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The Smartest Browser and OS 436

The IQ League maintain a "60 Second IQ Test" online. Interestingly, they correlate the results of this test with a number of statistics available from their server logs. Along with the geographical distinctions like city and country, the referrer and OS/Browser user-agent strings are also mined, to determine the Smartest Browser and OS. Cutting to the chase, the very smartest is Firefox on Unknown (which internal evidence suggests is MacOS-Intel), and the dumbest, as of this writing, is IE on WinNT. Quick! Test out and move the bars on the pretty graph! Can we make Slashdot.org the "Smartest Website in the World?" (It's currently number 2 behind ScienceBlogs.com.)
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The Smartest Browser and OS

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  • Still using safari or IE? Means you're probably not too bright.
  • "Curretly"? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Kickersny.com ( 913902 ) <kickers@gmail.cREDHATom minus distro> on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:17PM (#23549891) Homepage

    Can we make Slashdot.org the "Smartest Website in the World?" (It's curretly number 2 behind ScienceBlogs.com.)
    Are they serious?
    • by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:19PM (#23549909)
      And why does the poster think that a larger amount of Slashdot users taking the test will help bring up the score? This does not compute.
      • Dropping Score (Score:5, Informative)

        by blavallee ( 729704 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:41PM (#23550091) Journal
        /. has dropped to number 11

        Guess no one took into account the large sector of (insert field) managers that read slashdot.
        • Lower is better! (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Joce640k ( 829181 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @09:25PM (#23550409) Homepage
          I looked at the questions and I think dropping to to 11th place is a good sign.

          IQ test it ain't.

          • by physicsnick ( 1031656 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @10:49PM (#23551121)
            It's even worse than that. I got penalized for only answering ten questions. They suggested I answer twenty more to remove the penalty. IN 60 SECONDS!!!

            The test gives you about two seconds per question. That's not even enough time for general knowledge (read: culturally dependant) questions which don't belong on an IQ test, let alone complex pattern matching. I'm sorry, but that's no kind of IQ test.
            • by DeadChobi ( 740395 ) <(DeadChobi) (at) (gmail.com)> on Monday May 26, 2008 @11:42PM (#23551603)
              Apparently these guys don't know what an IQ test is. The first question I got was a "general knowledge" question, which doesn't require any type of intellectual inference. It's just a matter of whether or not you've absorbed the knowledge somehow.
              • by cp.tar ( 871488 ) <cp.tar.bz2@gmail.com> on Tuesday May 27, 2008 @01:58AM (#23552523) Journal

                Not only that, but the knowledge is both language-specific and, worse, America-specific.

                Let's assume that even the anagrams ("Which of these is not an anagram of an animal?" type of questions) don't pose a problem to non-native English speakers. But what about the question on the serial numbers of dollar bills? I haven't handled a dollar bill in my entire life; how would I know anything about serial numbers?

                Indeed, an IQ test it ain't.

                Oh, and another thing: I realized -- belatedly, though -- that it was 60 seconds per question. Now I must track down the damned cookie to re-take the test.
                Hm. 8 am. After class, then.

                • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

                  There was one question I got which talked about a guy who was 30 years old when he married his wife, who was 25 at the time. She died at age X, he died at age Y, how long was he a widower?

                  These no-talent ass clowns apparently were unable to realize that these ages give you a range of a year minus a day to either side, so that the "right answer" is going to a range including three years. Then they go and give you a choice between two years in that range, with one of them somehow being "wrong".

                  What a bunch of
                • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

                  by fbjon ( 692006 )
                  A completely language-independent test that gives the score based on statistics of how previous people did [iqout.com]. The "questions" get more difficult the more you answer correctly, and when I say difficult, I mean really fscking difficult. Don't worry if you have no idea what the answer is, you'll get an easier one if you wait for the 45 seconds per question to expire.

                  Note that, as should be, the test only measures a specific kind of intelligence. No language or numerical stuff.

              • by someone1234 ( 830754 ) on Tuesday May 27, 2008 @02:52AM (#23552769)
                Real IQ tests should be language independent.
            • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

              by RpiMatty ( 834853 )
              You don't have 60 seconds total.
              If you answer in less than 5 seconds, you get 1 point.
              If you answer in more than 45 seconds, you get 0.5 points.
              If you answer somewhere in between, you get somewhere in between 0.5 and 1 point.

              If your score is equal to the median, your IQ is 100.
              For each standard deviation away from the median, your IQ changes by 15 pts.

