Intellectual Sophistication

A commitment to intellectual sophistication is at the core of the Polymathic subculture.  It is the convergence of intelligence, erudition, objectivity and discipline

Intelligence and IQ   

Awareness, if not understanding, of IQ is nearly universal.  Contrary to the belief of many, it is a very good predictor of life outcomes, save at the higher levels, and corresponds well with what people mean when they use the words smart and intelligent.  However, it is a relatively poor proxy for the likely quality of intellectual work product outside of structured environments.  For that, I use the term 'intellectual sophistication' which is a function of IQ, erudition, objectivity and intellectual discipline.

IQ tests measure a polygenetic trait, g, that exhibits moderate phenotypic variation. Generally, the higher the IQ, the faster a person will master a body of knowledge.  The high IQ person will see more logical connections in that body of knowledge and will more quickly and with greater reliably draw logical conclusions from it.  With regard to intellectual sophistication, IQ enhances the rate at which erudition can be attained and also will enhance the processing of that knowledge base.  So, IQ, like all of the components of intellectual sophistication, is necessary, but not sufficient.

Erudition

It is critical to understand that g is applied to a body of knowledge.  If that body of knowledge is small or contains many errors, the conclusions drawn, even with a high IQ, will often be erroneous.  Consequently, intellectual sophistication requires erudition which is the result of a personal commitment to significant lifelong learning.  As most people, in their time budget outside of work, make time for maintenance of their home, grooming and entertainment.  For the Polymathican, that entertainment includes a generous allotment for learning new things.

That not only includes watching documentaries and lectures to be found on Youtube, Curiosity Stream, Kahn Academy, etc. but also the use of textbooks, peer reviewed papers, etc.  There is undoubtedly a 'cultural literacy' definition that fits Polymathica and its development and its formulation and communication would be a very worthwhile activity.

Objectivity

 Objectivity is likely the most complex component of intellectual sophistication, simply because humans find many ways to believe what they believe in the face of contradictory information.  Confounding the problem is that the knowledge base of very few people includes very little on logic, epistemology and the most common logical fallacies.  While there are many barriers to an objectively supportable worldview, Confirmation bias and Dunning Kruger Effect are the two most important ones.

Confirmation bias, sometimes referred to as 'my-side bias', is well understood. People often create world views that fit their ideological preferences and then preferentially notice and accept information that confirms their world view and disregard or find fault with dissonant information. Confirmation bias is often unconscious and many high IQ people, while recognizing its dangers, don't think it applies to them.   In fact, the degree of confirmation bias is uncorrelated with IQ.  In other words, smart people are just as prone to it as people of average intelligence.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect (DKE) states that incompetent people routinely overestimate their competence while competent people overestimate the competence of others and thereby underestimate their own relative competence. In the high IQ community, DKE is almost always reframed into an issue of smart and stupid rather than competent and incompetent.  The unexpressed assumption is that smart people can simply think their way to a supportable position.  Clearly, that is not true.  Furthermore, there is no evidence that IQ is inversely correlated with DKE and some evidence that the two are independent of one another.

For example, in 'The Singularity is Near', Ray Kurzweil stated that Economists don't like deflation because it makes it look like the economy is shrinking.  This demonstrates profound incompetence in Economics.  Paul Kruger, while obviously suffering from political bias, is a competent Economist and does a very good job in explaining why Economists don't like deflation. Another argument for DKE among high IQ people is that 94% of college professors think they perform better than their peers.

There is some evidence that biases such as confirmation bias and DKE are cultural artifacts rather than basic human traits.  For example, DKE is much less among Europeans than Americans and virtually non-existent among East Asians.  It should be noted that while the preponderance of evidence supports the preceding statement, there is some evidence that DKE is present in all cultures.  In the case of confirmation bias, there is evidence that there are mental habits that can reduce the effect.  Therefore, there is good reason to believe that groups may choose to eliminate, or at least greatly reduce, these significant impediments to objectivity. Social positive and negative pressure would be an important and likely the primary tool.

Intellectual Discipline

Most IQ tests contain questions that are designed to be answered in a minute or so.  This is adequate to assess the quality of the intellectual tool but does not measure the personality trait of intellectual discipline. Intellectual discipline demands analytical completeness which, in turn, requires patience.  This is a trait that is generally taught and reinforced in graduate school.  Professors will typically mark down students that fail to consider all aspects of the issue.  In the absence of this training, many high IQ people will pursue one line of reasoning and draw a final conclusion without considering alternative approaches. Intellectually disciplined people play devil's advocate for themselves.  By the time they draw a final conclusion they have already thought of and considered the objections.  They are also aware of the supporting evidence for the conclusions that they ultimately discarded.  

It has been said, that no theory should explain all the evidence because some of the evidence is wrong.  Every discipline has a working and generally accepted paradigm.  However, from Astrophysics to Zoology, there are contrarian paradigm.  This is possible because of the above.  Wrong evidence sometimes creates too much support for the accepted paradigm, but wrong evidence also can overly support contrary paradigms.  The intellectually disciplined person considers all of this and draws a conclusion based upon the preponderance of evidence.  Undisciplined people, also motivated by confirmation bias, will consider the most appealing theory and then search for evidence to prove it.  They don't deeply consider alternative theories because doing so could destroy the support for their favored theory.

Conclusion 

One argument against Intellectual Sophistication is the one that Linda Gottfredson used to dismantle EQ.  That is the assertion that one of the four traits of Intellectual Sophistication predicts and thus invalidates the other three.  There may be a small positive correlation between the four components of intellectual sophistication but it is nowhere near enough to render any of the three additions to IQ an unnecessary component. High IQ societies tend to attract people whose percentile intellectual sophistication is well below their IQ. Academia tends to attract people who are educated well beyond their intelligence, and consequently their intellectual sophistication is significantly higher than their IQ.

The most important takeaway from this is that the value of one's opinions correlates much better with intellectual sophistication than with IQ.  Actually, it is OK to be intellectually lazy. Objectivity requires a kind of courage to face and accept uncomfortable conclusions.  Erudition and intellectual discipline over a lifetime.  In other words, the pursuit of intellectual sophistication takes dedication and, for many people, the payoff is insufficient.  Every person has the intrinsic right to define life success in their own way and pursuit of intellectual sophistication often is not the route to happiness.  So, it is perfectly OK to not pursue intllectual sophistication.  However, it doesn't mix well with pontification. It essentially boils down to an appropriate humility when addressing complex and multifaceted issues.

Polymathicans are lifelong learners so that erudition is a natural outcome. Objectivity and discipline are natural extensions of Polymathican ideals but most likely will need to be encouraged through social and cultural norms.  In other words, Polymathica may evolve to overtly embrace intellectual sophistication as a self definition.  The question for each individual to answer is whether the acquisition of intellectual sophistication is worth the effort.  If so, for you, then, you are not Progressive or Liberal, green, polyamorist, libertarian as a primary self definition.  You are a Polymathican.


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