(This week's story lab is on TED talks. Source)
Copyright is Brain Damage
In this video, Nina Paley makes the claim that copyright laws slows down progress that could be made in areas that deal with concern for intellectual property. While I do agree that it does slow down progress, copyrights are important to prevent people from stealing the work of others and selling it as their own. As a computer science major my code is protected by intellectual property laws. If I work for a company, I give up my ownership of that code in exchange for a yearly salary. Without those laws there would be less incentive to create software for a profit because people would steal the code at will.
A New Theory of Human Intelligence
In this video, Scott Kaufman makes the claim that there should be a new theory of human intelligence. While I agree with his point that intelligence needs to be redefined, I disagree with the way he wants to redefine it.
The definition of intelligence is an outdated one. As it currently stands, intelligence is measured by standardized tests such as the Intelligence Quotient (I.Q.). This does measure intelligence but only a certain type of intelligence, that is, logical intelligence. There are many other types of intelligence such as artistic intelligence, leadership intelligence, emotional intelligence, social intelligence, and others. Unfortunately logical intelligence is much easier to quantify than the others so it often gets defined as the standard for intelligence. So I do agree with Scott that logical intelligence and the standardized tests that go along with it are not the only ways of defining intelligence.
However, the ideas of current intelligence and how goal oriented someone is should be kept seperate. Intelligence is related to potential while goal orientation is related to performance. Combining goal orientation with the of intelligence would also combine aspects of potential and performance. Both metrics have their place and it's important to keep them seperate. For example, if the goal is to predict which person is more likely to do better at a job, it makes more sense to use GPA score instead of IQ. However, if the goal is to predict which person is more likely to come up with a groundbreaking theory (Einstein, Newton, etc) or come up with new ways to improve society (Elon Musk's SpaceX and Tesla, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs with the first personal computer), then IQ score is a better indicator instead of GPA score.
Bibliography
Copyright is Brain Damage by Nina Paley
A New Theory of Human Intelligence by Scott Barry Kaufman
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