Tag Archives: knowledge

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Intelligence and Knowledge

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Intelligence quotient is a number representing a person’s reasoning ability (measured using problem-solving tests) as compared to the statistical norm or average for their age, taken as 100.

Although IQ is considered to be somewhat age related, in general it is believed to  remain relatively stable across your lifespan.  That is, the reasoning ability is set in your early years and does not change much.

Knowledge is acquired through a combination of learning and the application of your reasoning ability.  Theoretically, your ability to acquire, develop and utilize knowledge is limited by your reasoning ability (i.e., I.Q.)

Application

Often we subjectively assess other peoples intelligence based on outcomes.  We associate this with ability to create and disseminate knowledge – in essence the ability to learn.

For example theories and law’s developed by Alberta Einstein are almost universally considered to be the result of high intelligence (a high IQ).

Many believe their own IQ’s, that is their  innate reasoning ability, would not enable them to reason out such complex concepts as the theory of relativity.

I wonder if this is true.

Nature or Nurture

The very concept of IQ leads to the conclusion that you are born with (nature) a fixed ability to reason and this limits your ability to learn (nurture).

Since, as a general rule IQ is not believed to change significantly through your life (although there are age based variations) this concept leads to the conclusion you are born with a certain ability to gather and create knowledge.

Although this innate ability does not endow you with knowledge (work is required to do that) your basic capability to gain knowledge is genetically based.

For me, this logic is just one of the issues with IQ measurement.  The ability to measure it in the first place being another.

The Quest Continues

Research on intelligence, both what it is and how it is acquired (nature vs nurture) continues and I look forward to the continued streams of unfolding conclusions on this topic as more data is gathered.

All in all, it makes for a fascinating discussion.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Hindsight

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“If I knew back then what I know now , then I could have ………”. Ah, what a sad lament.  The logic of the statement rings true.  For example if I knew shares In Apple were going to appreciate the way they have before the price began to rise.

Or that Nortel would go bankrupt.  That Bre-X was a fraud.  That Donald Trump would get elected.  The pain I could have avoided, the profit I could have made.

Lamenting the Unknown

The benefit of hindsight is fairly obvious .  There is none.  The probability that you will ever know what the future will bring with absolute certainty is nil.

Recognition that the unknown exists is key to making good decisions.  Attempting to predict the unknown and acting on those predictions can be a risky business.

A better practice is to quantify what you know and where possible what you don’t know.  In some cases of course you won’t even know what you don’t know.   Those cases cannot be quantified.

Knowledge Based Actions

Knowledge is a combination of the things you know and those you don’t know.  That is, you know of them, but don’t know the answer.  (Obviously things you don’t know of at all cannot be included)

Knowledge based decision making is  based on known information (included those with an unknown quantity but which you are aware of).  This method provides better results than hindsight or historical data.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Are you a scholar?

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Depending on the context, the definition of a scholar can vary. A very simple way of describing a scholar is a person who has studied a subject for a long time and knows a lot about it : an intelligent and well-educated person who knows a particular subject very well.  The scholar is a fount of knowledge on a topic.

In the specific cases of academic or religious scholars,  the context narrows the definition, that is specific parameters and measures are used to indicate when scholarly status is achieved (for example a cleric title or a degree – e.g. PhD) beyond the simple definition above.

Knowledge

I have always enjoyed the simple quadrant model of knowledge

Knowledge 3

From an individual perspective, for any subject, there are the known aspects (Q1 and Q3), things others know but you don’t (Q2),and the totally unknown – no one knows (Q4).

Arguably for a scholar the majority of information about a topic is known (because they have studied it).  This correlates to Q1 and Q3.  For a scholar, quadrants Q2 and Q4 should very small (the scholar knows everything so it is unlikely you know something they don’t or that nobody knows)

A Lifelong Search

A true scholar believes the knowledge only others know (Q2) or no one knows (Q4) is always present and they are engaged in a life long search to uncover it.

Who Cares?

Scholars, whether in the areas of research, education or religion are of value to society if they are willing (and capable) of sharing their knowledge.

Everyone can classify their personal knowledge quadrant on any topic.  A scholar (with information in Q2) can share with you by moving their knowledge to Q1 or Q3 and benefiting not only you personally but all of society.

False Knowledge

The caveat both about sharing and receiving scholarly information is the need to validate.  Not everything shared with you is correct or accurate.  Of course you could always do a google search on the internet to find out if the knowledge being shared with you was accurate (joking).

The Final Conceit

As this blog is sharing scholarly information I hav,e which you may not have (that is my quadrant 2) I guess I am a kind of a scholar.