps if it was used to explain people who rail against war then vote the same warmongers back in office - without realizing the danger of the dreaded draft lurking ready to go in the background. the main difference between us and them with possible cross over areas is we gave up instinct for reason. Baby crying in the crib needing it's diaper changed was complaining about discomfort. Gets smacked for making too much noise baby learns to not grin and bear it. It also learns the meaning of revenge for later use.

    I send you back to Heinlein's comment on society treating it's dogs better than it's children.

    Treat moochers better than producers it isn't instinct that decreases production but it certainly is a measure of IQ

    except on voting day then one has to wonder

    Who is John Galt. He's the reality of fiction hero that saved my life by giving me a reason to exist.
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  • Posted by blackswan 8 years, 10 months ago
    Given that there are now an abundance of perverse incentives to do the wrong things, you can't automatically assume that IQ is going to increase, unless it's a biological process independent of behavior or selection. There are not enough bodies in the street to see "accidents" as a significant factor. In fact, it looks like technology is helping to improve intelligence by automating the mundane aspects of data manipulation, especially for those who understand the basics.
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  • Posted by $ Stormi 8 years, 10 months ago
    Beware of short summations of results. "Science Daily" called the results "hollow". Note they did not give a country by country breakdown. The prediction for the future is that the results, which are reset at 100 on a bell curve over the years, are actually showing less gain and have likely peaked. The "Daily Mail" says the European and Western (US) scores have actually dropped apx. 10 points. This would agree with studies I have read that shows the average IQ for a US teacher is now lower than several years ago. This goes for doctors as well. The "Science Daily" article credited preparing for test taking and narrow focus of the test as the reason for the general world so-called increase. In any case, the US has reason to jump for joy.
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  • Posted by term2 8 years, 10 months ago
    If IQ's are rising, it sure isnt obvious here in Las Vegas. Perhaps they are rising, but people just dont use their brains as much.
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    • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
      As far as I know, there is no relationship between IQ and ambition. Having a high IQ does not automatically mean that the person will use it, or use it for anything productive.

      Don't forget that the vast majority of Genius IQ's are currently incarcerated.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 10 months ago
    As IQs rise, couldn't that also mean that the numbers no longer reflect the same intelligence quotient as they did in, say, 1970?
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    • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
      Every time you hear a persons score quoted they don't adjust it for the change in time. However, from every thing I have read, the score number indicates that old scores should be re-factored into the curve. I think the math is to much for the PHD's that would have to calculate it, so they just ignore it. (If you are a PHD and take offense I will apologize now rather than later).
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      • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 10 months ago
        I'm not a PhD, but you make a good point, so there's no need to apologize as far as I'm concerned.
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        • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
          I was being a bit satirical about the PHD's ( Sorry, you make a good example) , and if it were a contest, I probably have worked with more PHD's and people with masters than anyone. Intelligence, Common Sense, and Education are three separate things. I have worked with highly educated people that were dumb as rocks and had zero common sense and I have worked with people that made it through High School that were brilliant (but often ignored because they had not sheep skin). The one thing I learned about Educated people is that they fit the bell curve, and having a degree doesn't change that. I worked with ( actually my "working" manager ) a PHD's that never did figure out how to turn on his computer. On the flip side of that I worked with several people that should have won the Nobel Prize, if any one knew of their accomplishments.
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  • Posted by wiggys 8 years, 10 months ago
    If this were true why do we have so many school dropouts in this country and looney tunes people in the muslim world; that counts for a billion people. Just wait and see the number of cars burned in the event the cleveland cavaliers with the nba title. That will show the authors of the article how intelligent the weathiest country of the world has gotten to be.
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  • Posted by terrycan 8 years, 10 months ago
    This is confusing. We often hear about how America is dropping in the education of our people. However this article claims we are constantly getting smarter. Which one is it?
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    • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
      IQ (Intelligent Quotient) tests are just that, and are pretty standardized. Maybe a good way to describe these tests is that they indicate capacity. Education is supposed to be about what people have learned. Educational tests, that are anything but standardized and are changed by political whims probably don't really tell us much of anything useful.
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  • Posted by marshafamilaroenright 8 years, 10 months ago
    Did you know that those considered geniuses by their accomplishments don't necessarily score in the "genius" range? The floor for proven geniuses is a score of *116*! That's not even what doctors usually score at - 125! IQ does not test working intelligence, i.e. how do you use intelligence in your life, or creativity.

    Also, I'm very doubtful it's as culture and knowledge free as is claimed. So that would have a big effect on the scores.
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    • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago
      Just as in anything else, the bias of the person giving the test matters. Which makes me wonder why the test isn't programed into an application and given by a computer.
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      • Posted by skidance 8 years, 10 months ago
        Another important variable is the testee's motivation to do well on the test. I've seen a number of minority individuals who just don't think the test is important and score in the "retarded" range! Subsequent testing, with my encouragement to do their best and confidence that they could do so, sometimes resulted in 20-point improvements in IQ scores. Sometimes even more than that.
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  • Posted by vido 8 years, 10 months ago
    So, she's the one to blame for Apollo 11's bug-ridden onboard computer, then. Interesting...
    Glad Neil Armstrong took manual control or the landing would have never been possible.
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