A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 363 Peeping into the Mysteries of Intelligence

It's hot these days, and it's even a little stuffy after staying in the laboratory for a long time.

Except for a few countries in East Asia, other countries do not use fans very much, or rarely use them. For example, in Europe, fans are mainly played by noble ladies.

Maybe it's because Europe is close to the sea, so it's cooler.And the United States are all immigrants from Europe, so they naturally inherited this tradition.

So it is very difficult for Li Yu and the others to buy a fan now.

Li Yu was sweating and said to the calm Tesla, "Aren't you hot?"

Tesla said naturally: "If you can maintain peace of mind, it won't be so hot."

Well, he actually indirectly said "the mind is calm and naturally cool".

Li Yu took a notebook and fanned himself, "According to the calculation, it should have fallen into ambush."

"Traditional Chinese medicine?" Tesla had never heard the word "falling into ambush".

Li Yu explained: "Dog days in Chinese means the hottest time of the year."

Tesla said: "You guys are pretty accurate. If you can't bear the heat, I happened to see an electric fan sold in the store that day, so you can consider buying one."

Li Yu immediately put down the notebook in his hand: "Let me just say, I can't be the only one who feels the heat! I'll go buy it now!"

About 20 years ago, electric fans appeared, but the design of electric fans at this time was relatively simple, and there were only two blades.

That's better than nothing, too.

Li Yu's laboratory had no problem connecting to electricity, so he put it in the room, and finally the wind came out.

Jinwei Zhaoxue, Xie Yuxi and Lu Bicheng were also attracted.

Lu Bicheng said: "It's so cool! A fan that can generate wind by itself with electricity, is this...an electric fan?"

"You got the name right!" Li Yu laughed, "Technology should change life like this and improve the quality of life."

Li Yu found that they were standing almost in a line, and since he hadn't used an electric fan for a long time, it was only then that he remembered that it could "shake his head".

But when I looked at the electric fan, I found that there was no such button.

Well, the mechanical design of the original shaking head has not yet appeared.

It is actually very simple to make it shake its head. Li Yu has nothing to do, and quickly designed a mechanical structure that can shake his head.

Xie Yuxi was used to it, and when he saw mechanical graphics appearing on the paper, he knew what Li Yu was going to do.Sure enough, it didn't take long for Li Yu to show her a blueprint: "According to it, you can apply for a patent."

Xie Yuxi smiled and said, "You also want to be an invention king."

Li Yu then worked with Tesla and others to create an electric fan that could shake its head.

Tesla said: "In this way, the practicality has been greatly improved."

But Li Yu is still a little dissatisfied: "If you want it to really enter thousands of households, at least you need to improve the motor and increase the gears."

Tesla has never seen a more useful electric fan in later generations, but after thinking about it carefully, Li Yu's two points are indeed a good direction for improvement.

Tesla said: "I am better at motor matters, but I have no idea about the design of mechanical gears."

Li Yu said: "It's easy to say, it happens to be a division of labor."

But before he had time to start research, the psychologist Carter suddenly visited.

Li Yu invited him to a special reception room, and made a pot of good tea.

Since Li Yu bought most of the shares of "Science" from Cartel, the journal has quickly become one of the hottest technology magazines in the world, especially since the scientific community in Europe has subscribed to this journal and started to contribute articles. Very difficult thing to do.

So Cartel is quite happy: "Now the Association for the Advancement of Science devotes almost all of its time to reviewing, publishing, and reviewing manuscripts, just like British or Prussian scientific and technological journals."

Li Yu said with a smile: "This shows that we are an influential journal."

Carter took a sip of the authentic Chinese Tieguanyin: "It turns out that this is the taste that makes the British royal family feel sorry for it. Can I buy some?"

Li Yu said: "I have quite a few here, and I will give them to you. Not only Tieguanyin, but also Biluochun, Keemun black tea, Maojian, Liu'an Guapian, etc."

Cartel was dumbfounded when he heard this: "There are so many varieties."

Li Yu said: "What I mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg."

