What Is Intelligence?

[Mister Gee 813]

39 minutes ago, DeZeus said:

Some People are good Academically, Some Are Practical, some have good memory, but

imho, from experience,  people who have a Degree or studied for a degree prior to having a Job, tend to lack any common sense or practical skills.

 

So I guess it depends on How? you measure people's intelligence, like IQ, exams, practical skills, mental skill, arithmetic, few people manage all of these skills!

Boris Johnson then?

[Albert the Cat 0]

1 hour ago, DeZeus said:

Some People are good Academically, Some Are Practical, some have good memory, but

imho, from experience,  people who have a Degree or studied for a degree prior to having a Job, tend to lack any common sense or practical skills.

 

So I guess it depends on How? you measure people's intelligence, like IQ, exams, practical skills, mental skill, arithmetic, few people manage all of these skills!

You sound like an apprentice who got his degree from Sheffield Hallam.

 

In my line of work we VERY rarely hire people without an engineering degree.  The only two exceptions in the 20 years that I know of in our team were apprentices who studied for their degrees on the job.  This is in a team of 30 strong.  It is down to the person, there is no one route fits all, but from our experience, it is a well trodden one we follow.

[Michael_W 11]

58 minutes ago, Albert the Cat said:

You sound like an apprentice who got his degree from Sheffield Hallam.

 

In my line of work we VERY rarely hire people without an engineering degree.  The only two exceptions in the 20 years that I know of in our team were apprentices who studied for their degrees on the job.  This is in a team of 30 strong.  It is down to the person, there is no one route fits all, but from our experience, it is a well trodden one we follow.

You sound like a great many degree educated people these days, who often think their qualifications make them somewhat better than others, I've worked in engineering and manufacturing in Sheffield companies for over 40 years on the shop floors and have yet to meet a degree educated 'so called' engineer who could offer any more than someone with the relevant practical experience and a bit of nous, regardless of qualifications, many of them were actually clueless, stop falling for the modern day guff, the only people I know who really needed degrees were doctors, surgeons, scientists, professors, lecturers and their ilk !

[Annie Bynnol 612]

It really does depend on what to we mean by engineer, what there role is and are they current with their qualifications.

My friend became a professional electrical engineer and was once in charge of supplying a large area of South Yorkshire with electricity.  In his day the route to this job was through his full time job and night school qualifications.

This route is now closed.

Still, I would not let him anywhere near my domestic supply, but he did know people that were competent and qualified and the right attitude. 

 

Practical experience and 'nous' 

was never enough, it needs more to push projects forward, including the ability to work in a team of multiskilled people.

 

 

 

[El Cid 214]

14 hours ago, Albert the Cat said:

In my line of work we VERY rarely hire people without an engineering degree. 

The people today have not become just intelligent just because 40% now go to university, instead of the 10£ 50 years ago.

There are older people that missed out on this 'must go to uni' culture, but they are stilll very bright and capable of being a nurse, police officer or engineer.

 

I have a poor memory, I cannot remember the capital of Peru, but in a quiz Google puts me in with the prize winners 

I believe that I think a lot deeper than many people, still rubbish when it comes to facts, but very good at working out logical issues.

[FinBak 12]

On 23/10/2019 at 19:28, pattricia said:

I believe intelligence is gene related. They say you get so many genes from your parents, then the rest are new ones.

 

 

Completely agree. You Have to have some sort of 'Intelligent' genes to begin with.

 

The only problem with 'Genes' is you don't just inherit 'Intelligence' you also  inherit other traits too. (And some of them are bad one's.!!.)

 

Generally speaking, Intelligence is like energy...You can't create it OR destroy it. 

 

 

[the_mandarin 15]

37 minutes ago, FinBak said:

Generally speaking, Intelligence is like energy...You can't create it OR destroy it. 

 

 

That would imply that by passing on your intelligence to your offspring(s), your own intelligence would reduce - which I am sure is not the case.

A better parallel would perhaps be to compare intelligence to a candle that can spread the light.