              From http://www.iqleague.com/iq-scores [iqleague.com]
      • by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:41PM (#23550093)
        A few minutes ago, /. was #8. Now it's #11. Way to go /.ers, you've proven how intelligent you really are.
        Edit: In the amount of time it took me to write this and hit preview, /. dropped to #15.
      • by rve ( 4436 ) on Tuesday May 27, 2008 @12:45AM (#23552067)
        The advertisement section on this slashdot page says more about the average /. user than an online test:

        - Ads by google
        - Linux gurus wanted
        - Beautiful Russian girls for marriage
        - Looking for a junior IT job?
    • by The Ancients ( 626689 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:26PM (#23549947) Homepage

      Can we make Slashdot.org the "Smartest Website in the World?" (It's curretly number 2 behind ScienceBlogs.com.)
      Are they serious?

      Dedly

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      You have to understand that traditional metrics of intelligence don't apply to troll populations; they rely on "cumulative intelligence" instead of individual or averaged values. The fact that the average troll's intelligence is in the single digits is offset by their sheer numbers; some have speculated that the rise of SkyNet may actually be precipitated by the combined intellectual contribution of 1.57 billion troll-moderated Slashdot posts.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by RuBLed ( 995686 )
      And as of now, we're ranked 6 and falling... someone didn't get the memo and RTFA. I guess we could now prove the inverse of Moore's Law.
      • Yes, well, the editors likely didn't think about bell curves and statistics when they suggested that.
      • Re:"Curretly"? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by JustinOpinion ( 1246824 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:51PM (#23550171)
        And as of now, Slashdot is ranked 15.

        To me, this says more about sample size (or lack thereof) in these stats. The sample sizes are probably so small that the ranks are just statistical artifacts of the scores of the few people coming from each site. Also I'm sure the average scores are highly skewed by people who start taking the test and then just get bored and randomly guess some answers to get it over with. For small samples, small aberrations (e.g. a few smart, stupid, or lazy users) can obviously greatly skew the average.

        Stats are nearly meaningless without some estimation of the error bars (or at least mention of the sample size!). All that to say: I wouldn't take these stats too seriously! Moreover, it's likely that as more and more Slashdotters take the test, the average will drop further and further from its statistically-anomalous level, to a more reasonable average. (As would the other listed categories, if only more people took the test.)

        (Note: that's all assuming the test itself is even a valid measure of IQ, which I find rather dubious.)
    • Can we make Slashdot.org the "Smartest Website in the World?" (It's curretly number 2 behind ScienceBlogs.com.)
      Are they serious?
      Congratulations! You passed the spelling test! :)
    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by cigarky ( 89075 )
      Super serial
  • IQ Test? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by homer_s ( 799572 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:22PM (#23549929)
    Since when do IQ tests contain questions about the bible, dinosaurs, etc?

    Not that I'm disappointed that I did so badly or anything...
    • Re:IQ Test? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Coopjust ( 872796 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:29PM (#23549969)
      Yeah, some of the questions I received were about the Beatles and Russian History. Those seem like historical knowledge tests, not intelligence quotient...
    • Re:IQ Test? (Score:5, Informative)

      by gujo-odori ( 473191 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:30PM (#23549977)
      Mine had a questions about who is the creator according to Hinduism, and for what was Al Capone eventually imprisoned? While I happen to know the answers to those things, it has absolutely nothing to do with my IQ, nor would not knowing them. At this point, I'm only certain of one thing: my IQ is higher than that of anyone who thinks that's an IQ test.
      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        The reason IQ tests normally are all about abstract reasoning is that that gives the most reliable assessment of IQ with the least number of questions. There is no reason an IQ test needs to look like that, it just happens to be the most reliable and time-efficient way to measure IQ.

        In a way, any test at all is an IQ test, in that it is nearly impossible to devise any kind of mental test that does not measure IQ to some degree. String a lot of these kinds of semi-IQ tests together in the right way, and you
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by mrbluze ( 1034940 )

      Since when do IQ tests contain questions about the bible, dinosaurs, etc?

      If you were intelligent enough, you wouldn't be asking such a question ;)

    • Re:IQ Test? (Score:5, Funny)

      by schon ( 31600 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:32PM (#23549999)
      I always get a giggle out of these "IQ" tests that require the use of javascript and cookies.

      I guess if you visit their site with noscript, your IQ is so high it can't be measured!
    • I did horribly and still got 102. That makes me fear for humanity.
      • by wasted ( 94866 )

        I did horribly and still got 102. That makes me fear for humanity.


