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45 Comments
- astatine, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28Everybody would behave a heck of a lot smarter if we learned to take some things with a pinch of salt.
- blapierre, on 10/12/2007, -3/+23You can't raise the world's IQ because IQ is normalized to 100 points for the average person. It isn't an absolute scale.
- NoTiG, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13the article simply says that it preserves IQ integrity. Because lack of iodine is linked to mental retardation. So it doesn't necessarily raise our IQ but prevents it from declining perhaps. JMHO
- Tanath, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9@ blapierre
Actually, the average IQ is going up by about 3 points per decade. IQ tests are only periodically renormalized. - sfpiano, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14It also fends off goiters, and we all know how awkward they can be...
- Aces, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11ShrimpCrackers: Hate to burst your bubble but its not exactly right to say that coastal cities have a higher IQ than middle states. I know from reading digg and slashdot you get the impression that everyone in the "red states" is so retarded they struggle to get dressed in the morning but its just not true.
Study reported in forbes about americas smartest cities (by education, not IQ): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16225210/
Notice a number of top performers are in the middle states. Boulder Colorado, Ann Arbor Michigan, Ames Iowa.
Don't let stereotypes convince you that the middle states are actually less intelligent. - macamatition, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Two frozen salty pizzas are in da oven as I type.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12"I know from reading digg and slashdot you get the impression that everyone in the "red states" is so retarded they struggle to get dressed in the morning but its just not true."
It's very true, actually. - stonebear, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Yet, because most of the table salt is iodized, people in the affluent parts of the world get too much iodine, leading to rampant hypothyroidism (chronic fatigue) and low sperm counts. Doctors say the problem is not iodized salt, but that people eat too much salt, just like they eat too much of everything else. Of course ignorance is also a problem; because medical authorities push iodization, and dampen criticism of it, the issue doesn’t get much press. Most people don’t know they are over-iodized and that non-iodized salt is available to them.
Funny how the world stays out of balance. - sockpuppets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Sadly it seems you're already too far gone.
- blapierre, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7@rompom7
Thank you for repeating exactly what I said back to me. - sockpuppets, on 10/12/2007, -9/+13All this and more in my new book "Blowjobs save the world." Available at fine booksellers near you.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I get plenty of salt. Viva la ramen noodles.
- dattaway, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Texas is geographically a salt bed. Look what it did for them.
- stonebear, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Borat can be the poster boy for this!
- kokorhekkus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I'm more prepared to put my money on the Flynn effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect
My personal take on the Flynn effect is that when you reach a level of general affluence in a society, in most cases, the level of education is raised making the population more apt to solving abtract problems. And the Flynn effect has been most positivly observed in countries with a generally wide education programs (such as the scandinavian countries). I belive that most countries have, in some sense, adopted a education programs that gives a more of a level playing ground. If you can't discount the Flynn effect compared with previous occurances you'll need a more complex explanation.
It should be noted that the Flynn effect seems to reach a levelling point in I.Q. scores. - f4st4word, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Apropos of nothing, but I thought I remembered hearing that the Head Chef of the White House kitchen recently published a salt-free cookbook...
- 1021, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5In my book, those cities are what they are because they are open to the world. Being so insures that institutes of learning in and around those cities prosper, insuring the overall intelligence of the area to be higher than the areas in other parts of the country.
- Geekbeard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Eat more kelp!
- dgolding, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Am I getting this right? You are conflating the libertarian political movement with civil libertarianism? The weakest part of this article (which was otherwise excellent) was blaming "conservatives" and "civil libertarians" for opposing iodized salt. People can wrap themselves in any banner when they are acting like idiots.
- kokorhekkus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@Metasquares
In the Scandinavian countries the Flynn effect has been best confirmed they had universal consription (rich or poor, highly educated parents or not) using the same standardized tests. With universal conscription there is no pre-selecetion of the subjects and that is the main cause why these scandinavian tests has been the most reliable when considering the Flynn effect. They're over a long timeframe with the same selection of subjects. - whiffen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I kept looking for mention of Borat in the article... Nope
- ChileanGoD, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Real smart people get renal calculi.