"It seems that I am very lucky to be able to drink it today!" Cartel said, and then saw Li Yu's electric fan, "Hey! Where did you buy it? Why have I never seen such a novel electric fan product? "

"I just designed it, and I'm still improving it," Li Yu said.

"Interesting! If it can be introduced to the market, I will definitely buy one." Cartel said.

Li Yu said: "Mr. Cartel is not at all against new things."

"Of course," Cattell said, "I'm a scientist who studies human psychology, and I often pay attention to the relationship between humans and technology. I have read many articles that discuss the development of technology fiercely. For example, when the electric light first appeared, it coincided with The theory of evolution swept the world of thought, and some people speculated that the day would last forever, that sleep might be evolved, and that human beings would enter a new era."

What Cartel said is the truth. In today's world, there are countless cases of crazily applying the theory of evolution.

There are many people who believe that electric lights will make humans evolve to lose sleep.

Li Yu said with a smile: "You can't say that. Even if there is no electric light, you may not be able to sleep well. It can only be said that it can enable some people to realize the nature of work that reverses day and night, just like owls, work at night and not during the day." sleep too."

Cartel nodded: "Your point of view is very close to mine. I don't think that electric lights can make humans evolve sleep. Because I once tested myself, turned on the electric lights day and night, and then forced myself not to sleep, but I only persisted for two days. One night, I couldn’t continue to support. I found that I not only became anxious, but also had a serious memory loss. It was not resolved until Meimei slept, so I think sleep is a great thing in life. How can it be evolved? reason."

This psychologist is quite experimental, so he took himself to do the experiment first.

Li Yu just remembered that he had something to look for, so he said, "Sir, you study psychology. I don't know if you have studied human intelligence tests?"

"I've actually been doing research over the years that measures intelligence in human subjects," Cattell said.

Li Yu said: "Great! I am also looking for a more authoritative and standard intelligence test method to verify that the intelligence of Chinese and other Asians is by no means inferior to anyone else."

In the past two years, Russia has crazily promoted the "yellow peril theory". After the war between Japan and Russia, this fallacy has attracted more attention. Cartel is very smart and immediately understood what Li Yu wanted to express: "You must fundamentally oppose the yellow peril theory."

Li Yu said: "Not only that, but it is also an important way to achieve equality for human beings in different regions."

The St. Louis World Expo held that year and the "Human Pavilion" of many previous exhibitions have already explained the problem.

Carter pondered for a moment: "Although I have done research for many years, I found that intelligence testing is not an easy task. I cannot complete it alone. I must seek help from more psychologists who are interested in doing research in this area."

Psychology is of course a rigorous science, not metaphysics.

However, psychology does seem a bit mysterious and unfamiliar to most Chinese people.In the early years, it was even associated with words such as "mind reading", "mind control", "hypnosis" and the feelings derived from them.

In fact, they only reflect one aspect of psychology.

Psychology is often associated with counseling and education, so intelligence testing is the domain of psychologists.

However, any intelligence test you see on the Internet is the kind of "free IQ test" and "IQ test" that you find out, and it gives a lot of graphics to find patterns, all of which are fake!

The real intelligence test is very rigorous and scientific, and it is absolutely impossible to pass a few graphic test questions.

The results of online intelligence tests are generally much higher, which only increases self-confidence.

Formal IQ tests are usually expensive.

The price of IQ testing services carried out by some hospitals or institutions usually ranges from a few hundred yuan to 1000 yuan.

The official Wexler adult intelligence test costs as much as 3000 yuan in China.

These tests are generally completed at a designated location, and rarely pass the online test.

So don't try to get the correct result with the test paper found on the Internet.

It's a bit like being sick, what happens when you search online, the result is often two words: terminally ill...

Let's just go to the hospital!
Li Yu didn't know much about psychology, so he couldn't help much. He asked, "Where can I find a psychologist who can study how to test intelligence together?"

Cartel said: "Need the help of the Psychological Society. I am a member myself. This time, I can call on you through your name."

Cattell is one of the founders and president of the American Psychological Association, and has been elected the first fellow of the National Academy of Psychology.