        There were a few I didn't know, (such as the name of Alexander's horse,) and it said that after answering 10 questions, many of them history, I am #111 in the world with a score of around 125. (It estimated my IQ at 142, with a 17 point penalty for only answering 10 questions.) I'm guessing it must be a small world after all, if I am in that position relative to the population.

    • by sqrt(2) ( 786011 )
      I do well on those ones! I fail at the math questions. Shape selection too because I can usually find logical/artistic ways to justify all the selections.

      I'll own up to my score; I got a little over 110. It said something about a penalty for not answering enough questions. I don't think you can ever have a useful test for measuring something as complex as human intelligence either, same with personality tests. They might give you a very course understanding of something if your question is narrow enough, bu
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by andy753421 ( 850820 )

      From Wikipedia on the inventor of IQ tests: "His principal goal was to identify students who needed special help in coping with the school curriculum."

      Since school curriculums tend to involve things such as Literature, History, and Science it makes complete sense that knowing a lot about earth history and the the most popular book in the world would increase your IQ.

    • Since when do IQ tests contain questions about the bible, dinosaurs, etc?
      I suppose they penalize creationists' IQ :P
    • Q: "What's a female sheep called?"
      Q: "Who published such-and-such in 1543?"

      Oh, yeah, this is really testing my IQ...

  • me->quickly changes user agent string to firefox/unkown
    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by maxume ( 22995 )
      Your score isn't showing up. Perhaps if you get more people to switch.
    • by Xzzy ( 111297 )
      Slashdotters should change theirs to 'Mozilla/1.1N' and intentionally answer all the questions wrong.. act surprised when it still scores above the WinNT group.
  • Great. (Score:4, Informative)

    by One Childish N00b ( 780549 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:27PM (#23549951) Homepage
    Is there any way this is not going to turn into a flamewar and/or an excuse to bash IE?
    Come on, guys, we know it sucks. Let's have some news already.
  • The Beatles and IQ (Score:5, Insightful)

    by allanw ( 842185 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:28PM (#23549967)
    How does knowing facts about the Beatles (2/10 questions) have anything to do with IQ?
    • A theory... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Junta ( 36770 )
      Perhaps the inability of someone to answer such a question when they are obviously taking the test through an internet connected browser could reflect badly on their intelligence ;)

      That said, it scored me the lowest any such test has ever done.
    • by oGMo ( 379 )

      Because wasting time taking inane tests on the internet shows a certain level of intelligence, if you get my drift. ;)

  • by Miffe ( 592354 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:29PM (#23549973)

    You are #5971 Smartest Human in the World

    Oh well, it's at least lower than my slashdot-id.

  • by Jorophose ( 1062218 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:31PM (#23549987)
    I've received the perfect score. =)

    http://www.iqleague.com/certificate/n9LjytSYn0y5JZqoAVDafg [iqleague.com]
  • by QuantumG ( 50515 ) * <qg@biodome.org> on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:33PM (#23550019) Homepage Journal
    they'll tell you that you're not very intelligent and that they can fix you.

    Oh wait, that's Scientology.

  • The method seems pretty wonky. Just one brilliant guy on some rarely used software took the test they could skew the thing in silly ways. Amaya rules!
  • by kurthr ( 30155 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:41PM (#23550089)
    I discovered on one page load I couldn't select any answer. I tried loading the page using Greasemonkey and found that the page failed to load properly/completely within 1 minute 2% of the time.

    Using Firefox 2.0.0.14 on W2K from Google-Wireless, it would appear that pre-fetch and other browser/connection attributes could have a significant effect on overall outcomes.

    It's certainly interesting the that the 10th smartest country (UK) is barely above 100 IQ.

    Everyone above average, indeed!
  • "IQ" test? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ucblockhead ( 63650 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:41PM (#23550097) Homepage Journal
    Whoever wrote this "IQ" test is apparently not smart enough to understand how an IQ test works.

    You can debate whether a real IQ test measures anything other than the ability to do well on IQ tests, however, real IQ tests don't depend on real world knowledge. That's the whole point of them. By my measure, 8 of the 10 questions it gave me are not even remotely worthy of being on an IQ test. For instance, knowing the date of the first olympiad is pretty much the definition of a question requiring real world knowledge.
  • by liegeofmelkor ( 978577 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:42PM (#23550105)
    I'm sorry, but anyone who can't manage to put x-y axes on their plots isn't fit to analyze the intelligence of others.
  • "(It's curretly number 2 behind ScienceBlogs.com.)"

