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US Intelligence Wants Tools To Tell: Who's the Smartest of Them All?

Posted by samzenpus on from the finding-big-brains dept.

coondoggie writes Can a tool or technology be applied to the brain and accurately predict out of a given group of people who will be the smartest? The research arm of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is looking for exactly those kinds of tools."IARPA is looking to get a handle on the state of the art in brain-based predictors of future cognitive performance. In particular, IARPA is interested in non-invasive analyses of brain structure and/or function that can be used to predict who will best learn complex skills and accomplish tasks within real-world environments, and with outcome measures, that are relevant to national security.

5 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. Dumb question by Krishnoid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What's 'national security'? I mean, is there a rigorous definition of it?

  2. What makes them think this is even possible? by Wycliffe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Obviously intelligence varies from person to person and we have tests like IQ tests that can measure this
    but IQ tests are not super good at measuring people who are successful at accomplishing tasks because
    it takes more than raw intelligence. Things like willpower, dedication, creativity, work ethic, etc... all play
    into whether someone is successful at accomplishing tasks. I don't see how a brain scanner is going to
    accomplish this or how it would be any better than existing testing methods. If I wanted to know this I
    would be more inclined to give a group of people a ton of different types of tests and then watch their
    career and decide which of the tests more closely correlated with what I was seeking then I could narrow
    it down to a combination of traits for instance maybe the results would be high IQ, high creativity, and
    high level of willpower or some other combination of 3 or 4 attributes then you could test for only those
    3-4 attributes instead of dozen of attributes. If you didn't want to wait, you could instead give the same
    battery of tests to the people in your company that you considered most successful and see if there are
    any patterns.

    1. Re:What makes them think this is even possible? by lagomorpha2 · · Score: 3, Funny

      This test was devised decades ago.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

      Simply give any potential employees the option of a marshmallow now or waiting a period of time to receive two marshmallows. At the very least we should use this procedure to test our police force for poor impulse control.

      It can even be applied to dating. On the first date I offer a marshmallow or if they have the willpower to not eat the marshmallow the promise of sex. So far it's managed to flawlessly protect me from a number of impulsive women.

  3. Closest approximation I can think of: by marxmarv · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "the protection and preservation of existing power inequalities"

    --
    /. -- the Free Republic of technology.
  4. The smartest ones? by dohzer · · Score: 3, Funny

    The smartest ones are those who don't reveal their true intelligence to the security agencies.