@Janus1:
I HATED Catcher in the Rye. HATED it. HATED HATED HATED HATED HATED it. AWFUL BOOK.
LOL! I love this post. Keep em coming.
I went through the other posts - did anybody mention a possible IQ/standard of living (based off the average income) relation? I would have thought, but I didn’t see…
Anyway, I’d say that’s one thing, you’ve got A LOT of money in the NE, and services tend to follow the money (i.e. expensive tutors, all the books and equipment needed, private schools, etc.).
Besides that, I also doubt the IQ tests, but I think they give a vague representation. It’s possible that over a larger sample that the anomalies wash themselves out. Maybe not. Even then, like Yanny & Baker said, I’ve seen “geniuses” that couldn’t do such-and-such basic thing to survive. My boss is a math & organizational wiz, can analyze anything to the nth degree, has a near photographic memory, but is so socially awkward it’s not funny.
Anyway, I think people have their own view of the world/environment. It’s all on your own terms (for instance, I hate calendars that represent the seasons linearly - I picture them as a circle). Maybe you can’t memorize the quadratic equation and have no love for Euclidean geometry, but you can look at someone for the first time, go home and paint a masterpiece of their face from your memory. Life is about the experience and finding your interests. And then, when you come to some place that’s unfamiliar, go with what you know - translate your situation into terms you know, and there you go. Blah blah blah…