    Now it's number 16. I'm Glad I could help.
  • by Mattniche ( 1241468 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @08:56PM (#23550217)
    What a load of rot. I didn't read any questions and just did some random clicking. 85.26% is WAY higher than my IQ.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    ... and happened to score 101. I don't know how I should take such information, but the following scares me:

    16th in Raleigh
    32nd in North Carolina

    I mean, wtf. I can barely see straight right now. I guess that means, on average, my city/state is a bunch of drunkards?
  • Can we make Slashdot.org the "Smartest Website in the World?" (It's curretly number 2 behind ScienceBlogs.com.)

    *That's* why it's #2.
    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by ohxten ( 1248800 )
      *cough* Also, the smartest is Mozilla on Unknown, not Firefox. And where the heck did you get the figure for the dumbest users? On the website it says 'AppleMAC-Safari on WinNT' with a score of 89.89. Technically it's 'IE on Unknown' that's the dumbest but apparently there's no IQ data for that...

      I know, I'm being picky.
  • Apparently, Perl's PRNG is the 6883rd smartest human on earth with an IQ of 101.36. Why do people pay attention to tests like this again?

  • I didn't bother with the test but looking at the stats, it says the smartest person in the world has an IQ of 142, which in an actual IQ test is just below the minimum requirement for mensa.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 26, 2008 @09:19PM (#23550379)
    Er... nice for the non-Christians and non-Jews in the crowd:

    "Genesis is the first book of the Bible. Which of the following is the second book? (a) Genesis (b) Kings (c) Exodus (d) Numbers"

    Uh, surely a proper intelligence measuring question would be:

    "Which of the following books is not a work of fiction? (a) Genesis (b) Kings (c) Exodus (d) Origin of Species"

  • (It's curretly number 2 behind ScienceBlogs.com.)
    You won't make #1 by spelling "currently" wrong.
  • Unanswerable? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TheSkyIsPurple ( 901118 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @09:59PM (#23550737)
    From the site:
    Five teenagers are of various heights. Alex is taller than Dennis, who is shorter than Eunice. Chris is shorter than Bob, but taller than Alex. Who among them is the third tallest? [1. Chris 2. Alex 3. Dennis 4. Eunice]

    To rewrite:
    Alex > Dennis
    Dennis < Eunice (but we don't know if Eunice is taller than Alex or not, etc)
    Chris < Bob
    Chris > Alex.

    Smushing these together (and getting all >'s in the same direction), you get:
    Bob > Chris > Alex > Dennis
    Eunice > Dennis

    These are the combinations I came up with that still fit the teenagers relative heights:
    Bob > Chris > Alex > Eunice > Dennis
    Bob > Chris > Eunice > Alex > Dennis
    Bob > Eunice > Chris > Alex > Dennis
    Eunice > Bob > Chris > Alex > Dennis

    Who is the third tallest?
    Well, Alex, Chris or Eunice. (Answers 1, 2, or 4.)

    What did I miss?

    [Even if I read "who is shorter than Eunice" to mean Alex < Eunice I still end up with 2 of the answers]
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by mwigmani ( 558450 )

      This was the best one I got:*

      Question 8 of 10
      Which is the odd one out: lead, brass, tin, copper?

      1). lead
      2). aluminum
      3). brass
      4). copper

      * copied verbatim

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Denial93 ( 773403 )
      "In Hinduism who is the Creator? [1. Vishnu 2. Brahma 3. Siva 4. Ganesha]" is just as bad. Depending on which Hindu tradition you look at, either of the first three could be "true". And there are sure to be a few guys who think number 4 is correct... somewhere in the chaotic bunch of sects commonly and grossly misunderstood to be a monolithic religion called "Hinduism".
  • by aplusjimages ( 939458 ) on Monday May 26, 2008 @10:21PM (#23550931) Journal
    I've never heard of this site, but now that I have I'll never return to /.
  • by jbrader ( 697703 ) <stillnotpynchon@gmail.com> on Tuesday May 27, 2008 @12:17AM (#23551861)
    It said I live in Herndon, VA. I live in Pullman, WA. It's pretty far fom here. It also said I'm something like the 3300th smartest person in the world. Since I'm really drunk right now that's pretty sad.
  • by Endareth ( 684446 ) on Tuesday May 27, 2008 @01:01AM (#23552181) Journal
    That would have to be the worst attempt at an IQ test I've ever seen... A combination of general knowledge and some pattern recognition in only ten questions is so far from qualifying as an IQ test that it's not funny.
  • by capoccia ( 312092 ) on Tuesday May 27, 2008 @01:14AM (#23552251) Journal
    it marked me as "user of Firefox on WinXP" even though i'm using iceape on debian.

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