Preliminary evidence suggests that the aliens test has little, if any, correlation with IQ, at least among readers of this blog. The most likely reason for this is that the test so overloaded working memory that people were essentially just guessing.

As a result I have substantially revised the test in the hopes of reducing the demands on working memory and attention to detail, since the point of the test was to get at higher level, more conceptual ability.

I have reduced the number of aliens you have to compare from 12 to nine and also reduced the number of ways people can be tricked into miscategorizing the aliens.

Because the point of this test is not just to measure your intelligence, but more importantly, to show that there is a correct way to organize the natural world, whether we’re dividing categories as broad as plants and animals or as narrow as racial groups.

[Take the new version of the aliens test here. You can register with a fake name; email optional]