Li Yu asked, "My fame?"

Cartel said: "That's right! It just so happens that we are going to Columbia University in New York. I heard that you are very welcome there."

Li Yu had been to Columbia University before, and also helped Ding Long give lectures.

Li Yu asked in surprise, "Didn't you just ask for help from the Psychological Society?"

"Yes," Cattell explained, "we're looking for a psychologist who is also working on intelligence tests and is currently a lecturer at Columbia University."

Columbia University is in Manhattan, very close.

Li Yu immediately drove him to Columbia.

As soon as they arrived at the gate of Columbia University, the two met a black child who was hiding in a corner watching several white children playing.

The white children saw an old man passing by holding a handful of balloons, so they ran over happily and bought one each.

The balloons are flying in the air and the children are very happy.

This is a hydrogen balloon, that is, it can fly to high altitude by itself.Nothing for later generations, but in the early twentieth century, it was an attractive toy.

Carter said to Li Yu: "You don't understand what psychology is, let me demonstrate it to you."

Cuttle walked up to the black kid and asked, "Would you like to buy a balloon?"

The black kid gave him a timid look, then nodded.

"Come with me," Carter said.

The two came to the old man who sold the balloon, and Carter said to the old man, "Can you sell this child a balloon?"

The old man said, "Of course, what color do you want?"

The black kid mustered up the courage to say, "I want a black one."

The old man immediately gave him a black balloon.

"Try to let it fly," Carter said.

The black child let go of his hand, and the black balloon slowly floated into the air.

Cartel said: "Children, remember, whether a balloon can rise is not because of the color or shape, but because the balloon is filled with hydrogen. A person's success or failure is not because of race or origin, the key is whether you have self-confidence in your heart."

The black child's eyes brightened instantly.

Cartel knew he still needed to grow up, so he gave him a business card: "If you want to go to school like white children, you can come to me, and I can give you the same education as them."

The black child excitedly accepted the business card: "Thank you!"

Cartel said to him: "I'll wait for your news."

After speaking, Cartel walked back to Li Yu.

Li Yu saw it clearly: "Sir, do you want to do an experiment by the way?"

"That's right, it's just a long-term comparison to prove that you're more focused on intellectual issues," Cattell said.

Cartel is still very rigorous, not only helping a teenager, but also serving as a long-term test subject.

For psychologists, the study of intelligence is actually a long-standing problem. Even after 100 years, there is no truly accurate intelligence test.

There are too many factors affecting intelligence, and all aspects of intelligence are also complicated.

Most intelligence tests are actually biased towards logical ability and mathematical ability. Although they do value intelligence, they are always one-sided, and there is almost no ability test for liberal arts and arts.

You can't generalize, saying that a musical genius or a master of painting is mentally handicapped, right?
Even professional intelligence tests can't be comprehensive, let alone those fake tests on the Internet.

I remember that when Li Yu was in junior high school, he himself took the kind of test on the webpage. The process of waiting for the result was still very thrilling. After all, everyone hopes that he is a smart person.

Or why "fool" is a curse word.

When Li Yu saw 146 displayed on his mobile phone, he was overjoyed and went around showing off that he was a genius.

Then other students were also curious about the test, and many of the results were 140+...

It just stabbed the genius nest!

Can only enjoy it.

Before Li Yu traveled, the concept of IQ was being gradually weakened.

This can be regarded as a huge progress in pedagogy itself, and the so-called intelligence is not regarded as the only measure of the excellence of students.

What's more, it is impossible to accurately obtain the intelligence results of all students.

Taking a step back, even if you can really get it, so what?Abandon those students with relatively low intelligence tests?Specialized in cultivating high intelligence?
This is not into the trap of absolutism.

Of course, this is something to say later, and it will take many years for pedagogy to develop to that point, especially the degree of development of society itself is very important.

In the early days, although intelligence tests had many negative effects, they still had some meaning.

Just be sure to note that it is a double-edged sword, depending on how you use it.

(End of this chapter)