The Quest For Intelligence, By Kevin Warwick: A Review

Words: 1685
Pages: 7
Open Document
The intelligence quotient, commonly known as IQ, has become the standard unit of measurement for intelligence. While many use this unit of measurement to denote high intelligence, Kevin Warwick and James R. Flynn denounce the use and even the practicality of IQ points. In the chapter “Into the Unknown” of Kevin Warwick’s QI: The Quest for Intelligence, Warwick describes a broad range of “hyperspheres” that separates the intelligences of various organisms and even machines. He claims that all types of intelligence in all sorts of creatures and machines inhabit a highly specialized hypersphere. “The Sociological Imagination”, a chapter in Are We Getting Smarter: Rising IQ in the Twenty-first Century by James R. Flynn, builds off of Warwick’s …show more content…
Warwick describes the specialization factor as the ‘hypersphere’; a description of the species’ function. This is comparable to the biological niche. “In a one-dimensional, IQ, sense it can be said that the mean level is changing. In terms of the multidimensional hypersphere of intelligence, it is the origin or central point of the hypersphere that moves.” (Warwick 206). IQ falls short when compared to the potential of using the hypersphere model and the sociological imagination. Warwick defines the hypersphere model as a multidimensional derivation of intelligence. “Using the hypersphere model, each individual’s intelligence can be characterized by how they perform on the wide range of axes which represent the different aspects of their intelligence.” (Warwick 210). The hypersphere model is a representation of the idea of taking a vast number of contexts and circumstances into account. In order to realize the hypersphere, the full function of the organism and its complete ‘place’ in the grand scheme of things must be known and understood. This method is mostly speculative and Warwick does not offer a realistic method of measurement, but his suggestion of a much more thorough examination allows for an opening for Flynn’s suggestion. “Some of the examples are important and some idiosyncratic. But a common thread runs through all of them: failure of the sociological imagination.” (Flynn 181). Flynn recognizes the merit of having the hyperspace model because he see the vast amount of variables needed in order to even define intelligence. After he establishes his recognition of the flawed nature of the IQ measurement, Flynn suggests that the only thing that is missing is the sociological imagination. The sociological imagination and the hypersphere are very
Show More

Related Documents: The Quest For Intelligence, By Kevin Warwick: A Review

Rethinking Mercantalism Essay

Rethinking Mercantilism: Political Economy, the British Empire, and the Atlantic World in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Author(s): Steve Pincus Reviewed work(s): Source: The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 1 (January 2012), pp. 3-34 Published by: Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5309/willmaryquar.69.1.0003 . Accessed: 06/09/2012 12:18 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms…

Words 15041 - Pages 61