Intelligence?

January 15th, 2022| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

There’s always the smartest kid in your class. The one who knows everything, aces every test, memorizes historical dates, names, places, recites the multiplication tables and the alphabet backwards and forwards, and in medical school can remember all the histories, medications, and lab values of his patients without the need for notes. And all the esoteric anatomical landmarks. And so on. Always the smartest kid.

That one, we’d predict, was headed towards being a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon.

I mean, what else is there that is intellectually demanding, beyond aerospace engineering and neurosurgery?

(Not preaching or dermatology, sad to say.)

But have you ever wondered who is smarter—those rocket scientists or brain surgeons? Well, now you don’t have to speculate; we have answers. Put forth in The British Medical Journal last month by a group of researchers, mostly brain surgeons in training at the Kings College and University College, London: “‘It’s Not Rocket Science’ and ‘It’s Not Brain Surgery’—‘It’s a Walk in the Park’: Prospective Comparative Study.”

One reporter called it the “colossal cortex contest” between those primary carriers of big brains, rocket s’s and brain s’s.

Said the authors:

The main purpose of our study was to settle this debate once and for all and to provide rocket scientists and brain surgeons with evidence to support their self-assuredness in the company of the other party. We tested participants across several cognitive domains, including emotional discrimination and motor control.”

The authors looked at the Great British Intelligence Test, an online battery of tests measuring distinct aspects of cognition, spanning planning and reasoning, working memory, attention, and emotion processing abilities. 329 rocket scientists and 72 neurosurgeons from the U.K., U.S.A., Canada, and Europe took the tests. Some of the rest of us—aka the idiots—also took the test so that researchers could plot us zeroes for comparison with the elites.

Using some tricky statistical methods that preachers and dermatologists are incapable of understanding, they came upon a discovery.

In their own words:

Compared to the general population, aerospace engineers did not show significant differences in any domains. Neurosurgeons were able to solve problems faster than the general population but showed a slower memory recall speed.”

All that to say: Most of us are pretty average!

The Bible agrees that wisdom is something that should be sought.

How blessed is the man who finds wisdom
And the man who gains understanding.
For her profit is better than the profit of silver
And her gain better than fine gold.
She is more precious than jewels;
And nothing you desire compares with her.
Proverbs 3:13–15

The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge,
And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
Proverbs 18:15

But what is this “wisdom”?

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom.
Proverbs 15:33

Not only is fearing God—revering him—the beginning of knowledge, all wisdom comes from him, in the first place:

For the LORD gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Proverbs 2:6

Not from anywhere else.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
Proverbs 3:5, 7

Yup, that’s the way to go. Be wise. Not foolish. Fear God.

SOURCES:
The British Medical Journal; Medscape