Internet Explorer 6 users have low IQs, study says.... so says MSNBC.

http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20 ... study-says

You can't make this up "IE6 users have an average IQ score barely over 80, according to a recent study by Vancouver-based psychometric consulting company, AptiQuant."

It would be interesting to apply this methodology to people of various political views.... I would be particularly interested in the demographic of Republican voters earning less than $100,000 per year compared to those earning more than $1,000,000 per year... then compared to the same set of Democratic voters.

Here is the methodology used in the Internet Explorer study:
http://www.aptiquant.com/IQ-Browser-AptiQuant-2011.pdf
"Although observational findings linking resistance to change/upgrade software to scores on cognitive tests may be distorted by a lot of factors, it has been suggested that individuals on the lower end of the IQ scale tend to keep using outdated versions of antique web browsers." Bitter tea party voters clutching on to their guns and bibles anyone?

In a not entirely unrelated note, Apple is currently holding more cash than the U.S. Government, $73.8 billion:
http://www.legitreviews.com/news/11168/

But is low IQ caused by IE6, or just by Microsoft software in general? :p

There is actually a term for this. It is called adverse selection. The morons self select themselves. (actually that isn't technically correct a Moron is someone with an IQ of 51-70... but that is close enough).

It doesn't have anything to do with the software per se. The results of this study if done 5 years ago would no doubt have been different. It appears they are really measuring something akin to the relationship of IQ and adaptability to change.

That is why I would love to see the results of low income Democrats compared to low income Republicans.

Correlation does not lead to causation.

Ces might be right in suggesting that this correlation may be caused by their lack of ability to change.

How about just the fact that the poor tend to have lower IQs as well as older computers and older software? (and perhaps no internet connection to update even)

Yes. Maybe even lower it a little from $100,000 per year.

But you might have to fund the study yourself. Government wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole. University research, whose purse strings are now largely controlled by private corporations, might not be inclined. A revealing study in England comparing the brain imaging of liberals and conservatives was funded by the actor Colin Firth. Actually, perhaps not just any Joe could have done that. You'd have to be:

1) a famous, respected actor
2) handsome
3) wealthy, of course

Even being 2) and 3) might not be enough.

The subjects needed an internet connection and a browser to participate in the study. It isn't obvious to me that IQ has any direct correlation to wealth.... except that maybe really really stupid people may tend to be less wealthy than average IQ people.

Are you being deliberately obtuse? Do you look at the real world much?
I'm reasonably certain that any survey would show that generally, graduates have a higher income than non-graduates.

I think what he is trying to say is that graduation has no DIRECT correlation to IQ and this is correct. You don't have to be intelligent to be a doctor

Well that's news to me.

As long as the definition of intelligence is simply "what an IQ test measures" these kinds of discussions are rather pointless imo.

Agreed, but these days I don't think it is. Scientists have moved on and define intelligence in a much broader way. I would think that most people - your average man or woman in the street - would have a reasonably similar understanding of what was meant by an "intelligent person". If some people like to define intelligence by how highly they score on an old style IQ test that takes no account of common sense or empathy... well that's up to them and I hope it makes them feel better about themselves.

This "story" is now reported as a hoax.

Per BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14389430

Dave

hmm...

Now I feel better about having gone back recently to Internet Explorer after 3 or 4 years using Firefox. IE9 is actually pretty good and it doesn't cause my Nvidia Quadro display driver to keep crashing either.

I am told that I am highly observant... more so than most people.

There are many high IQ people who are not wealthy and many moderate IQ people who worked their way from rags to riches.... and who hire and fire people far smarter people them.

You can be of low IQ and inherit wealth.

At the low end of the scale it would seem unlikely for someone of below average intelligence to become wealthy through their own efforts.... but if you look at the world the inverse is not true at the high end. There are other personal attributes related to the accumulation of inordinate amounts of wealth.