anonym comments on Survey Results - Less Wrong
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I'm skeptical of the IQ data because of the number of IQs above 140. Most IQ tests don't measure well above IQ 140, and so even if we have that many truly exceptional people, I would not expect it to show up in their measured IQs.
But if so many lied, it would also be a surprising fact, that doesn't seem to be a better explanation.
It's only a little more surprising than somebody at an online forum for bodybuilders lying about how much they can bench press.
I take it the reason it's not equally surprising is that few bodybuilders are as monomaniacally obsessed with The Truth as we are?
Most human beings in any forum, anywhere, will be more obsessed with signaling and other concerns than The Truth -- even in a pseudo-anonymous survey -- and will be subject to most of the standard cognitive biases that bodybuilders will be, even if to a lesser degree. Being obsessed with The Truth does not mean never lying or exaggerating (or reporting just that one internet IQ test you took that was 1 std dev higher than your real-world test).