Re: Income vs. IQ

Robin Hanson (hanson@hss.caltech.edu)
Thu, 19 Jun 1997 17:42:06 -0700 (PDT)


I William Wiser writes:
>If we postulate that there is some factor that causes both higher IQ
>and higher income it seems likely that the income results will
>compound over time.

Over all I find it hard to imagine a futere where income inqualities
are not much greater than they are now.

>Varing the IQ variance for a fixed lifespan, is there some maximum IQ
>beyond which IQ doesn't help income within the lifespan, so that
>longer lifespans are required to take advantage of it?

>I don't think IQ differences above a certain level are meaningful

If this is true it has great implications for AI and for human
enhancement.

>Again I think the compound interest analogy is good with very high IQs
>adding small percentages which take a long time to become significant.

This also sounds like a declining marginal value of intelligence.

Robin D. Hanson hanson@hss.caltech.edu http://hss.caltech.edu/~hanson/