Is the Bush administration serious about democracy and reconstruction in a post-Saddam Iraq? If they are, they’d better get a better grip on the country’s finances. So far, their war budgeting and domestic spending plans are a scandal. My latest column opposite.
THE FUTURE OF I.Q.: Fascinating new research from some Washington University researchers into the nature of general intelligence. We’re beginning to be able to measure such intelligence not simply from the results of written or practical tests but from live imaging of actual brain activity. Egalitarian ideologues have long resisted the notion that there is such a thing as general intelligence and that it is at least partly hard-wired and inherited. But as science advances, and our understanding of working memory and intelligence deepens, the evidence for such intelligence could become irrefutable. Imagine at some distant date going into an exam room and getting hooked up to brain monitors. No need for grad students grading papers. No need for SAT results. Just a brain scan to check how smart you are. Fantasy now. But you can already see the implications of current research. Blank slaters, be afraid. Your time is running out.
The Dish 