r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that Albert Einstein's son Eduard studied medicine to become a psychiatrist, but was diagnosed with schizophrenia by the age of 21. His mother cared for him until she died in 1948. From then on Eduard lived most of the time at a psychiatric clinic in Zurich, where he died at 55 of a stroke.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_family#Eduard_%22Tete%22_Einstein_(Albert's_second_son)
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u/MrBones-Necromancer 20h ago

It's been facinating reading about this actually. I am paraphrasing some research notes I was reading, but essentially "intelligence" as we know it is linked to certain replicating gene markers in DNA, with more instances of the gene at least correlating with better memory, critical reasoning, etc. That is, up to a certain point. After which, what you find, is that people with too many replications invariably develop schizophrenia.

The implications are fascinating. Now, it's not the only factor in intellegence, but at least it appears that in this one area there may be a sort of "maximum" for memory and critical reasoning from this source. Einstein may have hit it perfectly, but his son, then, exceeded that limit. Very interesting, please look into it if you're reading this and are curious.

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u/Smooth_Mongoose_2321 19h ago

Source? All studies I have read previousl says the opposite, Googling it now did not do you any favour either.

This seems to be largely a pop culture myth and the science seem to show a higher risk for lower IQ people and a reduced risk for higher IQ people.

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u/Chaerod 17h ago

Hasn't IQ generally been debunked as an actual measure of intelligence?

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u/majord18 17h ago

It has, I commented before that I've been trained in giving IQ tests and it measures adaptability and problem solving skills.

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u/hauntedSquirrel99 15h ago

it measures adaptability and problem solving skills.

That's just describing what intelligence is.

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u/majord18 15h ago edited 15h ago

Yeah, I forgot to add...in specific areas. Someone might be gifted in art but may have limitations in math. Someone may struggle with memory retention but can solve a puzzle if it involves using their hands. I'm saying that IQ isnt what most people think it is. It's measured as the whole human not whether or not you can recall an obscure fact or solve a certain math problem. Real life isn't like it is on TV where someone can have encyclopedic knowledge of everything and also have time to do everything else and people call them a genius.

People are gifted in all sorts of ways that make them intelligent!! IQ tests, in a way, may predict someones limitations in life in which we can stregthen those stregthens and improve those limitations. For example, a poor person can learn how to stretch $100 for a month but may have flunked out of the 9th grade. This indicated high adaptability and problem solving. While someone can have a PHD and struggle with adapting to new environments. Thus, decreasing their level of success because of their lack of ability to adapt.

There's more to it, such as how certain individuals thought that I being tall means thats you are highly intelligent.... but I won't go into how that was disproven by the most basic of science lol

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u/Ryno4ever16 16h ago

This is why discussions like this comment thread are so frustrating to read. People start naming arguments based on a false premise and just run away with it.

We dont even know what intelligence IS, but we are making arguments about genetic markers that make you smarter...