 

Intelligence may be related to genes, but not to the extent that it seems because when we compare an intelligence of an offspring to the parents, we need to take into account that intelligent parents are more likely to create an environment at home that would aid the mental development of their kids, which would contribute to their thinking abilities as they grow.

3 hours ago, El Cid said:

The people today have not become just intelligent just because 40% now go to university, instead of the 10£ 50 years ago.

There are older people that missed out on this 'must go to uni' culture, but they are stilll very bright and capable of being a nurse, police officer or engineer.

 

I have a poor memory, I cannot remember the capital of Peru, but in a quiz Google puts me in with the prize winners 

I believe that I think a lot deeper than many people, still rubbish when it comes to facts, but very good at working out logical issues.

Going to Universities or reading a lot can make people "knowledgeable" but not "Intelligent" in my opinion.

I have known a few students in my school who used to ply their books for hours every day and scored well in exams - these were knowledgeable. But if we ever had a general knowledge test, they'd be blank because they knoew very little outside their text books.

 

Intelligence can perhaps be described as the ability to figure out something you don't know, based on all the things you do know.

[Albert the Cat 0]

17 hours ago, Michael_W said:

You sound like a great many degree educated people these days, who often think their qualifications make them somewhat better than others, I've worked in engineering and manufacturing in Sheffield companies for over 40 years on the shop floors and have yet to meet a degree educated 'so called' engineer who could offer any more than someone with the relevant practical experience and a bit of nous, regardless of qualifications, many of them were actually clueless, stop falling for the modern day guff, the only people I know who really needed degrees were doctors, surgeons, scientists, professors, lecturers and their ilk !

You haven’t worked in high end engineering then. Working in a steelworks for example doesn’t count. The people I have come across there were really questionable in their alleged competence. 
 

A degree doesn’t provide necessary knowledge for a particular job. You can’t expect a graduate to jump in and hit the ground running. We don’t expect that, learning procedures and processes can be learnt on the job, what can’t be taught are the soft skills and analytical and problem solving skills that are developed at universities. 
 

The people who say “I don’t need a degree because I have common sense” are people who know they either can’t achieve or can’t be bothered. The same can be said about people who don’t get their chartership and belittle others who achieve it. 

[tinfoilhat 11]

1 hour ago, Albert the Cat said:

You haven’t worked in high end engineering then. Working in a steelworks for example doesn’t count. The people I have come across there were really questionable in their alleged competence. 
 

A degree doesn’t provide necessary knowledge for a particular job. You can’t expect a graduate to jump in and hit the ground running. We don’t expect that, learning procedures and processes can be learnt on the job, what can’t be taught are the soft skills and analytical and problem solving skills that are developed at universities. 
 

The people who say “I don’t need a degree because I have common sense” are people who know they either can’t achieve or can’t be bothered. The same can be said about people who don’t get their chartership and belittle others who achieve it. 

Indeed. I want a fresh faced doctor with a degree doing surgery on me, not a medical secretary with 30 years experience.

[El Cid 214]

On 26/10/2019 at 21:30, Mister Gee said:

Boris Johnson then?

Boris Johnson is the head of our country, I hope he is intelligent.

He is not a good role model. Another thing that intelligence can be judged on, is how you are perceived by others.

Johnson is rich, probably because his family are rich. He is said to have 6 children. To me, someone that has a succesfull family life is intelligent. Not sure if that is Johnson, as he refuses to answer questions about it.

I feel most of his success has come from going to Eton and his wealthy family. I am biased, I dont like him, others may have a different view.

[Albert the Cat 0]

2 hours ago, El Cid said:

Boris Johnson is the head of our country, I hope he is intelligent.

He is not a good role model. Another thing that intelligence can be judged on, is how you are perceived by others.

Johnson is rich, probably because his family are rich. He is said to have 6 children. To me, someone that has a succesfull family life is intelligent. Not sure if that is Johnson, as he refuses to answer questions about it.

I feel most of his success has come from going to Eton and his wealthy family. I am biased, I dont like him, others may have a different view.

So everyone who is single or don’t have children is considered not so or need to do more to be considered so?

[Pettytom 1]

Well, this thread is certainly teaching me something about the intelligence of SF members.