It seems like previous exposure to relevant material, including but not limited to the math parts of a college education, would be a much more direct benchmark.
Well, yes. That was an example; the point I intended and may not have been clear about was that specific content knowledge might be a more accurate way to narrow the set than a quantified measure of general intelligence. There are probably tons of extremely smart people who have never been exposed to the subjects which would make them productive LW contributors.
It seems like previous exposure to relevant material, including but not limited to the math parts of a college education, would be a much more direct benchmark.
But several of our more productive posters/commenters did little to no college math. That might be a weird exception for philosophers, though.
I’m also not sure college math/science is a sufficiently narrowing criterion.
Well, yes. That was an example; the point I intended and may not have been clear about was that specific content knowledge might be a more accurate way to narrow the set than a quantified measure of general intelligence. There are probably tons of extremely smart people who have never been exposed to the subjects which would make them productive LW contributors.