thanks so much! I'll have to check this out, Michaela.
Zen: how are vision issues related to/comorbid with giftedness? I'm curious.
Here is one research article:
http://www.iovs.org/content/45/9/2943.full Essentially, they were finding IQ was a better predictor for near sighted ness than even parental vision.
My running take on it, based on too many factors is that the brain ends up making use of resources that initially are under or mis-utilized by basic sensory processing. Such as in my case I can build extremely complex mechanical systems in my head but I can't catch a baseball. It isn't an exclusionary thing and there are many other sources that may crank up intelligence and someone can have a vision problem and not have an increased IQ, etc. But not to take it too far off track, as I think your basic question is interesting as it stands and I've asked variations of it myself most of my life.
Part of the question being things like how come say smart and uncoordinated wasn't weeded from the gene pool. At some threshold value having the intelligent home inventing fire and not out getting mauled by a saber tooth tiger is better for the survival of the village.
Along the lines of what HK mentioned, religious institutes ran orphanages and would elevate the smart kids into the ranks of their scholars. You could probably also chart the development of civilization which often followed more of a revolutionary change pattern than evolutionary to individual contributors who brought about big ideas. We even idolize the intellectual and artistic heroes as a way encourage the masses to seek them out, it seems.
