Thank you kind reader! As a lap-top user, I thank whoever paid to get rid of that ad at the top of our blog. All of us at Gene Expression thank you. We hope to reward your largesse with stimulating banter and provoking essays. On a separate note-I took the emode IQ test today. I always get about the same result. I do this once every six months to check if I've gotten a lot smarter (no, unfortunately) or dumber (thank gods I didn't!). I decided on a lark to buy their $15 "15 page" explanation of how your intelligence maps out. What did I get for $15? Basically this: Hey, you're pretty good at logic and math. As someone that came close to a math minor and has a science degree, I could have figured that out. I thought I was going to get something like a horoscope, a lot of really interesting made-up facts that would subtlety reinforce my view of how superior I am. But no, they just gave me the standard crap about how I've got "visual-spatial logical skills". Save your money and get a psychic-reading, it would be more worth it. (most of the 15 pages was history about IQ tests and educational credentials of their psychologists) Finally, I was thinking about programming a "stupid man's IQ test." This is the theory, I set a timer and use that to calculate (in combination with percentage correct of answers) what the person's IQ is. Make the questions so obvious that only idiots will answer them immediately (and correctly) while brighter people will try to figure out what the catch or trick is and waste their time. A lot of people I know who take IQ tests stop when they hit a certain number. So if someone who normally scores 100 scores 125 on my IQ test, they'll quit their and get a boost of self-esteem. Someone who normally scores 130 who gets 80 will dismiss it and take another IQ test to confirm their braininess. How about that to all those who say I don't have any Leftist spirit of social justice towards the down-trodden? Godless remarks: Razib is, of course, joking. Just wanted to point that out for our new readers from Warbloggerwatch. As previously noted, *if* the emode test is a psychometrically sound IQ test (a big if...), then the number given can be used to predict all sorts of things about Razib. Also, I've seen the stupid man's IQ test on the web. Here's one version. It is sort of funny, but at the same time it kinda smacks of anti-intellectualism. Unlike Steve Sailer and (to a lesser extent) Razib, I've never championed the cause of the stupid nor thought it particularly worthwhile to set up "snares" of this kind to "prove" that those smarty-pants kids who try on tests aren't so smart after all. It's fine to have jokes like this...but in the end, it's no contest - nerds win. I think it's regrettable that the stupid are stupid, and we should work to make it possible for all individuals to choose to be more intelligent (via, say, genetic engineering or cybernetics), and that it's not the "fault" of the stupid that they do stupid things. None of this implies that it's a good idea to romanticize idiocy. (Note - Yes, it may happen that some people may not choose to have their intelligence boosted...but will this fraction be much higher among the low IQ? Maybe, maybe not. It's an empirical question.)