- Metasquares, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1How do psychometricians know it isn't the results of an educational system conditioned after the tests themselves? It's like taking an entire AP class for the express purpose of doing well on the test.
- styromaniac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No wonder I used to do so well in school. When I was younger, I often ate some salt straight out of the shaker... and grossed out the few people who've seen me do it.
- jo42, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Won't work. The amount of Intelligence in the Universe is a fixed constant - the problem being there are more and more people...
- rowlodge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1if borat is iodine deficient and makes that much money, i'm cutting off all salt from now on.
- CanceledCzech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Seinfeld!
- sailorj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1MacDonald's Fries with extra salt eh? Fatter and smarter... you should then know better... I know I'm crazy, but if I know I'm crazy, I can't be crazy. Hmmm... better ask Yossarian.
- codye, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1*****. You mean IQ really does exist, can be measured, and can be influenced by biological and environmental factors?
Say it ain't so, Stephen J. Gould! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I think these kids' parents might have needed this knowledge: http://gumclix.com/tard.jpg
- Metasquares, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It does most likely "raise" the *average* IQ by reducing the number of people that fall on the left side of the curve, but it probably doesn't change the proportion of people that are gifted or anything.
- theOster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1sockpuppets - i dont get it, but it seems good to me.
oh, also i drink iodine. my kids should be geniuses. alcoholics, but what genius wasn&t an alchy? - WomunOfColour, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2This type of civil libertarianism (being against the requirement that all salt be iodized) is part of the free market philosophy. If people are allowed to choose plain salt, then it rarely reaches the poor, which causes mental retardation. You need some type of government to regulate public health, which includes putting restrictions on businesses.
- RadiatedAnt, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5/action Chugs down a pint of Morton Salt
Hey why are you guys looking at me like im retarded or something?! - pantsbandit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Raise the world's IQ to E1.0E I say! There is no E1.0E.
- 1021, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3haha, Bethesda MD - 2. smartest city? That area is known for the trouble it's been having for a while. I live in VA, they have a very bad school system in that city too, this forbes thing has to be very inaccurate from what I've seen of Bethesda.
- HaxAttaX, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2roflol
- bazbaz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Evolution works hand in hand with alterated mental state, the problem is not the salt, the salt makes one body more solid and with this stabil... this is stagnation, the evolution ask "fluidity" (im not handling english soo well, i'm not from around, so sorry for the languages mistakes).The problem in the absesnce of salt is absence of discipline in the human behavior.
- bobothn, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1SO all those salty foods are actualy good for me hell ya.
- WomunOfColour, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3"In some nations, iodization becomes tarred as a government plot to poison an essential of life — salt experts compare it to the furious opposition by 1950s conservatives to fluoridation of American water.
In others, civil libertarians demand a right to choose plain salt, with the result that the iodized kind rarely reaches the poor. Small salt makers who fear extra expense often lobby against it. So do makers of iodine pills who fear losing their market."
Which is why libertarianism fails. - patience, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2We fry and salt everything in the US.
Yet, Microsoft and Google are setting up research
labs in China and India.
Mmmh. I guess more salt in those chicken fingers
for the high school kids. - ShrimpCrackers, on 10/12/2007, -16/+10What about here in America? The coastal cities are well known for having higher average IQ (NYC, LA, Boston, etc) as well as most of the prestigious universities. Are the middle-states missing something in their diet?
Also, in Asia, iodine deficiency and the slow-kids are overcome with practice and punishment. Despite having ADHD, my parents beat the living ***** out of me until I could multiply triple or quadruple digits off the top of my head in seconds and sit quietly for hours at a time. Almost all Asian parents are like that. Even all the triads in Asia respect their parents. Iodine or not. - rompom7, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1@blapierre: Exactly, 50% of the population is above 100, 50% are below 100.
- septicmadman, on 10/12/2007, -30/+14OR we could just kill stupid people.
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