Posted on 03/09/2019 11:36:54 AM PST by Thalean
Assume for a moment that America fully embraces free trade, and it works exactly as planned: we offshore all our low-margin production to developing countries, and this indeed frees-up our population to work in lucrative industries like product design, finance, management etc. While this may make America richer (in the short term), it will not necessarily make Americans richer. Why? Not everyone can be an engineer, investment banker, or lawyer—most people just aren’t smart enough, and many more don’t have the personality for it. It’s harsh, but true.
Charles Murray explains in his seminal book The Bell Curve that human intelligence, as measured by IQ, conforms to a normal distribution. That is, most people are of roughly average intelligence (68.2 percent fall within one standard deviation of the mean), while a minority are significantly more or less intelligent than average (15.9 percent are one or more standard deviations above or below the mean respectively). Importantly, half of all Americans are smarter than average—and half are, well, below the average. This has big economic consequences which Kessler ignores.
For example, America’s average IQ is 100, while the average IQ of engineers is about one standard deviation higher. This means that the average engineer is more intelligent than some 85 percent of the general population. Further, the data implies that an “IQ threshold” exists near 105 IQ points, below which the odds of someone becoming an engineer are infinitesimally small. This suggests that 62 percent of Americans are simply not bright enough to be engineers—no matter how hard they try. Biology limits us, whether we accept it or not.
People not only differ in cognitive ability, they also differ in personality. According to the five factor model, people’s personalities are rooted in five basic psychological predilections: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. These personality foundations impact everything about us, and have important economic consequences.
Consider the trait “conscientiousness.” Conscientious people tend to be organized and dependable, disciplined: they show up for work on time, stay focused on their task, and rarely call in sick. In short, they’re model employees. For this reason, a conscientious personality is the best single predictor of an individual’s economic success in life (after their IQ score, that is). For our purposes, another important trait is openness: people who are open to new experiences and ideas are more creative on average.
But being open isn’t enough. Productive creativity is driven by people who are predisposed towards openness and conscientiousness—they not only have new ideas, but they are willing to put in the work. This combination is rare, and it partly explains why there are relatively few creative engineers (like Steve Jobs) and disciplined artists (like Michelangelo). In any case, my point here is that different people have different personalities, and that being an engineer or designer isn’t for everyone.
” education and countless other forms of employment are resistant to outsourcing.”
In Flori-DUH?, edjewkayshun has down “downsourced”..to teachers who can’t teach...Got their degrees after state LOWERED requirements to get the degree. Now have unqualified teachers all over the state...PUBLIC SCHOOLS is subject here !
Is it really worthwhile to require six years of college indoctrination before one can teach in a public school?
The best accounting instructor I ever had in college was a practicing accountant. He knew what we needed to know.
The indoctrination is the scary part.
Like, you know, math is HARD, dude!
Here is something to consider on this subject and this is from an engineer with multiple legendary degrees from really universities
If you spend even a minimal amount of time studying different subjects you will be a learned person
it’s all right there for you now
Back in the day you would have to go to the library
now it’s at your fingertips
Add another point on this subject one of my most disagreeable features of liberals is that they’re constantly looking down at everybody else
oh everybody else is so stupid!
it is so wrong
You can be as smart as you want to be
don’t let anybody tell you differently
just don’t waste your time in this life
For example time spent on Freerepublic is infinitely excellent !
Thank you Jim !
they’re constantly looking down at everybody else
Regardless of IQ, while it might nice to travel, I just can’t see myself guiding a train all over the country.
Liberals believe that there ought to be a job for everybody. That seems to be untrue. The military has found that attempting to employ people with an IQ less than about 85 is counterproductive; that is, more productive effort has to be expended on such an employee than is generated by that employee.
Similarly, conservatives believe that anyone can thrive if they just work hard enough. That too appears to be false.
The solution to many of our economic problems may well lie in recognizing those two truths.
“Farming, building and maintenance, service industries, education and countless other forms of employment are resistant to outsourcing.”
Those are outsourced to incoming immigrants.
“Farming, building and maintenance, service industries, education and countless other forms of employment are resistant to outsourcing.”
Those are outsourced to incoming immigrants.
Hm?...Does that mean that not everyone can learn to code? /s
Medicine and engineering are often used as examples for why brick and mortar schools are needed. But...Even in these fields **MOST** of the information is routine and is stable from year to year. It could easily be adapted to Internet learning at **MUCH*** reduced prices to the student.
Obviously, laboratory and clinical rotations require a brick and mortar facility but the rest does not.
When I saw the headline, I assumed it was a critique of AOC supporters, since her IQ, or the lack thereof, doesn’t seem to be an issue for them.
That is the true mission of modern education.
You may or may not have noticed that I lobby for the abolition of government education.
The problem with your suggestion, is that those with IQs of 180 become the new idiots who can't keep up.
Secondly, nobody left to do the scut work.
People that bright can't concentrate long enough to sweep floors or to do the routine maintenance on the robots who sweep floors.
Ok....I see what you mean.
Yes, indeed. Government schooling is daycare.
Spencer P Morrison had better recheck his basic facts. Steven Jobs wasn’t an engineer.
Forum members might profit by redirecting their own thinking a little: IQ and the “five factor model” are both computer models. We can’t say “climate models bad” and “smartness models good”, then still hope to be taken seriously.
Well, he did help create the computer "for the rest of us" implying for those less than gifted with intelligence, or something?
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