122. Hive Mind by Garrett Jones

In my episode on Stuart Ritchie's Intelligence: All that Matters I spoke about IQ and intelligence, after a long silence on this issue. In Hive Mind, we get a look at how IQ affects the fate of entire nations, rather than just the individuals living in them.

Jones' argument rests on data showing that IQ correlates positively with patience, win-win thinking, productivity in teams, supporting "good" policies (i.e. those endorsed by experts), and saving more money. There is also data to indicate that richer countries tend to have higher average IQ, and some indications that causality goes from IQ to national wealth.

The Flynn effect - a constant increase by the equivalent of 3 IQ points per year around the world throughout the 20th century - shows that IQ can be increased, but a more important question is whether that increase can be encouraged somehow. Jones also covers this ground, although it seems that we don't really know good answers to this. Nevertheless, that doesn't stop authors like David Didau in Making Kids Cleverer proposing that the purpose of school is to increase IQ so that children can benefit from the associated health, wealth, and other benefits.

Overall, by combining economics and intelligence research, Hive Mind brings new perspectives to each of these domains.

Enjoy the episode.

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111. Intelligence: All that Matters by Stuart Ritchie