[aruanan]

This assumes that intelligence can be quantified by a single number. Can we really make that assumption?

No, it doesn't. The IQ number is a representation of the results of many different means of assessing intelligence. One of these means is the speed with which an answer or insight is arrived at. Someone may say, "Well, it took me a hour to do what that guy did in 2 seconds, but we got the same answer so we're both as intelligent." No, speed matters. If anything depends on the speed with which the answer arrives (and most things do), the faster is the better. Sure, one guy may take two hours to make his way through the obstacle course that another goes through in 10 minutes. Which person is more likely to be able to meet the physical challenges of the battlefield?

[Constantine XIII]

I’m not sure what you mean.

I’m not arguing (yet, lol :) ), but I’m not sure what you’re driving at in your reply. The authors of the Bell Curve use the IQ as the basis for many of their statistical arguments. However, the meaning of IQ scores as a quantitiative measure of human intelligence is unclear at best. Two people with the same IQ score can have vastly different mental processes and be skilled in different areas of intellectual endevor.

I’m not yet convinced that IQ points are concrete measures of mental power analogous to, say, volts of electric potential or joules of energy, and if they aren’t, then statistical arguments based upon them don’t rise to the level of scientific evidence for anything.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

No, speed matters. If anything depends on the speed with which the answer arrives (and most things do), the faster is the better.

Once again, proving the old adage that "he who laughs the last, thinks the slowest"?