Re: (Noodling) IQ test question

Jonathan L Cunningham (spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) writes:
On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:51:01 +0300, Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho
<antti-juhani@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Jonathan L Cunningham kirjoitti:
Is the answer[*] to the following (made up) IQ test question as obvious
as I think it is?

Man is to dog as girl is to (a) cat, (b) diamond, (c) woman.

There's nothing obvious about this question, but if pressed, I would
answer (a).

After thinking about it for some time, I realize the correct answer is
(b), but it certainly wasn't obvious! (And isn't an IQ test, since it's
a cultural reference.)

I wondered about the cultural reference aspect. Back in the 1980's, when
I was teaching AI, I wrote a "rational reconstruction" of a classic AI
program for doing analogical reasoning[1] about simple geometical shapes
(e.g. a picture of a blue triangle inside a red square is to a picture
of etc.). It was a trivial extension to add a dictionary and extend it
to work with word meanings.

It would have answered "cat", too, with low confidence. Not least,
because "diamond" was not in its dictionary!! But even if it had been,
that kind of knowledge isn't normal in a dictionary entry. :-)

[...]

If the answer is (b), the cultural implications for your fantasy world are
potentially interesting. Young women there are normally directed into careers
that involve glass cutting or serious drilling? (They're burglars and
safecrackers?) Or something to do with optics?

--John Park
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: (Noodling) IQ test question
    ... Man is to dog as girl is to cat, diamond, woman. ... There was a popular book ... and mathematical reasoning, but only about average for verbal. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: Timothy P. Daly
    ... Who owns the picture that shows at the bottom of page 359? ... This webpage cited by the PDF has vanished: ... Maybe the cat on page 359 looks more intelligent that Mr Feymann, ... PITA, Pain In the Ass ...
    (sci.math.symbolic)
  • Re: The purpose of RPCA (long, you might want to get a beverage)
    ... Kyla and her cat Mosey looked down and read the post ... Rob isn't the only member with cancer, ... Don't ask me for my picture. ... Pam, I'm sitting here in tears, and may I offer you a HUG for taking the ...
    (rec.pets.cats.anecdotes)
  • Re: pictures of indoor pets
    ... Cats are good practice to learn to hold the camera very still ... If there is something very bright in the picture that is not the ... cat, then the camera may stop down to compensate. ... You can also use the exposure compensation in the camera to brighten it up ...
    (rec.photo.digital)
  • Re: Ping John Eldredge
    ... I wondered if I would encounter a tornado on the way down. ... rain heavy enough to have me creeping along about 10 miles per hour. ... make this on-topic) a picture of a firefighter carrying a rescued cat. ...
    (rec.pets.cats.anecdotes)