Good news! Not only have I started posting again (after a bout of business and laziness), but it turns out that IQ tests are no longer racist:
From the LA Times:
Much has been made of COVID’s consequences for overall health, productivity and the economy. But recent research suggests a compelling new basis for vaccine advocacy: COVID’s capacity to reduce intelligence.
Using data from more than 100,000 people who completed online tests in England, the authors of a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine found that those recovering from COVID, including those with only mild symptoms, had measurable cognitive deficits. Even participants who had “mild COVID-19 with resolved symptoms” exhibited deficits “commensurate with a 3-point loss in IQ” compared with uninfected participants.
The cognitive loss was more pronounced in those who experienced more severe infections. Participants who had long COVID — that is, with symptoms that lasted more than 12 weeks — had the equivalent of a 6-point IQ loss on average, and those who had been “admitted to the intensive care unit had the equivalent of a 9-point loss.”
Yes, IQ tests are now reliable – to such an extent that we can attach significance to a 3-point decrease.
Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s do extensive IQ tests all around the world – in order to dispel racist notions that there are racial differences in average IQ. This would go a long way toward equity…
Yeah, it ain’t gonna happen!