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The performance of laboratory mice in mazes varies considerably among tested populations, with some mice clearly being "smarter" than others. It's possible to train a mouse to be smarter, to learn, but the effect is only a few standard deviations from the norm at best, not orders of magnitude smarter.

Remember that genetics is, at best, all about probabilities. Just because your parents are athletic is no guarantee that you're an athlete. There's always a one in four chance that you get the worst possible pairing of genes, after all.

Intelligence is a complicated thing. A child who can remember things easily will be considered very "smart" even if they can't do much with that information, whereas one who's very clever at figuring things out will be considered "stupid" if they aren't able to memorize as well.

IQ is such an arbitrary metric that it hardly deserves scientific consideration. It completely glosses over any unusual talents someone might have.




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