Does a high IQ make you smart?
Show notes
Why IQ still matters to people - even if it's biased.
President Trump and Silicon Valley tech bros are obsessed with IQ, but the history of intelligence testing is full of bunk race science and eugenics. With the rise of AI's "super intelligence," should we still be ranking human intelligence at all? In this crossover episode with our friends at Code Switch, we explore who gets labeled as smart with Quinn Slobodian, author of Hayek’s Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right and Angela Saini, author of Superior: The Return of Race Science.
(00:00) Why Trump and Silicon Valley are obsessed with IQ
(03:27) The tech right's IQ fetishism
(06:30) How 'The Bell Curve' justified inequality
(09:05) IQ's political consequences
(15:28) The BITCH test and valuing diverse intelligences
(22:23) The myth of biological race
(26:13) Does nurture matter more than nature for intelligence?
(32:27) Rejecting IQ hierarchies
For more episodes about the politics of intelligence, check out:
The price you pay for being smart
Books vs. Brain Rot: why it's so hard to read
You might be suffering from AI brain fry
Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
President Trump and Silicon Valley tech bros are obsessed with IQ, but the history of intelligence testing is full of bunk race science and eugenics. With the rise of AI's "super intelligence," should we still be ranking human intelligence at all? In this crossover episode with our friends at Code Switch, we explore who gets labeled as smart with Quinn Slobodian, author of Hayek’s Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right and Angela Saini, author of Superior: The Return of Race Science.
(00:00) Why Trump and Silicon Valley are obsessed with IQ
(03:27) The tech right's IQ fetishism
(06:30) How 'The Bell Curve' justified inequality
(09:05) IQ's political consequences
(15:28) The BITCH test and valuing diverse intelligences
(22:23) The myth of biological race
(26:13) Does nurture matter more than nature for intelligence?
(32:27) Rejecting IQ hierarchies
For more episodes about the politics of intelligence, check out:
The price you pay for being smart
Books vs. Brain Rot: why it's so hard to read
You might be suffering from AI brain fry
Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy