1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:27,840 Speaker 1: Ridiculous Histories, a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to the show, 2 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much for 3 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: tuning in. Let's hear for the Man, the myth, the legend, 4 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:41,559 Speaker 1: our super producer, Max Benney Williams not with Benne like 5 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: Jean Benet, similar to do don't have the relationship. Well, 6 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:49,600 Speaker 1: we've got a h we've got kind of a dark 7 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: turn here. Uh. This episode is following on the heels 8 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: of our recent episode. We're quite proud, proud of the title. 9 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: Did lead lead to the fall of the Roman Empire? Right? 10 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:10,759 Speaker 2: Yes, lead lead, lead lead, you know, maybe probably not spoiler. 11 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: Alert, Yeah, contributed to Maybe you'll have to check out 12 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: the episode, folks. That is none other than the legendary 13 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,679 Speaker 1: mister Noel Brown. Hello, it's you, Ben, Is it you? 14 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:23,959 Speaker 1: I think it's you. We are all, we are all vast. 15 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:26,960 Speaker 1: We could take multitudes for tax purposes. That call me 16 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: Ben Bullen. He from the United States. We are bro. 17 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:32,760 Speaker 2: I gotta tell you I made the mistake of briefly 18 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:36,399 Speaker 2: dating a gen Z person. And she told me when 19 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 2: I said I contained multitude, said that is such a 20 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 2: millennial thing to say. 21 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: And I was really triggered by this. Has she not 22 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:47,040 Speaker 1: read Whitman? The relationship did not go well? Unclear. 23 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:50,280 Speaker 2: My whole thing is I really like there's a Bob 24 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 2: Dylan song called I Contain Multitudes, and obviously the Whitman 25 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 2: is what he was referencing. But it just felt like 26 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 2: such a dismissive thing to say. And she's the kind 27 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 2: of person that would say like Bedrod all the time. So, 28 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 2: you know, potato potato, To each their own. I wish 29 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 2: her well. 30 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:13,799 Speaker 1: Dismissive dismissiveness is arguably, depending upon who you read, dismissiveness 31 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: is a sign of insecurity intelligence that do that? 32 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:21,239 Speaker 3: Do? 33 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:28,399 Speaker 1: Boy? 34 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 2: Oh boy, Ben, We're talking about a thing today related 35 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 2: to the Lead Leading with Lead episode in that there 36 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 2: purports to be a way that our society claims you 37 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 2: can measure one's intelligence, and it's those two golden letters 38 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 2: that people love throwing around. You know who loves thrown 39 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:51,360 Speaker 2: around a lot? Are President as a diss low IQ individual? 40 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:52,639 Speaker 3: Right? 41 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:57,919 Speaker 2: Right? Uh, he's got some news coming his way, my guy. Well, 42 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 2: that metric, it turns. 43 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:04,280 Speaker 1: Out not the best. We Actually I got a little 44 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:09,640 Speaker 1: heated up during our Led Lead Roman Empire Fall episode 45 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: A little hit up, as they would say in Tennessee, 46 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: about the concept of IQ tests, and we had to 47 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:20,400 Speaker 1: change the title to make this a little bit more 48 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: family friendly. Maybe the best way to begin, folks is 49 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: check out our Roman Empire episode. I think we did 50 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:32,240 Speaker 1: an all right job, and then answer us this. We'll 51 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 1: do it first on air, fellow ridiculous historians, Noel Max, 52 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: have you guys ever taken an IQ test? No? 53 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 2: I did recently take one of those Enneagram tests that 54 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 2: measures you know, your feelings or whatever. 55 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 1: I NFJ. 56 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 2: I think I hold on, I've actually got a note 57 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 2: for you here. Oh no, I'm getting the beach ball 58 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 2: of death on my notes app So we'll come back 59 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 2: to that. But this was even like a step above 60 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 2: the regular Enneagram thing called like I think it was 61 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 2: called Youngian something or other. It was some kind of 62 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 2: Jungian thing. And it was interesting because it wasn't you know, 63 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 2: it wasn't like taking a test. It was like having 64 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,160 Speaker 2: a conversation, and then the person that was administering it 65 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 2: was able to make all these notes. If I'm not mistaken, Ben, Yeah, 66 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 2: the old IQ test is much more of a by 67 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 2: the numbers, less interpretive kind of you know, bubbling in 68 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 2: the circles test. 69 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a weird thing. Max. Let's hear from you. 70 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:36,799 Speaker 1: You ever took one of those tests? 71 00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 3: But if I did, I can't remember. Maybe it had 72 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 3: that little impact on me that I can't remember it, 73 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 3: but I can't say I have. 74 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: It makes sense, right what we're saying when we say 75 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:52,919 Speaker 1: I haven't taken an IQ test. The odds are most 76 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: certainly that you did if you grew up in the 77 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: United States, even if it was not explicitly cold an 78 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:03,160 Speaker 1: IQ test. We have a lot of capstone things, standardized 79 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 1: test for every child in school, and if you ever 80 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:11,480 Speaker 1: aspire to go to college or university, you take something 81 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,680 Speaker 1: that is the kissing cousin of the IQ test. Things 82 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: we call the SAT or the ACT. 83 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:20,440 Speaker 2: See that's funny, Ben, because when I was thinking about 84 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:22,600 Speaker 2: whether or not I'd taken an IQ test, my mind 85 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 2: immediately went to Scantron World. 86 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:31,279 Speaker 1: Yes, wouldn't that be a really boring amusement park? Scadorcantron World. 87 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: I maybeet me, but I really want to go because 88 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: you get your results at the end of the amusement park. 89 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:43,039 Speaker 1: What is their roller. 90 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 2: Coaster looks like sort of the like the nerdy equivalent 91 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 2: of getting that picture you know where you're making the 92 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,479 Speaker 2: O face when you're on the coaster or et saying 93 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 2: your name at the end of the et ride at Universal. 94 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: What would the roller coaster be? You know what it 95 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: could be. It could just be roller coaster of emotion. 96 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,680 Speaker 2: Because kids, they're not a huge fan of these high 97 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 2: stress tests, and we know that. I think we've discussed 98 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 2: not on this episode, but maybe a conversation you and 99 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:14,600 Speaker 2: I were having leading up to this episode, and maybe 100 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 2: a brief mention in the Rome episode about how even 101 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:21,719 Speaker 2: some of the smartest people in the world notoriously don't 102 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:25,599 Speaker 2: test well or specifically crumble. 103 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:30,400 Speaker 1: Under the pressure of these timed high stress tests. Yeah, 104 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: I've got some stories to share. Also, maybe maybe we 105 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,359 Speaker 1: can make a solid argument in this episode that instead 106 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:42,359 Speaker 1: of a roller coaster of stats at your sat amusement park, 107 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: you're a q amusement park, you should have the roller 108 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: coaster of love. Courtesy of Red Hot Chili Peppers and 109 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:55,520 Speaker 1: Anthony Keatis. Yeah, Dustry for that, right, Well, their version 110 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:57,120 Speaker 1: is a banger. Who does the original? 111 00:06:57,360 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 2: I remember their version from Beavis and butt Head do 112 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 2: America soundtrack? Right, it's a lot of Fun of Love 113 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:07,799 Speaker 2: and the Originals by the Ohio Players from nineteen hundred 114 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 2: and seventy five. Funk hit the top the US charts 115 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:14,680 Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy six. Known for its energetic rhythm, the 116 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 2: song famously is an urban legend claiming a murder scream 117 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 2: was recorded in the background. 118 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: Oh fascinating. We have to get into that. We might 119 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: be an episode for another. 120 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:27,760 Speaker 2: Time, maybe the very least a bullet point on a 121 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:32,320 Speaker 2: on a listical episode about weird music urban legends that 122 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 2: we should. I'm just going to drop in on the 123 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:36,240 Speaker 2: spot here right now invite our buddy Jordan Runtalk to 124 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 2: join us for. 125 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: Oh I miss you, Jordan. I hope you're tuning into 126 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: the show. I love that guy. I'll text him after this. 127 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: Another kind of thing, another sort of standardized test that's 128 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 1: going to be familiar to a lot of us in 129 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 1: the United States, is something called the ASVAB, the Armed 130 00:07:55,240 --> 00:08:00,320 Speaker 1: Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. This is what determines whether get 131 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: to work in Intel or whether you know you work 132 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 1: in the elevators, et cetera, et cetera. All jobs are 133 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: worthwhile the idea of placement test does make sense. They 134 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: can help set school children up for success. They can 135 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 1: help you get the right college or university. And of 136 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 1: course Uncle Sam loves the ASVAB because it helps you 137 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:26,239 Speaker 1: figure out what a new soldier is especially talented at. 138 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: It's it's weird because going back to what you said, No, 139 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: all these things that we could loosely group as IQ 140 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:40,679 Speaker 1: or intelligent quotient tests, they are attempting to understand not 141 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 1: your roat memorization abilities, but your cognitive abilities like reasoning, 142 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:53,600 Speaker 1: problem solving, verbal comprehension, you know. And it's never The 143 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:57,560 Speaker 1: tricky thing is it's not the same as say a 144 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 1: firearms test. Right. In a fire arms test, you are 145 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:05,440 Speaker 1: measured by how accurate you are getting close to, say 146 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,720 Speaker 1: a bullseye right with certain with certain weaponry. But with this, 147 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:17,880 Speaker 1: your intelligence quotient attempts to quantify your level of smarts 148 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: in comparison to other people who are taking the test 149 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,000 Speaker 1: or have taken the test in the past. So it's 150 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:30,080 Speaker 1: a comparison thing, not an absolute measurement. Got it. So 151 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: you're part of the sample size of home that only 152 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 1: includes those who have taken the test before you or 153 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 1: with you. Sticky wicket right, A little bit, right, a 154 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:44,679 Speaker 1: little bit, and well we'll talk a good bit about 155 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:48,200 Speaker 1: why no one believes. Of course, I hope not. Anyway, 156 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:49,360 Speaker 1: we all have things to learn. 157 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 2: That you're perfect, you're not spoiler alert, but I think 158 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:56,480 Speaker 2: it's really important, you know, in order to human properly, 159 00:09:56,559 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 2: to know the things you don't know, and know that 160 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 2: it's probably a smart idea to continue to learn new things. 161 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:08,400 Speaker 2: Humans still can't agree, however, on what that knowledge base 162 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:12,520 Speaker 2: could perhaps be quantified. As you know, it's a combination 163 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:17,360 Speaker 2: of the things you know, intuition skills, certain skills that 164 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:21,640 Speaker 2: you might have, and that all bundled together we might 165 00:10:21,679 --> 00:10:23,760 Speaker 2: refer to as intelligence. 166 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:27,520 Speaker 1: Right or competence or the ability to function in a 167 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: given situation. But as we said, no one thinks IQ 168 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:38,959 Speaker 1: tests are perfect, even the biggest proponents or champions of it. 169 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:44,640 Speaker 1: The issue is, can we really quantify all that stuff 170 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:49,040 Speaker 1: that you just named, Noel? Can we accurately represent that 171 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: in something as boiled down as a three digit number? 172 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:58,040 Speaker 1: How did we get here? Why do so many people 173 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:02,680 Speaker 1: think IQ tests are you know, kind of malarkey? To 174 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:06,720 Speaker 1: understand that, we have to understand how these things came 175 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,240 Speaker 1: to be. And this is where we begin by introducing 176 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:13,840 Speaker 1: everybody to a guy named Alfred Bennet. Now, when I 177 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 1: was research associate for this, I want to confess to 178 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 1: you guys, transparency's key to me. I accidentally wrote Alfred 179 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 1: Bidet quite frequently in this. It was just a slip 180 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:27,959 Speaker 1: of the slip of the fingers. 181 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:28,520 Speaker 2: Mm hmm. 182 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:32,320 Speaker 3: Was it an autocorrect thing such as you've written Bedet 183 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:35,520 Speaker 3: so many times as automatic changing to it or was 184 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:37,839 Speaker 3: it just a mind autocorrect. 185 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: I just really liked our Beidet episodes well, and we 186 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:43,320 Speaker 1: are all admittedly Bidet boys over here. 187 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:45,319 Speaker 2: And if that isn't the name of a fun punk 188 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:47,800 Speaker 2: rock band, then it absolutely should. 189 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:53,439 Speaker 1: Be tattoos we should get. I'm good with my Toto 190 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:55,839 Speaker 1: wash lit. I know you guys should get it. You 191 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:59,240 Speaker 1: guys should get Bidet bros. Right like where the old 192 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: tramp stamp bros. Right at the right at your lombard. 193 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:06,680 Speaker 1: I like it in theory, Ben, I don't think I 194 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:08,360 Speaker 1: like it. I don't think you should do it. No, 195 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:10,120 Speaker 1: I don't think you should do it. I think Jonathan 196 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:15,040 Speaker 1: Stricklan should get it. Yeah right on. Oh geez, So 197 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:19,560 Speaker 1: this guy Alfred Bennet b I n E T not 198 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:25,800 Speaker 1: Bidey and no relation to the Ramses, right. Yeah, so 199 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:29,760 Speaker 1: far as we know, he is born as Alfredo Benetti. 200 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 2: It was one of those americanizations, right, It must have 201 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 2: been gotta sound a little more, a little more native born. 202 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:40,480 Speaker 1: It's common when people, you know, immigrated in those days, 203 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:45,000 Speaker 1: especially in France, right in the mid eighteen hundreds. He's 204 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:48,800 Speaker 1: born on July eighth, eighteen fifty seven, so his posthumous 205 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:53,440 Speaker 1: birthday is coming up pretty soon. His dad was a doctor, 206 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:58,000 Speaker 1: his mom was an artist. His parents separated when he 207 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:02,319 Speaker 1: was very young, and he was raised primarily by his mother. 208 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: She moved with him to Paris later in life so 209 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:11,000 Speaker 1: that he could attend law school. And guys, here's the thing. 210 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: He did get his qualifications as bona fides. He was 211 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:18,240 Speaker 1: able to practice law in eighteen seventy eight. But he 212 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:22,320 Speaker 1: looked around at the legal landscape of France in the 213 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:25,439 Speaker 1: late eighteen hundreds and he said, no, I'm going to 214 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:28,560 Speaker 1: be like my dad. I'm going to go into medicine. 215 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 1: And then soon after that he said, no, I'm going 216 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 1: to be different. I'm going to get into hypnosis. Cool. 217 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 2: A very reasonable progression there, a reasonable reasonable trajectory. 218 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:47,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, so he's been several years becoming a sort of 219 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:55,480 Speaker 1: a autodidact. He is teaching himself. He reads extensively. He 220 00:13:55,559 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: loves work by people like Alexander Bain, Charles Darwin from earlier, 221 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 1: John Stewart Mill. Eventually, no, he publishes his first article, 222 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:12,719 Speaker 1: his first professional article. It is on hypnosis. He publishes 223 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: this in eighteen eighty and everyone hates it. 224 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, people were not fond of this piece of writing 225 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:24,240 Speaker 2: in eighteen eighty three. 226 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:29,360 Speaker 1: However, he weathered the critiques and the poor reviews. 227 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 2: The throwing of the tomatoes, and he took a position 228 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:34,800 Speaker 2: in the I'm gonna try my best here and make 229 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:43,800 Speaker 2: Casey Pegrim proud that you got Sepatrier, Sepatrier cept Salpetriere. 230 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:45,720 Speaker 1: There we go. Hospital. 231 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:47,800 Speaker 2: I was about to say hospital, but that would be 232 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:52,640 Speaker 2: a bridge too far. In Paris, it was a place 233 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:57,240 Speaker 2: that allowed him to pursue research that focused on hypnosis. 234 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:00,240 Speaker 2: He was greatly influenced by a guy by the name 235 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 2: of Charco and he published four articles during his time 236 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 2: there on hypnosis and the concept of animal magnetism, which 237 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:11,480 Speaker 2: is another one that's a little bit of a sticky wicked. 238 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:13,160 Speaker 2: I mean, I just my dog just growled when I 239 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:14,479 Speaker 2: said animal magnetism. 240 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 1: What do you know that I don't know, buddy. Yeah, 241 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:24,000 Speaker 1: we're referring to Jean Martin Charco. And this guy becomes 242 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 1: a mentor to our buddy Alfred. His work shines brightly, 243 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: but briefly because other peers in the world of hypnotism 244 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:40,880 Speaker 1: or animal magnetism. Oh, Paula, can't hear me? Okay, he 245 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:46,120 Speaker 1: sends you always seems to look in the past. I 246 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 1: love the vibe. So this guy is sort of his 247 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:56,160 Speaker 1: mentor figure, right Charcot and Charco gets in a lot 248 00:15:56,200 --> 00:16:00,200 Speaker 1: of trouble because other scientists look at his work and say, 249 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: I don't know, man, this feels less like science. This 250 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:07,240 Speaker 1: feels more like you sort of doing your own thing 251 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:12,240 Speaker 1: and calling your opinions science. It's a massive, massive scandal. 252 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 1: It's a massive downfall, and unfortunately our buddy Al Bennet, 253 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:21,400 Speaker 1: his reputation takes a big hit as well. It's my association. Yeah, yeah, 254 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:24,680 Speaker 1: he caught some strays. As we would say on the 255 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:25,640 Speaker 1: Breakfast Club. 256 00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:29,000 Speaker 2: Well we would if we were ever invited back, or 257 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 2: you know, for the first time, you know, Ben, This 258 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 2: makes me think of a recent discussion that we had 259 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:36,360 Speaker 2: on our sister pod Stuff they Don't Want you to Know, 260 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:41,600 Speaker 2: with the incredible host of the podcast series Mind Games, 261 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 2: about sort of the history of hypnosis, more specifically the 262 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:50,120 Speaker 2: history of a controversial technique. What was the main thing 263 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:55,440 Speaker 2: that we talked about with Zoe Lacaz Thank you, Yeah. 264 00:16:55,680 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 1: Focuses on the controversial group of tactics called neuro linguistic programming. 265 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:08,120 Speaker 2: Right, and also the types of controversial forms of hypnosis 266 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:11,520 Speaker 2: like memory regression therapy and this idea that it can 267 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:15,320 Speaker 2: cause false memories to be quote unquote recalled. So it 268 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:18,000 Speaker 2: makes sense to me that in the early days of 269 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:23,280 Speaker 2: this kind of attempt to scienceify this practice, that it 270 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:25,119 Speaker 2: might have been met with some backlash. 271 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 1: Oh right, And this stuff happens well after Bena has passed. 272 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: At this point where his mentor has an academic downfall 273 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:42,040 Speaker 1: and gets hit with Look, his career is basically over. 274 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 1: Ben A has to pivot, as they would say in 275 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:50,919 Speaker 1: corporate America. So he decides he is going to abandon 276 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:57,199 Speaker 1: hypnosis in favor of studying psychological development. This is his 277 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 1: big switch, This is the decision that will later change 278 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:05,399 Speaker 1: the world. And he starts. There's no other way to 279 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:08,440 Speaker 1: say it. Folks. He starts experimenting on his own children. 280 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:13,680 Speaker 2: Mmmmm, yeah, that's not great. I mean, we just talked 281 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 2: about that as well, Ben on stuff that I want 282 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:19,600 Speaker 2: you to know in talking about the fine line between 283 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:25,159 Speaker 2: scientific advancements in the concept of magic, and we've certainly 284 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,800 Speaker 2: talked about folks that have gone all mad scientists about 285 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:32,280 Speaker 2: things and in the pursuit of progress, but doing some 286 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:37,159 Speaker 2: pretty horrific things in that pursuit, like human experimentation or 287 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:41,040 Speaker 2: you know, self experimentation. Not great, definitely better than you know, 288 00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:46,760 Speaker 2: experimenting on someone who is not consenting. Not really sure 289 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 2: what the relationship was with the daughter. Maybe she was 290 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,639 Speaker 2: into it, but still kind of doesn't matter to be honest. 291 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:56,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's here's the thing. It's eighteen eighty four. 292 00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:02,080 Speaker 1: Bene Mary's his longtime spouse or a Balbiani, and together 293 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: they have two daughters, Madeleine and Alice. Madeleine's born in 294 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:09,520 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty five, just a year after they get married. 295 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:13,439 Speaker 1: Alice is born in eighteen eighty seven. And so this 296 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:17,000 Speaker 1: guy is not to be clear, he's not drugging his children. 297 00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 1: He starts to study how they think, or how they 298 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:27,320 Speaker 1: think about thinking. Their metacognitive processes. And this means that 299 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:31,679 Speaker 1: he is the weirdest beat me here, Max, He is 300 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 1: the weirdest guddamn dad ever. He's not hurting the kids, 301 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:39,879 Speaker 1: but he's asking them very strange questions, and he's making 302 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:45,960 Speaker 1: them do little experiments that inform his research on suggestibility 303 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:52,200 Speaker 1: and attention. Now he starts saying, how do we measure intelligence? Right? 304 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:57,439 Speaker 1: How do personalities or how does lineage affect intelligence? And 305 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:00,560 Speaker 1: he publishes so much stuff at this point. If we 306 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:04,720 Speaker 1: fast forward, it's eighteen ninety two, he gets a doctorate 307 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: in natural sciences from suborne and in eighteen ninety one, Bro, 308 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:15,359 Speaker 1: I'm not sure how to say this, he kind of 309 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:26,679 Speaker 1: gets a job at the Laboratory of Physiological Psychology. It 310 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:31,920 Speaker 1: is a prestigious place, but we're saying kind of because 311 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:37,360 Speaker 1: when he got the job it was an unpaid position. 312 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:39,920 Speaker 1: He worked for a year and didn't see a dime 313 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 1: or a fronk. 314 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,320 Speaker 2: Am I even do too much trouble for doing this 315 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 2: stuff with his daughters, because I mean it doesn't seem. 316 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,240 Speaker 1: Like it's particularly. 317 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:53,119 Speaker 2: You know, invasive of just studying suggestibility and attention. But 318 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:56,160 Speaker 2: I guess when I immediately when I hear about someone experimenting 319 00:20:56,359 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 2: quote unquote on their family members, it does make me 320 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 2: kind of you know, ra eyebrows a little bit. 321 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:05,080 Speaker 1: It's cringe. And we're right to be skeptical because even 322 00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:10,479 Speaker 1: if you're just asking the questions, you are never not 323 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:13,760 Speaker 1: going to also be their parent, you know what I mean. 324 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:17,080 Speaker 2: That's true, that's true. That can also lead to just 325 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:18,960 Speaker 2: you know, it's just not good science, right. 326 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 1: Not great science. Yeah, agreed, And everybody in France disagreed 327 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:28,639 Speaker 1: with our conclusion because they said, this guy is great. 328 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 1: He works for a year and we don't have to 329 00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:36,080 Speaker 1: pay him. Let's make him the director of this laboratory. 330 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:42,120 Speaker 1: And there he meets his longtime collaborator, Theodore Simone. Theodore 331 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 1: Simone works with Bene to do doctoral research under Benet's supervision. 332 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:53,760 Speaker 1: Bene does some things that are unequivocably very good things. 333 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:58,400 Speaker 1: He starts the first French journal of psychology in eighteen 334 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:03,159 Speaker 1: ninety five, and at first he is a huge fanboy 335 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:07,879 Speaker 1: of a guy named Francis Golton. Francis Golton earlier worked 336 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:13,120 Speaker 1: in developing what we will call standardized test and his 337 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:18,520 Speaker 1: thing was, we can build out a rubric to measure 338 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 1: individual differences in a population. So Benee adopted this approach 339 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,640 Speaker 1: in his work. He later, I think it's nineteen oh three, 340 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:33,879 Speaker 1: he publishes an article that says, hey, guys, have you 341 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:40,119 Speaker 1: ever asked your daughters off putting strange questions. 342 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 2: All the time? What have you ever dadd before? Kind 343 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,760 Speaker 2: of comes with the territory, So Ben, shall we begin 344 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:49,800 Speaker 2: ZiT tests? 345 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:58,120 Speaker 1: Ah Wonderbach. Also he got a lot more love for 346 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:02,359 Speaker 1: this nineteen oh three article I did about his hypnosis stuff. 347 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:04,880 Speaker 1: He was getting there, man, he was doing the work. 348 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 1: You know. They were like Al's back, als back so hard. 349 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: And he and his collaborator, as we're alluding to, they 350 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:17,080 Speaker 1: started working on a test that was meant to help 351 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:20,560 Speaker 1: the kids, just like Wu Tang. They said, if children 352 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:24,040 Speaker 1: have problems in learning, we got to figure out how 353 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:27,560 Speaker 1: to assist those kids. This is what leads to the 354 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:31,960 Speaker 1: thing we call the benez Simone Intelligence Scale, and it 355 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:33,480 Speaker 1: was a government project. 356 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:36,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, but I thought I'd maybe take a minute real 357 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:38,720 Speaker 2: quick here, just as an aside to talk about something 358 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 2: that you and I talked about off Mike about this 359 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:44,600 Speaker 2: subject in terms of helping kids to learn and this 360 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:48,720 Speaker 2: knowledge that kids learned differently and that no two kids 361 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:51,280 Speaker 2: are the same. I do appreciate where Bene is coming 362 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:56,720 Speaker 2: from here specifically because my kid is given certain dispensations 363 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,840 Speaker 2: through the public school system here in Atlanta, allowing them 364 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:02,760 Speaker 2: for a little bit more time on tests. And it's 365 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:04,520 Speaker 2: not something that you'd go so far as to maybe 366 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:07,480 Speaker 2: call a learning disability, but it is something that after 367 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:11,359 Speaker 2: an assessment, it is determined that a little bit of 368 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,360 Speaker 2: extra time is helpful. And I just really appreciate all 369 00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:17,240 Speaker 2: the admins and teachers and you know, folks in the 370 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,639 Speaker 2: school system that advocated for that kind of stuff because 371 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:22,640 Speaker 2: to your point earlier, Ben Or we talked about some 372 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:26,720 Speaker 2: really smart people just don't test well and it can 373 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:29,400 Speaker 2: be a real source of anxiety if someone already has, 374 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:34,160 Speaker 2: like say, just generalized anxiety. So just kudos to the teachers, 375 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:37,320 Speaker 2: as we always says, and you know, this is a 376 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:38,920 Speaker 2: it's been a very positive experience. 377 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:44,200 Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yeah, that's not what's happening in early nineteen hundreds. 378 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:47,119 Speaker 2: Not yet, definitely, not yet, but just again speaking to 379 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 2: the idea of you know, help helping the kids. 380 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:54,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, the French government it's nineteen oh four, okay, and 381 00:24:54,960 --> 00:25:01,280 Speaker 1: the French government says we need to identify special needs 382 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:05,520 Speaker 1: in children. Specifically, the Minister of Public Instruction over in 383 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:09,800 Speaker 1: Paris says, we have to study existing tests, or we 384 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:13,080 Speaker 1: have to create our own tests so that we can 385 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:18,879 Speaker 1: ensure intellectually disabled children their words, not ours, can receive 386 00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:22,880 Speaker 1: an adequate education as best as the state can do. 387 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,800 Speaker 1: The minister at the time, or the ministry, i should say, 388 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:33,119 Speaker 1: is also concerned that children who have normal intelligence are 389 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:37,879 Speaker 1: being placed in classes for disabled children, not because of 390 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:42,000 Speaker 1: their cognitive abilities, but because of behavior problems. And so 391 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:46,720 Speaker 1: they look around France and they say, oh, former creepy 392 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:51,600 Speaker 1: hypnotist fanboy, Alfred Binet, you're the guy who should be 393 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:57,440 Speaker 1: in charge of all of this. And he took the reins, 394 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:01,280 Speaker 1: he took it went off run And by this point 395 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:05,480 Speaker 1: I got to tell you, I think Bene is sort 396 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:09,960 Speaker 1: of a mercurial dude. You go from the law to medicine, 397 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:12,199 Speaker 1: to hypnosis to psychology. 398 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 2: That's funny, Ben, because it's like, when I think of mercurial, 399 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:18,159 Speaker 2: I guess I sometimes think of somebody who might be 400 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,119 Speaker 2: like a jack of all trades or sort of a polymath. 401 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:23,920 Speaker 2: But I guess maybe that you're meaning more in terms 402 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:26,440 Speaker 2: of a little bit on the flighty side. 403 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:29,920 Speaker 1: A little bit. He's a little bit on the flight, 404 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:32,840 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. The guy takes flights, but hey, 405 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:33,439 Speaker 1: so do we. 406 00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 2: So, speaking of which I need to book a return 407 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:42,280 Speaker 2: flight before you know it could cost one. 408 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: Oh right, yeah, that's a good time. The best time 409 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:48,399 Speaker 1: too if you're gaming the system, if you want to 410 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:52,960 Speaker 1: take advantage of the AI pricing or dynamic pricing, wake 411 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:56,959 Speaker 1: up at like two to three thirty in the morning. 412 00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:00,679 Speaker 1: That's when that's when the system resets. That is not 413 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:04,359 Speaker 1: helpful or well, hopefully it's helpful. It is not relevant 414 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:08,680 Speaker 1: to what we're talking about. Our buddy Benet in Classic 415 00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:14,600 Speaker 1: Mercurial Nature has already at this point rejected his adoration 416 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,880 Speaker 1: of Galton and Galton's ideas. He said, look, this guy 417 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:23,040 Speaker 1: was onto something with standardized tests, but they're only measuring 418 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:29,439 Speaker 1: trivial abilities. They're measuring things like memorization. What we need 419 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:34,520 Speaker 1: are tests that measure the more impactful, if abstract things 420 00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:40,080 Speaker 1: like judgment, comprehension, reasoning. These are much more difficult to measure, 421 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: and he knew that going in, but he was convinced 422 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:47,959 Speaker 1: that doing so would yield more accurate results. 423 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:48,439 Speaker 3: In this. 424 00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:55,119 Speaker 1: Question right, and again, this question was entirely about how 425 00:27:56,119 --> 00:28:00,560 Speaker 1: to set children up for success. Right, should the kids 426 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:05,840 Speaker 1: who maybe have learning disabilities, should they go to special 427 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:11,240 Speaker 1: classes in regular schools or should they be sent to asylums? 428 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 1: And who determines whether a kid has a learning problem 429 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:19,399 Speaker 1: in the first place. The psychologists were kind of a 430 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:22,800 Speaker 1: cartel at this point in France, and they said, oh, yeah, 431 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:25,040 Speaker 1: you've got to go to our boys. You've got to 432 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:28,159 Speaker 1: go to our crew of psychologists and they'll tell you 433 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:32,520 Speaker 1: if your child is a broken egg. And Bene and 434 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:36,240 Speaker 1: the crew that he led in opposition, they said, no, 435 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:39,800 Speaker 1: that's weird. You guys are being weird. Don't get me wrong. 436 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 1: I experimented on my daughters as well, But we should 437 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:50,240 Speaker 1: use objective criteria because humans are fallible, So what should 438 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:55,560 Speaker 1: be the test? And that's where they started to create 439 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: what we call the first IQ test. It probably also 440 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,280 Speaker 1: did not escape this guy, or at least, here's what 441 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,480 Speaker 1: I like to think, it probably didn't escape him that 442 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:09,719 Speaker 1: the future of a lot of children rested on his shoulders, 443 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:14,400 Speaker 1: especially since he had those earlier missteps in the world 444 00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:18,000 Speaker 1: of hypnosis. He had to get this one right, he 445 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,840 Speaker 1: sure did so. Soon enough, he and Theodore Simone had 446 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: created an early prototype of the IQ test. Is an 447 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:27,800 Speaker 1: early test, a prototype, it has to be, I'm gonna 448 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:28,120 Speaker 1: go with that. 449 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:31,680 Speaker 2: It's a type of technology. And this was known as 450 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:35,680 Speaker 2: the Benet Simone Tests. But they wanted a little bit 451 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:39,479 Speaker 2: more input from some other folks in the field, so 452 00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:41,760 Speaker 2: they took this early version of the test over to 453 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:45,080 Speaker 2: Stanford University across the pond. 454 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: Ah. Yes, and here we introduce our friends at Stanford University. 455 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,320 Speaker 1: So in this sense, specifically, when we say friends, we're 456 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:59,520 Speaker 1: talking about another psychologist. His name is Lewis Turman. He 457 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:03,640 Speaker 1: built on Bene and Simone's work and he created a 458 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:08,960 Speaker 1: version of their test called the Stanford Bene Intelligence Scale, 459 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:14,000 Speaker 1: introduced in nineteen sixteen. This is the IQ test. A 460 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:18,880 Speaker 1: lot of people take. It's been revised numerous times. It's 461 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:22,840 Speaker 1: administered individually, so you're not sitting in a big room 462 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:27,560 Speaker 1: like when you take an SAT, and it assesses individuals 463 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:32,880 Speaker 1: as young as two years old. It primarily focuses on children. 464 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:36,000 Speaker 1: I just can't imagine giving a two year old a 465 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,880 Speaker 1: standardized test. What do you tell to you? What are 466 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:40,480 Speaker 1: you talking about? 467 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:43,840 Speaker 2: Shapes Yeah, pointing at animals like that. What's that one 468 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:45,960 Speaker 2: for dementia that Trump's always bragging about? 469 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:50,680 Speaker 1: Oh, man, woman, person camera, something like that. Yeah, hands 470 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:54,960 Speaker 1: on the clock TV man woman person camera. Cool like that, 471 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:59,680 Speaker 1: we're clear. We can name five words we heard earlier. 472 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:02,280 Speaker 2: Is this it's a square peg round hole type situation 473 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:04,200 Speaker 2: or like one of those ones where you're putting shapes 474 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:05,920 Speaker 2: in different order. I mean, I know the square peg 475 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,720 Speaker 2: round whole thing is it doesn't work. But you know 476 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:11,120 Speaker 2: the one where you're like recognizing patterns and things like that. 477 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:15,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, pattern recognition. Like you see a picture in a 478 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:21,520 Speaker 1: grid and maybe let's say it's a three by three grid, right, 479 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:25,560 Speaker 1: so nine squares and one of the squares is left blank, 480 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:29,080 Speaker 1: and you have to pick the image that fits in there. 481 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 1: You know, you've got let's say, equilateral triangle and the 482 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:37,040 Speaker 1: bottom left corner is missing, and then you have a 483 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:41,000 Speaker 1: couple of choices for what image would best complete that 484 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:44,120 Speaker 1: full picture of the triangle. That's an example. Then you 485 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,080 Speaker 1: know what completes my full picture of a triangle? What's that? 486 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:53,880 Speaker 1: You shucks? The full picture of the triangle in my heart? Cool? 487 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:57,800 Speaker 1: Shout out to olt j Ed, shout out to Max Williams, man, 488 00:31:57,840 --> 00:31:59,360 Speaker 1: you're part of the triangle as well. 489 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 2: That oh Max is good, he's done with us speaking 490 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:10,080 Speaker 2: of triangles, and oh dear, okay, let's not go. We'll 491 00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:12,360 Speaker 2: have to get back into Max's good graces. But Ben, 492 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:15,840 Speaker 2: speaking of triangles and French stuff, have you heard of 493 00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:20,000 Speaker 2: this Montreal, This French Canadian band called Angeen de Poitrine. 494 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:23,360 Speaker 2: So they have this whole mythology. 495 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:24,040 Speaker 1: You'd love them. 496 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:26,960 Speaker 2: They they wear these crazy costumes, and they purport to 497 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:30,479 Speaker 2: be aliens from another planet, and they worship triangles and 498 00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:34,960 Speaker 2: they play microtonal math rock and they wear these bonkers 499 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,719 Speaker 2: costumes and they're blowing up right now, and they're a 500 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:40,400 Speaker 2: lot of fun. They kind of have King Gizzard vibes. 501 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:42,480 Speaker 2: But I just love I know you love a mythology, 502 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:45,640 Speaker 2: especially a triangle based one. 503 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you for the recommendation. What's the name of 504 00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:49,240 Speaker 1: the band? 505 00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:54,000 Speaker 2: They are called Angeen Dipatin, all right, And I'm linking 506 00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 2: you to their. 507 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:59,360 Speaker 1: I'm linking you to their k XP performance right now. Phenomenal. 508 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:04,680 Speaker 1: I love k Look, we also know that this idea 509 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:10,720 Speaker 1: of this idea of measuring intelligence is tricky because even 510 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:14,840 Speaker 1: back then and in the current day humanity has no 511 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:21,560 Speaker 1: universally agreed upon definition of intelligence. So Ever, since nineteen sixteen, 512 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,880 Speaker 1: the boffins and the eggheads and the very smart badgers 513 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:32,920 Speaker 1: have been revising this scale, this Stanford Benet Intelligence Scale. 514 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:37,280 Speaker 1: They have also again, it's different from a firearm test 515 00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:42,080 Speaker 1: because it is a comparative score. So modern tests are 516 00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:45,280 Speaker 1: going to use what we call deviation. They're going to 517 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:48,440 Speaker 1: assume the average score, like in the middle of the 518 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:52,040 Speaker 1: Bell curve is one hundred. We can get into the 519 00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:56,840 Speaker 1: weeds there later. Let's standard deviation. If I'm not mistaken, Yes, yeah, 520 00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:01,040 Speaker 1: nailed it. Standard deviation of sixteen. So if you take 521 00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:05,280 Speaker 1: a test like this and your IQ score is above 522 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:10,480 Speaker 1: one thirty, you are considered gifted. If it's below seventy, 523 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:13,680 Speaker 1: they're going to look at you a little bit harder 524 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:18,640 Speaker 1: for some sort of intellectual disability, Forst. Gump style. Right. 525 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,160 Speaker 2: So, as this concept kind of starts picking up steam 526 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:24,160 Speaker 2: and expanding throughout the world, you started to see other 527 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:27,080 Speaker 2: sort of folks styling on it a bit, giving it 528 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:30,000 Speaker 2: their own spin, which sort of led to some other 529 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 2: still to this day pretty well known tests and other 530 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:36,360 Speaker 2: kind of ideas around testing, beginning to emerge stuff like 531 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:39,920 Speaker 2: the Wes Adult Wessler perhaps I know this one adult 532 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:45,760 Speaker 2: Intelligent Scale and the Westler Intelligence Scale for children, which 533 00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:51,040 Speaker 2: do yield an overall intelligence quotient score, as well as 534 00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:55,600 Speaker 2: separate ones for verbal and performance subtests. 535 00:34:56,239 --> 00:35:00,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, sort of like how you get yours a gifts 536 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:04,920 Speaker 1: right one score for verbal or communicative in your SATs 537 00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:07,879 Speaker 1: wants one score for quantitative or mathematical. 538 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:09,799 Speaker 2: Well, so, I guess the reason a lot of this 539 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:12,360 Speaker 2: stuff rang true to many of us in the audience, 540 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:17,440 Speaker 2: including myself, is because, as we're learning, the basis for 541 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:19,720 Speaker 2: so many of these standardized. 542 00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:21,399 Speaker 1: Tests is in all of this stuff. So even if, 543 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:23,520 Speaker 1: to your point, Ben, you haven't taken a quote unquote 544 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:28,319 Speaker 1: IQ test, which is less of a thing, it's much 545 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:31,480 Speaker 1: more of a spectrum, you've probably taken something that was 546 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:36,160 Speaker 1: very much inspired by the work of these folks one 547 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:39,400 Speaker 1: hundred percent. You know, for an example of a verbal test, 548 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:43,880 Speaker 1: it would be a vocabulary question. Performance tests would be 549 00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:47,479 Speaker 1: picture arrangement like we described just a few minutes ago. 550 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:53,760 Speaker 1: And for us folks, fellow ridiculous historians, this actually sounds 551 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:57,080 Speaker 1: like a lot of fun because neither of those examples 552 00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:00,560 Speaker 1: requires you to be super good at math, which is 553 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:04,160 Speaker 1: where no offense estinal. I think we both crapped the 554 00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:05,040 Speaker 1: bag a little bit. 555 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, Now my thing, I got a near I mean 556 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:08,720 Speaker 2: not to bragg or anything, but I got a nearly 557 00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:11,320 Speaker 2: perfect verbal score, as I'm sure you did on the SAT. 558 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:14,319 Speaker 2: And I don't even remember what my math was, but 559 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,480 Speaker 2: it was so bad that my overall SAT score weren't impressive. 560 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:21,360 Speaker 2: But taking taking in, you know, as as the verbal one, 561 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:23,280 Speaker 2: that's what I always lead with when I'm talking about 562 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:24,879 Speaker 2: the SAT, just to. 563 00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:27,080 Speaker 3: Be this guy, I was a guy who did much 564 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:28,360 Speaker 3: better in math than verbal. 565 00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:31,799 Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, And frankly, dude, that that makes sense. You've 566 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:34,239 Speaker 2: got a very analytical brain in that respect. But you're 567 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:37,080 Speaker 2: also a really good communicator, So go to hell. 568 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:39,320 Speaker 1: It's got good SAT score in general. 569 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:42,080 Speaker 2: So right, get off, get off here and be gone 570 00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:44,839 Speaker 2: into a well with you and we're not even gonna 571 00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:45,520 Speaker 2: send last. 572 00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:49,480 Speaker 1: Stop kissing up to each other, guys, is not what's happened, 573 00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:55,879 Speaker 1: and not the gay hockey kind. The decades to go on, right, 574 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,560 Speaker 1: and as we said, new versions of similar test and merge, 575 00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:04,120 Speaker 1: these things are continually getting revised. As you pointed out, 576 00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:08,839 Speaker 1: now some version of this some grandchild of this sort 577 00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:12,239 Speaker 1: of idea is found in all sorts of places. There 578 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:15,319 Speaker 1: is no escaping it. A good score can have a 579 00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:20,160 Speaker 1: significant impact on your future in terms of your career 580 00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:23,440 Speaker 1: path and vice versa. Of course, right, there's a bit 581 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,920 Speaker 1: of a feedback loop, right, And this is the ridiculous part. 582 00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:32,680 Speaker 1: These tests have always been controversial since the early nineteen hundreds, 583 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:34,640 Speaker 1: and a lot of people are going to tell you, 584 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:39,799 Speaker 1: including us, that these tests are far less useful than 585 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:45,840 Speaker 1: we have been led to believe. It's never going to die, 586 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:49,960 Speaker 1: and so on paper, it sounds pretty nifty, right to 587 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:52,400 Speaker 1: put it simply, We love black and white. 588 00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:54,920 Speaker 2: We love being able to boil things down to like 589 00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:59,319 Speaker 2: a formula or a score. It is a human brain thing, 590 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:03,840 Speaker 2: but typically we know that stuff can sometimes it be 591 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:06,000 Speaker 2: a little too good to be true, or a little 592 00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:07,560 Speaker 2: too broad to. 593 00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:19,440 Speaker 1: Be nuanced, if that makes sense. The idea of quantifying 594 00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:23,759 Speaker 1: every single member of the human population by bypassing all 595 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:29,399 Speaker 1: those things you describe nuance right, the experience right, right, 596 00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:32,759 Speaker 1: soft skills, The idea that you can just treat a 597 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,880 Speaker 1: person like a file or a unit and slap a 598 00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:40,640 Speaker 1: number on their forehead. It turns out that so similar 599 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:44,080 Speaker 1: to so many other things that sound like amazing shortcuts. 600 00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:48,520 Speaker 1: IQ tests fall far short of what they are supposed 601 00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:51,840 Speaker 1: to do. I mean, the Stanford Bene test is used 602 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:57,480 Speaker 1: to evaluate abilities, but it has also inescapably been used 603 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:02,160 Speaker 1: to justify racist a list beliefs and policies. 604 00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:08,160 Speaker 2: No callback with phrenology just also just came up pretty recently, 605 00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:13,440 Speaker 2: typical of these types of again very black and white 606 00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:17,239 Speaker 2: boiling down, boilings down of something that is a much 607 00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:20,759 Speaker 2: more complex issue, like feeling the bumps on someone's head 608 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:23,040 Speaker 2: and feeling like that allows you to say that they 609 00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:26,520 Speaker 2: are not a valid member of the human race. 610 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:32,359 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, this is the question efficacy. Efficacy for an 611 00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:38,120 Speaker 1: IQ test would be asking are these results an accurate 612 00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:42,759 Speaker 1: measure of a concept that human beings still struggle to 613 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:49,000 Speaker 1: fully defy? Can your IQ score really predict your future performance? 614 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:54,880 Speaker 1: The answer is, give me a record scratchbacks perfect, not 615 00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:59,240 Speaker 1: really not skirt skirt not really, not one hundred percent 616 00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:03,560 Speaker 1: of the time. Not fully. It's fairly common. I will 617 00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:08,320 Speaker 1: pause it that a lot of us know objectively brilliant 618 00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:12,799 Speaker 1: people who could maybe write amazing novels. They can make 619 00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:16,640 Speaker 1: phenomenal murals, they can do high level math, in their 620 00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:21,520 Speaker 1: heads without notes. But they still don't have financial or 621 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:25,040 Speaker 1: social success. They're not at the top of society. And 622 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:27,880 Speaker 1: it's not because they're dumb by any means. It's just 623 00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:32,320 Speaker 1: because they're good at taking one test, which is not 624 00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:34,160 Speaker 1: the same thing as being good at life. 625 00:40:34,280 --> 00:40:39,600 Speaker 2: Well, it's also, you know, worth mentioning the path dependency 626 00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:42,560 Speaker 2: maybe the wrong term. I'm a little bit stuck in 627 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:47,839 Speaker 2: a conversation we recently had about oil and natural resources 628 00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:50,319 Speaker 2: and path dependency in that respect, but in terms of 629 00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:54,080 Speaker 2: the path towards success and this dependency that is sort 630 00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:57,640 Speaker 2: of pushed historically on kids to follow that path, and 631 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:01,840 Speaker 2: including things like college and taking these tests and getting 632 00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:03,799 Speaker 2: good scores on these tests. We know that a lot 633 00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:06,920 Speaker 2: of that too, is sort of just gatekeeping for connections, 634 00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:09,640 Speaker 2: you know, and the types of people that you might 635 00:41:09,719 --> 00:41:12,719 Speaker 2: encounter that are ultimately the ones who put you in 636 00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:16,839 Speaker 2: the right rooms and get you, you know, a leg 637 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:21,120 Speaker 2: up towards perhaps that journey of success. But these days, 638 00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:23,880 Speaker 2: I don't know, man, those paths are a little bit 639 00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:25,960 Speaker 2: less relevant than they used to be. And we know 640 00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:28,600 Speaker 2: that if you make the effort and put yourself out there, 641 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:32,839 Speaker 2: you can find your people. You can find those connections 642 00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:35,840 Speaker 2: on your own, just by being part of the world 643 00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:38,719 Speaker 2: and being interested in stuff and perhaps being part of 644 00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:43,239 Speaker 2: Reddit groups or you know, making Internet content, or just 645 00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:46,000 Speaker 2: like hanging out and going to clubs and stuff like that. 646 00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:48,000 Speaker 2: So I'm not saying don't go to college, but I'm 647 00:41:48,040 --> 00:41:51,120 Speaker 2: also just saying that I think it's coming around. The 648 00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:54,439 Speaker 2: general knowledge maybe is that it's not exactly the only way. 649 00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:58,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And part of that is because IQ tests 650 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:02,680 Speaker 1: measure a very narrow slice of what we can call 651 00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:07,319 Speaker 1: mental horsepower. Right. It looks at your logic, your pattern recognition, 652 00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:11,399 Speaker 1: short term memory, problem solving. So these tests can tell 653 00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:15,080 Speaker 1: you how good you are taking an IQ test. They 654 00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:17,520 Speaker 1: can tell you how fast you can solve a puzzle, 655 00:42:17,880 --> 00:42:21,600 Speaker 1: but they don't they don't measure They're not able to 656 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,439 Speaker 1: measure how you would do things like raise kids, or 657 00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:27,200 Speaker 1: stop your friends in the middle of a fight, or 658 00:42:27,239 --> 00:42:31,000 Speaker 1: even survive a week in the woods. The soft skills 659 00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:34,520 Speaker 1: are the key, Right. You can score incredibly high on 660 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:38,319 Speaker 1: all sorts of tests, but you might not have emotional intelligence. 661 00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:42,240 Speaker 1: You might not be good at reading and understanding the needs, 662 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:46,960 Speaker 1: perspectives and actions of others. Right. If you're very good 663 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:53,440 Speaker 1: at math. But you don't feel that other people also 664 00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:57,279 Speaker 1: are equal entities in the world, then folks at your 665 00:42:57,320 --> 00:42:59,440 Speaker 1: job aren't gonna like you. You also might not be 666 00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:03,160 Speaker 1: good at hand stress. These are key things to success, 667 00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:06,160 Speaker 1: and I love what you pointed out there about things 668 00:43:06,239 --> 00:43:10,920 Speaker 1: like networking. IQ tests don't measure that, they don't measure 669 00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:13,320 Speaker 1: interpersonal intelligence. 670 00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:15,080 Speaker 2: Well, and we certainly all remember the No Child Left 671 00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:19,120 Speaker 2: Behind scandal and how inevitably scandal maybe is a strong word, 672 00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:24,160 Speaker 2: but how when these quotas are pushed upon already strained 673 00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:26,879 Speaker 2: educational systems, you're going to end up with a whole 674 00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:30,400 Speaker 2: lot of teaching the tests, which again is not a 675 00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:33,320 Speaker 2: good indicator of what that test is actually supposed to 676 00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:35,080 Speaker 2: measure in the real world. 677 00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:39,200 Speaker 1: One hundred percent. You know, Bene's original test was meant 678 00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:42,640 Speaker 1: to be a diagnostic tool, not some kind of leader board. 679 00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:45,319 Speaker 1: But the issue is, by the time it hit the 680 00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:48,959 Speaker 1: United States, the test and versions of it were being 681 00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:53,160 Speaker 1: used to brank people to gatekeeper opportunities and even to 682 00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:58,440 Speaker 1: justify eugenics programs like they would use the IQ test 683 00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:06,120 Speaker 1: results to to justify another pseudoscience up there with phrenology, 684 00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:10,440 Speaker 1: the idea that some people have to be sterilized. The 685 00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:14,759 Speaker 1: idea that you're perceived race means you are superior or 686 00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:16,480 Speaker 1: inferior to others. 687 00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:19,080 Speaker 2: And man, I'm not trying to be get on a 688 00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:22,640 Speaker 2: political soap box here, but that sure feels like the 689 00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:25,920 Speaker 2: flavor of the way the President is thrown around that term, 690 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:28,440 Speaker 2: because he's often using it to refer to people of 691 00:44:28,480 --> 00:44:32,160 Speaker 2: color and referring to them as low IQ individuals and 692 00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:32,839 Speaker 2: stuff like that. 693 00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:35,120 Speaker 1: It just it just has echoes of what you're talking 694 00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:40,440 Speaker 1: about there, ben Oh, oh no, don't yield. We we can, 695 00:44:41,400 --> 00:44:43,960 Speaker 1: we could break, but we will not. Then it just grows. 696 00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:46,480 Speaker 2: It's again, not even if it's it's any political observation, 697 00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:49,520 Speaker 2: it's it's it's not nice. It's just rude and at 698 00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:53,879 Speaker 2: at at its very least and racist that it's at 699 00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:54,360 Speaker 2: its worst. 700 00:44:55,080 --> 00:44:58,880 Speaker 1: Yeah. In the early nineteen hundreds, Uncle Sam started using 701 00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:04,480 Speaker 1: uh these tests descended from Benay to sort students into programs. 702 00:45:04,719 --> 00:45:07,680 Speaker 1: So if you got a score on their version of 703 00:45:07,719 --> 00:45:10,960 Speaker 1: the IQ test that was above one hundred and fifteen, 704 00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:14,640 Speaker 1: that was your quotient, your deviation from the norm of 705 00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:19,080 Speaker 1: one hundred, then you were considered gifted and you then 706 00:45:19,239 --> 00:45:22,960 Speaker 1: got higher education opportunities. So you can make the most 707 00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:27,000 Speaker 1: of your abilities. If you're a normal kid, your score 708 00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:30,160 Speaker 1: is between seventy to one hundred and fifteen at this time, 709 00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:33,280 Speaker 1: you stay where you are. If your score is under 710 00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:36,920 Speaker 1: seventy for one reason or another and you don't often 711 00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:40,320 Speaker 1: get to retake the test, you are considered special needs. 712 00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:45,320 Speaker 1: You are sent to state schools, you are sent to institutions. 713 00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:49,759 Speaker 1: People begin to think that these special needs kids are 714 00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:54,360 Speaker 1: not fit for society. Only a few of them actually 715 00:45:54,400 --> 00:45:57,200 Speaker 1: had a cognitive disability. A lot of these kids were 716 00:45:57,200 --> 00:46:02,640 Speaker 1: from foster care, right, they didn't have earlier educational opportunities. 717 00:46:02,680 --> 00:46:07,000 Speaker 1: Their parents or their relatives may have substance issues, they 718 00:46:07,080 --> 00:46:10,640 Speaker 1: may have had their own sort of mental issues. These 719 00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:16,200 Speaker 1: kids get carted off to abusive foster homes and institutions. 720 00:46:17,560 --> 00:46:20,799 Speaker 1: And since we're a family show, can we just leave 721 00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:26,359 Speaker 1: it at this horrific stuff happened to these children, all 722 00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:31,160 Speaker 1: the kinds of abuse that you can imagine, and also sterilization. 723 00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:33,560 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, and there's you know, if you want 724 00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:38,239 Speaker 2: to dig deeper into that very disturbing topic, we've done 725 00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:40,640 Speaker 2: episodes about that very thing, on stuff that it wants 726 00:46:40,640 --> 00:46:43,680 Speaker 2: you to know. As well as our sister podcast stuff 727 00:46:43,719 --> 00:46:47,399 Speaker 2: you missed in history class, who have done I think 728 00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:52,440 Speaker 2: several episodes on sterilization and on this kind of horrific 729 00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:56,440 Speaker 2: treatment of children through these very types of programs that 730 00:46:56,440 --> 00:46:57,000 Speaker 2: we're talking about. 731 00:46:57,239 --> 00:47:01,120 Speaker 1: One hundred percent. Yeah, and these controvert continue in the 732 00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:05,279 Speaker 1: modern day. Critics will tell you intelligence tests have a 733 00:47:05,360 --> 00:47:11,200 Speaker 1: strong cultural bias, a favor people for more affluent backgrounds. 734 00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:16,880 Speaker 1: They discriminate against people from minority groups, right, whether that 735 00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:20,920 Speaker 1: be racial, ethnic, social, et cetera. We also know that 736 00:47:20,960 --> 00:47:25,080 Speaker 1: psychologists are responding to this by developing what they call 737 00:47:25,320 --> 00:47:31,680 Speaker 1: culture free tests, and the idea seems like very basic stuff. Say, say, 738 00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:34,880 Speaker 1: for instance, if we're testing kids who grew up in 739 00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:39,400 Speaker 1: the inner city, then we're going to use when we 740 00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:44,120 Speaker 1: ask questions, we're going to use urban or city settings 741 00:47:44,520 --> 00:47:48,200 Speaker 1: instead of like an outdated rural pastoral thing. Right like, 742 00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:52,560 Speaker 1: I'm I'm a kid in Queens, I'm an upper Queens. 743 00:47:52,880 --> 00:47:55,360 Speaker 1: Why are you asking me about this? Farmer? And is 744 00:47:55,480 --> 00:47:59,200 Speaker 1: rutabagas stop it? Ruda begas? 745 00:47:59,280 --> 00:48:02,480 Speaker 2: We love rudebaks. I still don't really fully understand what 746 00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:04,800 Speaker 2: they are do. Check out stuff they don't want you 747 00:48:04,880 --> 00:48:08,440 Speaker 2: to knowse Weekly Listener Mail episodes for a brand new 748 00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:12,480 Speaker 2: root of Bega Banger every single week from our incredible 749 00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:16,440 Speaker 2: super producer Dylan the code name Tennessee pal Fagan, And 750 00:48:16,719 --> 00:48:19,040 Speaker 2: I just wanted to really quickly mention that the specific 751 00:48:19,080 --> 00:48:21,840 Speaker 2: episode that I was referencing from stuff you missed in 752 00:48:21,920 --> 00:48:26,400 Speaker 2: history class is about the Calikak family and the study 753 00:48:26,680 --> 00:48:32,560 Speaker 2: of hereditary feeble mindedness, which is another really gross term 754 00:48:32,880 --> 00:48:35,000 Speaker 2: that was thrown around and tied to these types of 755 00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:37,280 Speaker 2: standardized test scores. 756 00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:41,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, that was weaponized language, for sure, But what we're 757 00:48:41,560 --> 00:48:46,359 Speaker 1: telling you is eugenics aside, cultural gatekeeping aside. There is 758 00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:50,400 Speaker 1: hope for the IQ test. These tests are not total garbage, 759 00:48:50,400 --> 00:48:54,520 Speaker 1: but they have and continue to have massive issues. They've 760 00:48:54,520 --> 00:49:00,080 Speaker 1: been weaponized, flagrantly misused. The results have been overestimated, and 761 00:49:00,239 --> 00:49:03,319 Speaker 1: on and on and on. And here's one of the 762 00:49:03,320 --> 00:49:06,120 Speaker 1: things I wish more people talked about when we talk 763 00:49:06,160 --> 00:49:09,520 Speaker 1: about IQ tests. This is one of the most ridiculous 764 00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:13,719 Speaker 1: flaws in the Origin story Noel Max. There is this 765 00:49:13,920 --> 00:49:18,640 Speaker 1: old adage in writing fiction, which is this, it is 766 00:49:18,719 --> 00:49:24,040 Speaker 1: incredibly difficult to write a super smart character because any 767 00:49:24,200 --> 00:49:28,239 Speaker 1: character can only be as intelligent as the author that 768 00:49:28,400 --> 00:49:32,520 Speaker 1: created them. IQ tests. I will posit cannot be immune 769 00:49:32,600 --> 00:49:36,359 Speaker 1: from that law. So the creators are very smart people, right, 770 00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:38,920 Speaker 1: the folks who make these tests, But they're probably not 771 00:49:39,040 --> 00:49:42,799 Speaker 1: the smartest people ever, ever, ever in history, and they're 772 00:49:42,840 --> 00:49:45,919 Speaker 1: probably not even the smartest people in their own lifetimes, 773 00:49:46,280 --> 00:49:50,880 Speaker 1: so they quite possibly are not the best candidates to 774 00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:54,120 Speaker 1: make these examinations in the first place. We need the 775 00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:58,759 Speaker 1: smartest people ever writing the test, and these are not them. No, 776 00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:04,200 Speaker 1: they're usually now, No they're not. And there's no statistical 777 00:50:04,280 --> 00:50:09,680 Speaker 1: association between your IQ score and hard measures like your wealth. 778 00:50:10,800 --> 00:50:17,080 Speaker 1: So look, this is a crazy thing. Humans are still 779 00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:20,840 Speaker 1: figuring out intelligence. We didn't even get to the Flynn effect, 780 00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:24,120 Speaker 1: which is kind of good news. Maybe we end on that. Noel, 781 00:50:24,160 --> 00:50:25,840 Speaker 1: have you heard of the Flint effect? 782 00:50:26,040 --> 00:50:29,440 Speaker 2: No, not till just now when I clocked it in 783 00:50:29,440 --> 00:50:32,520 Speaker 2: the outline. But please tell us about the Flint effect. 784 00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:39,160 Speaker 1: All right, here's the pickle. This is fascinating over time, 785 00:50:39,520 --> 00:50:43,399 Speaker 1: over decades and decades and decades, more than a century now, 786 00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:49,879 Speaker 1: IQ scores have shown a consistent increase across generations. It's 787 00:50:49,880 --> 00:50:53,760 Speaker 1: called the Flint effect because a guy named James Flynn 788 00:50:54,080 --> 00:50:59,200 Speaker 1: first first popularized this in the nineteen eighties and it 789 00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:02,560 Speaker 1: looks like people are scoring a higher on IQ tests, 790 00:51:02,600 --> 00:51:07,080 Speaker 1: not because they're necessarily getting smarter, but because the tests 791 00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:13,080 Speaker 1: themselves are changing. People have improved access to education and information, 792 00:51:13,560 --> 00:51:17,600 Speaker 1: and people, perhaps most importantly, have better health and nutrition. 793 00:51:18,800 --> 00:51:24,040 Speaker 1: The one thing that hasn't changed is genetic lineage. Your 794 00:51:24,160 --> 00:51:27,920 Speaker 1: genes have very little to do with your IQ test. 795 00:51:29,360 --> 00:51:34,240 Speaker 1: It's true, it's true. And so where do we land 796 00:51:34,280 --> 00:51:36,480 Speaker 1: on it? Guys? I know, always coming in a hot 797 00:51:36,480 --> 00:51:38,719 Speaker 1: and saying IQ tests are kind of beat the air 798 00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:43,120 Speaker 1: max bullshit, They're kind of dark, they're just overblown. They're 799 00:51:43,160 --> 00:51:43,640 Speaker 1: over blown. 800 00:51:43,719 --> 00:51:45,360 Speaker 2: It's true, and we already kind of knew that in 801 00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:47,920 Speaker 2: terms of these types of tests for the very reasons 802 00:51:47,920 --> 00:51:50,080 Speaker 2: that we mentioned, just the idea of it's really hard to. 803 00:51:50,800 --> 00:51:54,840 Speaker 1: Boil down the individual, unique snowflakedness that is a human 804 00:51:54,880 --> 00:51:56,760 Speaker 1: person into a number. 805 00:51:57,960 --> 00:52:00,160 Speaker 2: But then you do end the episode with a think, 806 00:52:00,160 --> 00:52:02,279 Speaker 2: a question that maybe on all of our minds is. 807 00:52:02,200 --> 00:52:05,720 Speaker 1: But who's the best, Who's got the best one, who's 808 00:52:05,800 --> 00:52:07,839 Speaker 1: the smartest? Remember when we were kids too. 809 00:52:07,880 --> 00:52:09,520 Speaker 2: That's why I think it's so funny that Trump throws 810 00:52:09,520 --> 00:52:11,120 Speaker 2: that around, where we used to probably make fun of 811 00:52:11,120 --> 00:52:15,600 Speaker 2: people by saying your IQ's negative zero or stuff. 812 00:52:15,280 --> 00:52:18,360 Speaker 1: Like that, not fully understanding anything about this world. 813 00:52:18,640 --> 00:52:21,400 Speaker 2: So who's got the highest IQ in the whole wide 814 00:52:21,440 --> 00:52:22,640 Speaker 2: world of sports? 815 00:52:23,040 --> 00:52:25,960 Speaker 1: Oh? Yeah, yeah, Oh, I've got to do one joke 816 00:52:26,360 --> 00:52:31,359 Speaker 1: for please, one joke for our Irish American friends. This 817 00:52:31,440 --> 00:52:33,799 Speaker 1: might get us in trouble, but let's do it and 818 00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:37,240 Speaker 1: Max get a MIC for this one. Hey, guys, what's 819 00:52:37,400 --> 00:52:42,640 Speaker 1: three miles long and has an IQ of forty? The 820 00:52:42,680 --> 00:52:44,320 Speaker 1: Saint Patty's Day Parade? 821 00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:50,719 Speaker 2: Because they're all really, did we even talk about what 822 00:52:50,760 --> 00:52:51,600 Speaker 2: the scale is? 823 00:52:51,640 --> 00:52:51,960 Speaker 1: Though? 824 00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:56,279 Speaker 2: The numerical scale like forty would be pretty bad, right, 825 00:52:56,480 --> 00:52:59,760 Speaker 2: forty is bad? And then we're talking about a cumulative 826 00:52:59,760 --> 00:53:03,120 Speaker 2: school or of forty. So man, they really whoever wrote 827 00:53:03,160 --> 00:53:04,640 Speaker 2: that joke really stuck it to the Irish? 828 00:53:04,719 --> 00:53:07,680 Speaker 1: Huh? It was probably a British guy, Probably it was 829 00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:13,240 Speaker 1: not us. So yes, to answer your question directly, as 830 00:53:13,760 --> 00:53:17,399 Speaker 1: as we can find in the research. Currently, we don't 831 00:53:17,400 --> 00:53:21,000 Speaker 1: know the actual smartest homo sapient alive right now, but 832 00:53:21,200 --> 00:53:25,800 Speaker 1: as of twenty twenty four, a doctor named Jung Hun 833 00:53:25,960 --> 00:53:30,719 Speaker 1: Kim has established the world record title for the world's 834 00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:37,400 Speaker 1: highest IQ person. Now, his intelligence quotient has been verified 835 00:53:37,680 --> 00:53:42,239 Speaker 1: as two one hundred and seventy six. I'm impressed. That's 836 00:53:42,440 --> 00:53:46,239 Speaker 1: what's a big number. I mean, does he do We're 837 00:53:46,280 --> 00:53:48,600 Speaker 1: not saying he's brilliant, No, you might just be very 838 00:53:48,640 --> 00:53:49,440 Speaker 1: good to take you the. 839 00:53:49,440 --> 00:53:55,440 Speaker 2: Test Crackerjack test taker. And good on you, doctor Junghun Kim. 840 00:53:55,760 --> 00:53:57,520 Speaker 2: And by the way, I do love the idea of 841 00:53:58,120 --> 00:54:01,200 Speaker 2: the non non Olympic record. 842 00:54:02,200 --> 00:54:06,239 Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, the International Non Olympic Committee. Yes, the International 843 00:54:06,280 --> 00:54:11,640 Speaker 1: Non Olympic Committee. It's very niche, very very specific. Yeah. Yeah, like, 844 00:54:11,840 --> 00:54:16,040 Speaker 1: oh uh, it's my first time going to committee meeting. 845 00:54:16,160 --> 00:54:19,800 Speaker 1: What are you guys about, well, you know, the Olympics, Yeah, 846 00:54:20,120 --> 00:54:24,439 Speaker 1: pretty much, nothing related to that. Everything else, everything, everything else. 847 00:54:24,480 --> 00:54:25,320 Speaker 1: In our house. 848 00:54:26,360 --> 00:54:29,319 Speaker 2: We also, of course have the World Memory Championships, the 849 00:54:29,360 --> 00:54:33,480 Speaker 2: World Memory Sports Council. These are wild Ben and the 850 00:54:33,480 --> 00:54:40,319 Speaker 2: official World Record trademark, right, yeah, whatever the R. What's 851 00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:43,239 Speaker 2: the R registered trademark? Yeah, it's the registered trademark. I 852 00:54:43,239 --> 00:54:46,960 Speaker 2: should remember that from our intellectual property series. 853 00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:48,960 Speaker 1: But Ben Man, excellent. 854 00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:50,920 Speaker 2: I don't know how what kind of test taker you are, 855 00:54:50,960 --> 00:54:53,759 Speaker 2: but you're sure good a research doc writer and this 856 00:54:53,960 --> 00:54:54,720 Speaker 2: was a fun one. 857 00:54:55,040 --> 00:54:59,120 Speaker 1: Ah shucks. Well, big big thanks to everybody for tuning 858 00:54:59,160 --> 00:55:03,759 Speaker 1: in big thanks to our super producer mister Max Williams. 859 00:55:04,040 --> 00:55:09,120 Speaker 1: A big thanks to Jonathan Strickland, who I bet will 860 00:55:09,200 --> 00:55:11,480 Speaker 1: lie about his IQ scores. 861 00:55:11,600 --> 00:55:13,400 Speaker 2: Maybe, and I bet he knows it too. He's the 862 00:55:13,440 --> 00:55:15,520 Speaker 2: type of guy that knows definite and that keeps it. 863 00:55:15,560 --> 00:55:16,920 Speaker 2: You know, He's probably a guy that written on the 864 00:55:16,960 --> 00:55:18,120 Speaker 2: back of his Mensa Carden. 865 00:55:18,480 --> 00:55:22,080 Speaker 1: Big thanks to aj Bahamas, Jacob's. Big thanks to Leave's 866 00:55:22,160 --> 00:55:25,640 Speaker 1: Jeffcoat and Christopher Hasiotis who else, who else? Who else? 867 00:55:26,000 --> 00:55:29,440 Speaker 2: All the people jeez Luise the Lovely Humans over a 868 00:55:29,480 --> 00:55:31,680 Speaker 2: ridiculous crime. If you dig our show, you will absolutely 869 00:55:32,040 --> 00:55:34,680 Speaker 2: dig theirs Alex Williams and composer our theme. 870 00:55:34,680 --> 00:55:36,360 Speaker 1: If you already said it, I'm staying in a second time, 871 00:55:36,480 --> 00:55:39,359 Speaker 1: I'm doing it. Oh, I'm just doing it. Good, Save good, 872 00:55:39,400 --> 00:55:43,520 Speaker 1: save forgot that one and one thing one thing I 873 00:55:43,640 --> 00:55:47,080 Speaker 1: never want to forget is a big thank you to you, Noel. 874 00:55:48,320 --> 00:55:50,239 Speaker 1: You're one of the smartest people I know and it's 875 00:55:50,280 --> 00:55:51,680 Speaker 1: always a pleasure to hang out with you. 876 00:55:51,760 --> 00:55:55,239 Speaker 2: Oh Ben same, you are the missing piece in the 877 00:55:55,360 --> 00:55:57,919 Speaker 2: triangle pattern recognition test of my heart. 878 00:55:59,080 --> 00:55:59,759 Speaker 1: Let's see you next time. 879 00:55:59,760 --> 00:56:10,040 Speaker 2: Put For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 880 00:56:10,080 --> 00:56:13,200 Speaker 2: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.