More on intelligence

A review of some new and old links on the topic of intelligence.

via Indexed » Blog Archive » Frankenstein & his monster.

It seems as though smart people are evolving in some interesting ways. Robin Hanson writes, referring to a study, Why Liberals and Atheists Are More Intelligent, by Satoshi Kanazawa. (The full text of the study is behind a paywall.)

Adult intelligence predicts adult espousal of liberalism, atheism, and sexual exclusivity for men (but not for women), while intelligence is not associated with the adult espousal of evolutionarily familiar values on children, marriage, family, and friends. … Childhood intelligence at age 10 significantly increases the probability that individuals become vegetarian as adults.
via Overcoming Bias : Smart Beliefs

Hanson quotes  Kanazawa as saying

Liberalism … [is] the genuine concern for the welfare of genetically unrelated others and the willingness to contribute larger proportions of private resources for the welfare of such others.

This is something new in evolution, empathy for others outside the family or tribe.
It's true. You can look it up. You can also take comfort in knowing that Google won't make you stupid.
This, in turn, makes us need a nap. Y'see, researchers have shown that A midday nap markedly boosts the brain's learning capacity. And, when we wake, we'll have forgotten enough to get even smarter - In learning, the brain forgets things on purpose.
Apparently, in Connecticut, you can be too smart to be a cop - Judge Rules That Police Can Bar High I.Q. Scores:

Judge Dorsey ruled that Mr. Jordan was not denied equal protection because the city of New London applied the same standard to everyone: anyone who scored too high was rejected.

Finally, because I don't know where else to add this, here is a Spongebob Musical Thermometer for, as the catalog says, Oral, Underarm or Rectal Use:

via BD™ Digital Thermometers product catalog () by way of Boing Boing